Polling the Occupy Wall Street Crowd by Democratic Pollster Douglas Schoen-

In interviews, protesters show that they are leftists out of step with most American voters. Yet Democrats are embracing them anyway.

President Obama and the Democratic leadership are making a critical error in embracing the Occupy Wall Street movement—and it may cost them the 2012 election.

Last week, senior White House adviser David Plouffe said that "the protests you're seeing are the same conversations people are having in living rooms and kitchens all across America. . . . People are frustrated by an economy that does not reward hard work and responsibility, where Wall Street and Main Street don't seem to play by the same set of rules." Nancy Pelosi and others have echoed the message.

I can agree that Wall St. and Main St. don't play by the same rules. In many cases Wall St. is coddled by Government and sticks the tax payer with the bill. On that OWS and I agree.

Yet the Occupy Wall Street movement reflects values that are dangerously out of touch with the broad mass of the American people—and particularly with swing voters who are largely independent and have been trending away from the president since the debate over health-care reform.

The protesters have a distinct ideology and are bound by a deep commitment to radical left-wing policies. On Oct. 10 and 11, Arielle Alter Confino, a senior researcher at my polling firm, interviewed nearly 200 protesters in New York's Zuccotti Park. Our findings probably represent the first systematic random sample of Occupy Wall Street opinion.

This type of sampling is really no different than what you get out of Pew, Rasmussen, Gallup, and Opinion Dynamics.

Our research shows clearly that the movement doesn't represent unemployed America and is not ideologically diverse. Rather, it comprises an unrepresentative segment of the electorate that believes in radical redistribution of wealth, civil disobedience and, in some instances, violence. Half (52%) have participated in a political movement before, virtually all (98%) say they would support civil disobedience to achieve their goals, and nearly one-third (31%) would support violence to advance their agenda.

The vast majority of demonstrators are actually employed, and the proportion of protesters unemployed (15%) is within single digits of the national unemployment rate (9.1%).

This is an interesting turn of events.

Most of them are not unemployed, and for some reason or another a whole 1/3 of the Occupy protesters in NYC support some sort of violence. That is not too far off course from the poll ATS took roughly two weeks ago:


[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/ows_12.jpg[/atsimg]

This is very troubling to me. With 1/3 of the OWS crowd supporting violence of some kind or another, it seem that NYC has a powder keg waiting to blow on their hands. I'm hoping cooler heads will prevail, however if this is indicative of such a large portion of OWS proponents then we may see what took place in Rome, take place here:

Global 'Occupy' Protests Lead To Violence In Rome, Arrests In Chicago

Schoen continues....

What binds a large majority of the protesters together—regardless of age, socioeconomic status or education—is a deep commitment to left-wing policies: opposition to free-market capitalism and support for radical redistribution of wealth, intense regulation of the private sector, and protectionist policies to keep American jobs from going overseas.

Sixty-five percent say that government has a moral responsibility to guarantee all citizens access to affordable health care, a college education, and a secure retirement—no matter the cost. By a large margin (77%-22%), they support raising taxes on the wealthiest Americans, but 58% oppose raising taxes for everybody, with only 36% in favor. And by a close margin, protesters are divided on whether the bank bailouts were necessary (49%) or unnecessary (51%).

So they aren't even concrete on the bailouts and yet all we keep hearing about is how evil banks are. So which is it OWS? Did "banks get bailed out while we got sold out" or not so much?

The proclivity of these folks to lean far left is very pronounced despite agitated protest from their proponents here on ATS. I guess those misconceptions I and others have been accused of having aren't entirely misconceptions are they?

During the Vietnam war protests there was considerable violence. It didn't start out that way but it escalated.
it escalated because the then PTB refused to listen. As their refusal grew demonstrations grew. And then came Kent State, along with a few other incidents. When people began to die the media took notice. But mainly not until then did anyone take seriously the demonstrations. Know what happened? Vietnam stopped.
TPTB are not listening now either. But rather, they are trying to infiltrate, and manipulate the press, the demonstrators, and the people at large. It did not work then...It will not work now. One more war..Just one.
That is all it will take. make no mistake ..this thing will escalate unless TPTB pay attention.
Unfortunately this is the history of mankind. Only this time, due to communication and travel it offers to be much bigger and broader than ever before.
TPTB are of a mind that it will take a war to distract. They think we are single minded with tunnel vision. These protests will not be manipulated by anyone or anything including polls.
Truth is. People are just plain mad. I have seen a lot of older people at these demonstrations in the videos, so it is not all young people. Do not listen to the media, or lay too much attention to polls. Be vigilant. There is so much disinformation out there that we must stop and take a breath. Something wicked this way comes.

Maybe this Schoen guy has an ax to grind, one would hardly expect the Wall Street Journal to have a pro OWS stance. He also works for Fox News, and we all know how they feel about OWS, incidentally both the WSJ and Fox News are both owned by Murdoch's News Corp.

Douglas Schoen is an American political analyst, pollster, author, and commentator. He is a political analyst for Fox News

I feel it's only fair to note that some people feel that Schoen may have misrepresented some of his results.

