How NAACP delegates view '84
New Orleans
NAACP delegates would support the major political goal of NAACP leaders - defeat of President Ronald Reagan in 1984 - if today were election day. A random poll taken by Monitor correspondent Luix Overbea at the conference of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People here showed 95 percent of those surveyedwould vote against Reagan.
From that point, however, the delegates detoured from views expressed by NAACP brass. More than half of the 150 delegates polled said they support the idea of a black presidential candidate in 1984 (62 percent to 38 percent). The association's official position is that a black should not enter next year's race.
The Rev. Jesse L. Jackson, president of Operation PUSH, and Mayor Andrew Young of Atlanta ran neck-in-neck as the favorite black candidates - 27 percent for The Rev. Mr. Jackson and 25 percent for Mr. Young. Some 23 percent said they would not pick a black candidate. One delegate who favors a black presidential candidate said, ''I think we should push for quality and not black-ism.''
In a Democratic primary, 43 percent said they would vote for a black candidate over the six announced Democrats. However, 40 percent said they would not vote for a black. Among the announced candidates, Walter F. Mondale won the support of 71 percent of those polled.