Student GOP To Interview Local Voters

Members of the Young Republican Club and the Eisenhower Club will interview 500 Cambridge citizens during the next few weeks to determine what motivates the voter when he favors one political party over another.

Student voters will record each voter's approximate age, occupation, and political affiliation; then they will try to find what image the voter has of each party. The pollee will be asked what he likes and dislikes about each party and what he thinks the major political issues are.

The voters to be studied live in Ward 4, Precinct 3, the area surrounding Central Square. In the last election this precinct voted approximately three to one for the Democrats.

The Clubs decided to make the study because of a speech last January by Meade Alcorn, Republican National Committee Chairman. "Alcorn told Republicans to get closer to the people, and we're trying to find out how to do this," Richard A. Derham '62, chairman of the "Ward 4 Project," said yesterday.

After about 500 of the 1200 voters in the precinct are interviewed, the Clubs will analyze the accumulated data. The local Republican committee, Derham said, has expressed interest in using the Clubs' conclusions in planning future campaigns. Derham added that he hopes the project will interest other Republican groups to conduct similar studies elsewhere.

In a pilot study conducted last week, one interviewer said he found "as much prejudice as philosophy." Half of the voters interviewed showed no interest in foreign policy, and one admitted voting for a particular party "because I was brought up that way."