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Mondale Support Stronger Here Than at Six Other Ivy Schools

This is the first of two articles on a recent poll of Ivy League students.

By Gilbert Fuchsberg

Harvard undergraduates support Walter F. Mondale over President Reagan in greater numbers than do students at six other Ivy League schools, according to a survey conducted earlier this month by campus new spapers.

Nearly 64 percent of the 407 Harvard students questioned in the random telephone sampling said they would vote for the Minnesota Democrat, while 27 percent told pollsters they would turn out for Reagan in next Tuesday's election.

The 37 percent margin for Mondale, a 24 to 1 margin, contrasts with a Mondale lead averaging 19 percent, representing a 1.6-to-1 edge, among the seven Ivy schools surveyed.

The presidential race appears closest a, Brown, Columbia, and the University of Pennsylvania, where poll results showed a virtual split in preference for the two major candidates.

After Harvard, Mondale's support seems strongest at Yale and Princeton, where students polled favored Mondale over Reagan by a 2-to-1 margin, or 30 percentage points. At Cornell, Mondale's lead was about 15 points.

The Ivy results stand in stark contrast to national trends. Polls of voters have consistently shown Reagan to be leading his rival for the White House by at least a 3-to-2 margin among voters in the 18-24 age group, while surveys of all voting groups indicate slightly less support for the incumbent.

Despite the disparity between the Ivy and nationwide polling results, however, several polling experts yesterday told organizers of the Ivy survey that their results resembled those gathered among voters who attended highly selective colleges.

Student newspapers at the seven schools polled a total of 1626 undergraduates between October 9 and 12, just after the first presidential debate and including the day of the debate between the vice presidential candidates.

The most recent measure of Harvard undergraduate opinion, a dining hall straw poll conducted last week by the Institute of Polities, showed a Mondale lead over Reagan virtually identical to Harvard results in the Ivy survey.

As was the case in the straw poll, the survey among Ivy League students showed a slight "gender gap," with females polled saying they will vote for Mondale in higher proportions than males.

Mondale also gained an overwhelming majority of support among Black Ivy League Poll   MONDALE(%)  REAGAN(%)  OTHER(%) BROWN  (92)  42.4  38.0  19.6 COLUMBIA  (120)  45.0  41.7  13.3 CORNELL  (380)  45.8  31.9  22.3 HARVARD  (407)  63.9  27.0  0.1 PENN  (284)  45.5  46.6  7.9 PRINCETON  (235)  60.0  32.8  7.2 YALE  (142)  59.5  29.1  11.4 TOTAL  (1626)  53.3  34.0  12.7 Other includes preferences for non-major party candidates, not voting, and no answer. Figures in parentheses are number polled at each school. Poll conducted between October 9 and 12. Margin of error is plus/minus 5 percent.

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