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Subscribe to RSSNEW YORK -- This Saturday marks one month since Occupy Wall Street protesters set-up camp at Zuccotti Park in Lower Manhattan. Since then the demonstrations have spread to dozens of cities across the country. This weekend, a global day of protests is planned, and organizers say they expect events to be held in more than 800 cities in 71 countries.
Clearly, the movement appears to be growing. Now we have some new information about how the rest of the country views what’s happening in Zuccotti Park and beyond.
From an NBC News/Wall Street Journal Poll released Wednesday:
- 37% of the country tends to support the movement; 18% oppose; 25% have no opinion. That’s more than those who say they support the Tea Party -- just 26% say they support it, while 64% say they do not.
- The movement is most popular in the Northeast, where people tend to support it 48%-15%. It is least popular in the South where 30% support, 22% oppose.
- Perhaps counter-intuitively, the movement has its highest support among the highest income earners, (those making more than $75,000 year): 40% support, 24% oppose. Among the poorest, however, it is also popular (less than 30K year): 35% support, 11% oppose.
- Among ethnic groups, the protests are popular among African-Americans, 41% support, 7% oppose; among Hispanics 35% support, 15 oppose; among Whites 37% support, 18% oppose.
- Among political parties, unsurprisingly, the movement is most popular among Democrats (56%-6%), and least popular among Republicans, where a plurality do not support 17%-34%. Independents support 34%-17%.
Since the demonstrations started there have also been nagging questions about what protesters believe in, and what they want. Early last week New York Magazine conducted an informal survey of 100 protesters at Zuccotti Park to gauge their views on everything from President Obama to capitalism. A few snippets are below.
What do you think of Obama?
- I believed in him, and he let me down: 40
- He’s doing great: 1
- I never believed in him: 27
- He’s doing the best he can: 22
Did you vote in the 2010 midterm elections?
- Yes: 39
- No: 55
- No, but only because I wasn’t 18:
Rank yourself on the following Scale of Liberalism:
- Not liberal at all: 6
- Liberal but fairly mainstream (i.e., Barack Obama): 3
- Strongly liberal (i.e., Paul Krugman): 12
- Fed up with Democrats, believe country needs overhaul (i.e., Ralph Nader): 41
- Convinced the U.S. government is no better than, say, Al Qaeda (i.e., Noam Chomsky): 34
For more from the field on Occupy Wall Street, check out msnbc.com's Field Notes blog.
*** UPDATE *** We checked to see how the supporters and opponents of Occupy Wall Street broke down in their approval or disapproval of President Obama.
Those who tend to support the protesters, said they approved of the president's job 61%-35%.
Those who tend to oppose the protesters, did not approve of the president's job by an 11%-88%
Those with no opinion were 42%-49%.
The margin of error on this question is +/-3.55%.
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for the record,i do vote absentee ballot for all American elections,as well as having
dual citizenship,thereby enabling me to vote in Irelands elections. being a solid blue
collar union worker,has,over time,showm without fail that people who work in the
caring vocations vote democrat,be they social workers,nurses, firemen,should tell
enough to the average american voter,that people are all that truly matter.being
a firefighter was.....o job rewarding enough to leave me speechless.go obamago.!
What did he say?
Candice: "It's called adhering to the terms of a contract."
so then can I assume you were against the Wisconsin republicans that wanted to take away union rights that had been agreed to several years earlier and were guaranteed in their contracts? After all a contract is a contract, right?
Under certain circumstances - such as bankruptcy filings - contracts should be re-negotiated.
It's a slippery slope when you institute policies that create an environment when contracts have no security or meaning. Don't you agree?
Progressive Power has been very of the Wall Street Banker connection with the "Gross Odd People" (GOP), and the "Really Not Competent" (RNC) for decades. The GOP/RNC Clowns in the Senate just gave their full political, economic, and social support to the Wall Street Bankers. Again! The American People have been poltically puked on by the GOP/RNC for the last 30 years. The economic greed of the ignorant GOP Elephants in the US Senate is very apparent. Again! The GOP "Circus Of The Clowns" have had their political debates of political puking, economic evil, social stupidity. Are my fellow citizens seeing this now?? Finally!! Progressive Power has been very well aware of the total hatred for our President by the GOP/RNC for years. The political "spewing" of the "Bonehead Boehner Bunch" has been disresprectful of our President for years. The really evil thing about their hatred towards our President? Is these GOP/RNC clowns think it is funny!! Then we have "Crazy Cantor's Cronies" and their mental madness. Together these Two groups make-up the "Hoodlum's On The Hill" in the House Of Representatives. In "Insane Senate" we have the "Insane McCain Clan" who are out to destroy a President. My fellow citizens! What the GOP/RNC have been doing the last Two years has been TREASON!! The Tea Beggers and their "Hooodlum's On The Hill." Have gone out of their way to destroy our President! Which equals. Destroying our nation! So the GOP/RNC can help their very rich friends/donors become even richer. Getting ready to vote yet America?? I hope so! Hey! Hey! Ho! Ho! The Party of NO has got to go!!
