Priesthood policy survey well received in county

A high percentage of Utah County residents are pleased with the recently announced LDS doctrine granting the priesthood to blacks, ac¬ cording to a random telephone survey conducted by a BYU class.

The survey shows that 71 percent of the 245 Utah County residents contacted were “very happy” with the revelation and another 14 percent were “pleased,” though they expressed some reservations.

Members of Dr. Edwin O. Haroldsen’s Communications 211 class (newswriting) did the interviewing during the first few days of the week following the Friday announcement of the new doctrine. Ken Harvey, graduate student in communications, assisted in running the survey.

Dependency on media

“The survey showed that when startling news is announced, people depend heavily upon the media to verify it,” explained Haroldsen, professor of communications.

Some 53 percent heard the news from personal sources and 47 percent from media sources.

Approximately 60 percent of those contacted sought to verify the news--or 50 who had heard it first in the media and 99 who had learned of the news from personal sources such as family members, associates or others.

Some 45 percent of those who heard of the doctrine from personal sources expressed doubt that the news was true. This compares with only 25 percent of those who learned from media sources. Sixty-two percent of the former group expressed shock, compared with 52 percent of the latter.

TV, radio preferred

Those who first learned of the event from personal sources turned more to TV and radio than to newspapers for verification. Of the 82 responses in this category, 40 turned to TV, 30 to radio and 12 to newspapers.

Those surveyed appeared surprised by the announcement, Haroldsen said. Thirty-nine percent said they did not think “it would ever happen”--that the priesthood would ever be given to blacks.

Another 40 percent expected it years in the future, after Christ’s return, during the Millenium [sic], or “not in my lifetime.”

Some mixed reaction

While an overwhelming majority of 85 percent was enthusiastic about the announcement, 15 percent of those surveyed were neutral, somewhat anxious, or very disturbed and displeased. Among the four persons who said they were disturbed was one 92-year-old LDS member.

All but 5 percent of the sample indicated they were members of the LDS Church.

In trying to explain how they reacted to the news, 14 persons compared its impact with that of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. Another 13 compared it to the hews of the death of an LDS Church president. Eight compared it to a natural disaster, especially the Teton dam break.

Others compared the news with the death of a family member or friend, with a declaration of war, or other major political event.