Public Policy Polling, a Democratic polling firm, is out today with numbers that show a shift over the last month in public support for the Occupy Wall Street movement and how it stacks up against public opinion on the Tea Party:
The Occupy Wall Street movement is not wearing well with voters across the country. Only 33% now say that they are supportive of its goals, compared to 45% who say they oppose them. That represents an 11 point shift in the wrong direction for the movement’s support compared to a month ago when 35% of voters said they supported it and 36% were opposed. Most notably independents have gone from supporting Occupy Wall Street’s goals 39/34, to opposing them 34/42.
Voters don’t care for the Tea Party either, with 42% saying they support its goals to 45% opposed. But asked whether they have a higher opinion of the Tea Party or Occupy Wall Street movement the Tea Party wins out 43-37, representing a flip from last month when Occupy Wall Street won out 40-37 on that question. Again the movement with independents is notable- from preferring Occupy Wall Street 43-34, to siding with the Tea Party 44-40.
And before anyone says these results reflect the demographic polled, PPP respondents were 27% somewhat or very liberal, 31% moderate and 43% somewhat or very conservative this time around compared to 29/30/41 a month ago. So the same demographic pool has shifted significantly.
So Occupy Wall Street has a net approval of -12 points (-1 a month ago) compared to the Tea Party’s -3 (-6 a month ago).
As PPP notes, the public perception of the Occupy Wall Street movement is that it’s become more about “Occupy” and less about “Wall Street”. In many cities the movement has become most vocal about it’s opposition to the police than wealth inequality. Many otherwise sympathetic individuals find the lack of message off-putting while some individuals within the Occupy movement dismiss those concerns as a failure to understand what the movement really means. Whatever it means, it’s not exactly resonating with the rest of the 99% it claims to represent.