Occupy is still growing Tea Party is in it's death throes.
How many Occupy Wall Street do you think will be elected in the next elections?
also OWS has gone WORLD WIDE, if the Tea Party did go WORLD WIDE please give me the information.
I've seen no sign of "Occupy Wallstreet" except recollections on cable news. However there's an organizing meeting in my office building for a rally in my town, I saw a notice on a taped up piece of paper. I saw some hippies using the elevator (the meeting's on the 2nd floor).
Whoop-dee-do.
Whatever these people stand for is the same as last year. It's a free country and amusing.
The liberals answer to the tea party a bunch of racist anti-semites
Is that what FAUX is calling them today....what happened to anarchist's.?
The liberals answer to the tea party a bunch of racist anti-semites
These polls mean little.
The Tea Party supporters are self reliant and work hard, in life and politics.
These snotty smelly protesters are entitled babies, they wont work for what they want.
Good thing these protesters didnt study history. Like 1968.
This is a repeat of Chicago '68.
The Dems will be tied to these idiots, who will turn off the American people with their lawlessness and entitlement mentality.
What they need is about 10 cops or National guardsmen per protester to surround the area and seal it off. Give them 12 hours to leave the "private property". Then go "Medieval" on their lazy, punk a$$es with "Hats -n- Bats", Cuff -n- Stuff everyone of them and give them a nice 24 month Island "vacation" at Rykers. See how long they "vigorously resit" eviction then.
spoken like a true fascist...well done... TP should be proud. Did you stomp any kittens or push over any old ladies on your way to soup line this morning?
Next step for us is to start marches around the country too
America is waking up to the SUPER RICH TEA PARTY REPUBLICANS
I'm not a fan of the tea party by any stretch of the imagination, but seriously, did you not even read the statistics in this poll? The majority of those supporting the Occupy movement make over $75,000 a year. And you're telling me that's the 99%? Right...
Wake up, people. Not only are you not the 99%, you don't even represent the majority of Americans. Look at the numbers. Ideology aside, Occupy is the same as the tea party--a fringe element, made up of the more wealthy individuals in America.
THE TA PARTYERS are self reliant ha ha ha ha. They had FOX and their affiliates sponsoring their CRAZY rallies. By the Way mostTEAPATIERS want to keep Social Security Intact. They dont know what SELFRELIANT MEANS
Most Tea Partiers are living in the past, just listen to their FOX RADIO they crave the old ways of the forties and fifties when RAcism was at its peak, news for you TEA PARTY REPUBLICANS America OUR GREAT AMERICA has evolved to something better than that. We will overcome the TEA PARTY REPUBLICANS with this movement. TEA PARTY REPUBLICANS HAVE ALL THE MONEY BUT WE HAVE THE SPIRIT OF REAL LIBERTY.
Republicans turned their backs to all those AMERICANS that voted for Obama and they think we ll not remember, ha ha ha ha
trico7ZHIT7 You are a Tea Party Republican Crazy Idiot
I for one hope they succeed, we need change in this country, the system has been coopted by the wealthiest and rigged in their favor by their bought and paid for politicians.........we need real reform throughout our entire financial system....only then can we clean out Congress and make it work for the majority again.
Let's see,....do i watch cartoons this morning, or the coverage of the "occupiers of Wall Street?? Hmmm, Decisions decisions.
Seems like the protests for the brain dead has spongebob/squarepants beat for entertainment value. LOL
Watch cartoons like you always do. It's safer and less taxing.
edward seems to me you should probably stick to cartoons....
Hey you all have to agree somewhat with Edward, that is how I feel about MSM 24/7 alot of the time. They do not know how to be creative about their reporting skills, "IF" they "MSM" has reporting skills, I get tried of hearing the same crap over again, how many times did they report the death of Micheal Jackson, Anna Nicole Smith, the Balloon Boy, Milley had a baby, and all the other non-stop worthless crap they repeat in a 24 hour news cycle for the next 6 months. Now I enjoy hearing about the OWS movement, but I want to hear about something else also. this world is BIG, the United States is BIG, and has alot of News generating in big towns and small towns I would enjoy hearing about , like a baby was born to the McCoys on Inbread Mountain, Alabama, and the first thing the child did was reach for a banjo to play, now thats news I would like to hear. and vote republican
the first thing the child did was reach for a banjo to play and vote republican.
For me, the most interesting piece of information from this poll is that the movement has its highest support among people who make over $75,000 a year...and yet the movement claims it is the "99%." Not so much, apparently.
Who comprises this movement? A lot of rich, young hipsters. Why not protest the millions starving to death in Somalia, or the fact the Chinese factory workers make about $200 a month, or the fact a wealthy man in the Congo can get away with raping a young girl and face no consequences? I wonder how many of these protestors have ever been outside the United States or visited a 3rd world country or served others in any way whatsoever.
