By DON BOHNING

Frustrated and divided after seven unsuccessful years attempting to topple Fidel Castro, Cuban exiles look to those within the island to liberate their homeland.

No single individual has emerged to capture their fancy as a popular leader, able to unify the many dissident exile elements.

Nor has any of the many exile activist groups gained the confidence of the refugee as an effective force to wage war against Cuba's Communist regime.

The conclusions are based on a recent professional survey of Miami's Cuban refugee community by Hamilton, Thomas and Associates, Inc., a Coral Gables research firm.

The results reinforce impressions held by many close to the situation.

The survey covered 400 adult Cuban refugees proportioned by geographic distribution, sex and economic and social factors.

Among the questions asked:

Do you think there are Cubans within Cuba working to overthrow Castro, and if so, do you think they will be successful?

If the Cuban community were to elect an honorary official (leader), whom would you like to see get the job?

Which Cuban exile organization do you feel is strongest in terms of effectiveness or cohesive membership and which do you personally prefer?

Three out of four exiles were convinced there was an underground at work within Cuba dedicated to tossing out the Castro regime. Another 18.3 per cent said they didn't know. Only six per cent said no.

Of those who believed the underground effort exists, however, only half thought it would succeed. Two in 10 said it wouldn't and nearly three in 10 said they didn't know.

White there has been some speculation of internal dissension on the island in recent months, observers here note there has been nothing to indicate an effective underground does exist.

Cuba's Committees for the Defense of the Revolution, the island's spy on your neighborhood system have been a great deterrent.

There is little unanimity among refugees when it comes to choosing a leader.

Seven in 10 said they had no choice.

Carlos Marquez Sterling, 65, speaker of the Cuban House of Representatives in 1940-44 and president of the assembly which drew up Cuba's 1940 constitution, made the best showing among those who did.

Slightly less than one in 10 (9.2 percent) said they preferred him.

Marquez Sterling left Cuba in 1960 and has been living in exile in New York since 1961. He teaches Spanish literature and history at Long Island University.

His name had been prominently mentioned in news stories as the leader of a proposed government-in-exile only days before the survey was taken in late July.

Carlos Prio Socarras, Cuban president until deposed by the Batista coup in 1952, was second choice. Four percent favored Prio.

Another 2.7 percent named Felipe Rivero, a Bay of Pigs Veteran and leader of the militant Cuban Nationalist Association. A bazooka blast at the United Nations in December, 1964, during an appearance there of Che Guevara was attributed to Association members.

After Rivero, came Batista (1.5 per cent); Miami Spanish language television commentator Manolo Reyes (1.5 per cent); exile medical association president Dr. Enrique Huertas (1.2 per cent); former Cuban Diplomat Emilio Nunez Portuondo (1.2 per cent); Cuban exile economist Jose Alvarez Diaz (0.5 per cent) and runing mate Jose (Pepin) Bosch (0.2 per cent.)

Another 7.5 per cent listed a smattering of other exile names.

Significantly missing from among those mentioned often enough to record were a trio of exile activist leaders on whom many refugees had pinned their hopes two years ago.

They are Manolo Ray, Manuel Artime and Eloy Gutierrez Menoyo.

Ray was arrested by British authorities and charged with illegal entry into the Bahamas after an ill-fated attempt to infiltrate Cuba in the spring of 1964.

Artime's Central American commando training camps were disbanded in the spring of 1965 after the camps were linked to alleged smuggling activities in Costa Rica.

Menoyo was captured and imprisoned in Cuba after successfully infiltrating the Island's Oriente Province in January, 1965.

There was no more agreement on effective or cohesive organization than on leaders.

Again, more than seven in 10 had no choice.

The favorite of those who did was Brigade 2506, composed of veterans of the abortive 1961 Bay of Pigs Invasion. The Brigade rated tops with 9.2 per cent.

Second was the Cuban Representation in Exile (RECE), with 3.7 percent. The RECE has been credited with participation in the two most recent confirmed anti-Castro exile actions - one in November of 1965 when the Havana waterfront was shot up, the other in May, 1966, when four exiles were killed and two captured trying to infiltrate the island. Cuba charged they were going to attempt an assassination of Castro.

No other organization was named by more than three per cent of the refugees.