Based on this poll, the stats show that the movement is more popular among wealthier Americans, but even if the poorest Americans were actually part of this movement, compared to the world, the protestors are those living in excess, those who support inequality. They are the 1% and they are really no different than those whom they protest.
First MSNBC's First Read authors are so far to the left with their political bias they make Pelosi, Reid and Obama look like Ditto heads.
Second, as for this NBC/WSJ poll on the "support" for the OWS protestors, it's all in how you phrase the question. If you look at the how they actually worded their poll questions, you would clearly see it was completely biased to produce the results they wanted. I.E. "Do you support the OWS protester's right to "Free speech" and "assembly" as guaranteed by the US Constitution?" Well, Duh. Of course most anyone with half a brain would answer yes, but you don't state it that way when you report it. Only that X% support the protesters.
Heck, I support their "right" to assemble, free speech, and address government for grievances, but don't agree with their "demands" or politics. SEE THE DIFFERENCE??
you might agree with their rights, but if you read post and listen carefully, most right wingers do not.....TP does not give a whit about freedom! The only "freedom" they support is the freedom to believe their silly, bible driven BS...
Occupy Wall Street/the Wealthy - Hitler/the Jews. It's true, history DOES repeat itself.
Airhead Diane Sawyer says the protests have spread to more than 1,000 countries! Uh, there aren't 1,000 countries in the world.
That is almost as funny as McCain saying this morning that Obama has lost "billions" of jobs....
Whats the problem? Is it the fact these people are out there standing up for what they believe in or is it the fact that they are exposing corporate greed and backroom politics?
Does anyone know how Government is suposed to work? Is'nt it for the people, by the people and of the people? Since when did a corporation become an entity such as person? Seems to me that if the Supreme court gives a corporation the same entitlement as a person then said corporation has to abide by the laws set forth by the government just like any person has to!
Seems to me there was a whole lot of backroom politics going on in that deal! I wonder just how many of these same politicians recieved kickbacks on that ruling, dems and reps alike?
What are the three branches of Govt.?
1. The Executive
2. The Legislative
3. The Judicial
Each play a vital role in our system of Democracy.
Its not a perfect system by any means but its what we have and for the most part it has served this Country pretty good. So far, until you have politicians who do not represent their People and let corporations, lobbyists and special interest groups call the shots. This is exactly what is happening today, don't believe it? Take a long hard look at what some of these politicians are voting on and how much money they recieved in campaign contributuions from corporations.
So what are you afraid of? A movement or corporations? Non-accountabliity on Wallstreet?
Wake up People!
This movement is not as much political as it is consciousness raising, which is the opposite of the Tea Party. The latter is notably unconscious, emphasizing the selfish, materialistic paradigm that most of us know must be overhauled if the quality of life will ever be improved for the benefit of all, not just the lucky 44% (roughly speaking.) Comparing any of this to the Nazis is absurd, of course. This is democracy in action. How many Republicans approved of such protests in the Middle East yet object to these public gatherings here in their own "backyard.?"
How in God's name can you compare any of this to the Middle East protest. Shows how ignorant you are. Go live thier and come back and I am sure you will be the first to tell these people to calm it down. Not stop, but get some sense of respect.
Well, for starters, how about respecting one's right to have an opinion? I am not likening our country to those Middle East tyrannies, for we are not gunning down or stoning the protesters. There is a deeper connection, and I am sorry you can't see it, brother. Lashing out with insults is never helpful.
I am a mother and grandmother with a degree in Information Systems and an MBA. Our government has been bought and paid for by Corporate America. Once upon a time, Corporations took care of their employees, their communities and their stockholders. Now they simply look after their stockholders and their VP's. I am held accountable for my government loans for college and for taxes on my income, but Corporate America is not. This must change! We must act responsibly as a nation or perish under the weight of the social and economic injustices that are now a part of our society. A government that began "by the people, for the people" is now a government that supports Corporate profits at any price. These marches are simply a call to responsible behavior over greed to our government and our financial institutions. That is our common message.
Well said!
Cowboy, I've been watching debates and townhall meetings for the last few years and in this instance there were only a couple of people who did the cheering and booing etc. Even though they did make a lot of noise. Last year I was watching a townhall in Fl. and it was interupted by a single woman blowing off so much, no one could hear the speaker and no one else could speak. I was ashamed that this was going on but later I saw the same person at a different sort of gathering and I realized they were there only to cause trouble and possibly paid to do so. Don't you think it is possible this could be true in this instance also? I was shocked and embarrassed at any one putting this type of thinking out into words at a civilized gathering as important as a presidential debate,as I'm sure all of those on stage were. The need to keep their composure was their primary concern and ignoring a disruption of this caliber was the best course of action. JMO
ha ha hemorrhoids are more popular than the Tea Party. You do not need a poll or survey to know that