Shoen said, “President Obama and the Democratic leadership are making a critical error in embracing the Occupy Wall Street movement—and it may cost them the 2012 election.”[3][10] Shoen said the protesters represent “an unrepresentative segment of the electorate that believes in radical redistribution of wealth, civil disobedience and, in some instances, violence,” and that their common bond is “a deep commitment to left-wing policies.”[3][10] Shoen believes that the Democratic Party should not appeal to voters who support taxing oil companies and the rich, but rather to voters in the middle who want lower taxes.[3] However, other authors reviewed the answers and said that Schoen misrepresented the results. When asked, "What frustrates you the most about the political process in the United States?" 30% said "Influence of corporate/moneyed/special interests," and 21% said "Partisanship." Only 3% said, "Our democratic/capitalist system" and 6% said "Income inequality." When asked, "What would you like to see the Occupy Wall Street movement achieve?" 35% said "Influence the Democratic Party the way the Tea Party has influenced the GOP" and 11% said, "Break the two-party duopoly." Only 4% said "Radical redistribution of wealth."[11][12]

Source for quotes:
en.wikipedia.org...
Additional sources:
thinkprogress.org...
www.capitalnewyork.com...

reply to post by projectvxn


I was thinking about this today and the majority of those protesters are under 30 ? Right do i have that wrong?

I seem to remember under Obamas Care Act and new regulations that said that anyone under the age of 26 is covered by their mother and fathers health insurance.

Ultra left wing ideologues covers those protesters quite nicely and are not above using any means necessary to achieve their wants and desires and of course that is what this is all about them their id running wild and the information that have gathered comes straight from the internet without any questioning.

If you think they are going about it the wrong way, then what ideas do you have?
I am willing to listen apparently protests have been infiltrated and hijacked twice... now what do we do?
Should we allow lobbying to continue?
Should we allow devaluation of our money to continue?
Should we allow tax loopholes to continue?
Should we allow our money go to foreign wars and foreign aid?

And if you answered no, then how do we get our voice heard (voting is not working).

reply to post by jlv70


I don't know, there some truth to it I think. For all the claims of the OWS people being the 99%, when you break down a lot of their views, they wouldn't even garner 50% support of the overall American Voters. It seems that a lot of the OWS crowd has more in common with the G7 protesters than with mainstream America.

Just my opinon.

Here are the results of a recent Time Magazine poll:

IN THE PAST FEW DAYS, A GROUP OF PROTESTORS HAS BEEN GATHERING ON WALL STREET IN NEW YORK CITY AND SOME OTHER CITIES TO PROTEST POLICIES WHICH THEY SAY FAVOR THE RICH, THE GOVERNMENT’S BANK BAILOUT, AND THE INFLUENCE OF MONEY IN OUR POLITICAL SYSTEM. IS YOUR OPINION OF THESE PROTESTS VERY FAVORABLE, SOMEWHAT FAVORABLE, SOMEWHAT UNFAVORABLE, VERY UNFAVORABLE, OR DON’T YOU KNOW ENOUGH ABOUT THE PROTESTS TO HAVE AN OPINION? VERY FAVORABLE 25% SOMEWHAT FAVORABLE 29% SOMEWHAT UNFAVORABLE 10% VERY UNFAVORABLE 13% DON’T KNOW ENOUGH 23% NO ANSWER/DON’T KNOW 1%

Source:
markcrispinmiller.com...

reply to post by jlv70


I don't think either the OWS group themselves or the general public know exactly what OWS is really about yet. They have grievances but no solutions. It's easy to bitch about things, far harder to fix and or change things. The Tea Party organized to change things, using the democratic system at the ballot box. OWS seems like they would be happy just overthrowing the status quo by any means. I don't sense them politically organizing very much.

Time magazine poll that particular one just like any poll is reflective of its readership which lean left just like any other poll taker leans differently.

Here another one:

thehill.com...

Everyone has polls.

I like the fact that OWS is staying out of conventional political activities, once you enter the democratic system your in their arena where they can keep it controlled.
As far as easy goes, getting clubbed, maced, fined, sent to Rykers Island, or sleeping in the streets of Manhatten doesn't sound very easy to me.
In regards to polls, your right I've seen a lot of obvious BS in polls, but I so rarely see a poll that I like the results of that I just can't resist.

Sixty-seven percent of those who responded to a Quinnipiac University survey said they agreed with the Occupy Wall Street protesters, who are upset that banks were allowed to earn huge profits after being bailed out during the recession, while average Americans remained under financial strain.

Source:
news.yahoo.com...

Originally posted by ldyserenity
If you think they are going about it the wrong way, then what ideas do you have?
I am willing to listen apparently protests have been infiltrated and hijacked twice... now what do we do?
Should we allow lobbying to continue?

------Yes. Lobbying isn't the problem. Money changing hands in the process is.

Should we allow devaluation of our money to continue?

Absolutely not but you're not going to prevent that by taxing people more or demonizing the rich. No matter how rich they may be.

Should we allow tax loopholes to continue?

Can you define a "tax loophole"? I'm not trying to be obtuse but many people are incorrect when defining what this means.

Should we allow our money go to foreign wars and foreign aid?

That depends on who you ask. There are some engagements I think are fine while I disagree with others.

And if you answered no, then how do we get our voice heard (voting is not working).

Voting isn't working?

Why not do what the Tea Party did? The got fiscal conservatives elected. They even ran against other republicans to get it done. You want change? Pack your people into congress and the senate. It's not going to help you to sit around and cry about how you can't do anything because "voting isn't working".

Another thing everyone here should note, you're NOT ALWAYS GOING TO GET YOUR WAY. Sometimes you have to suck up the suck. You make changes where you can. Standing around blaming others isn't going to help you. Taxing rich people ain't gonna help, class warfare doesn't help, threatening revolution doesn't help(I'm not directing this at you but generally as I am not entirely sure of your politics).

So at the end of the day the Tea Party got a lot of their people elected. Much legislation that would have otherwise passed regardless of who had control of the House did NOT. And that is a good thing.

Since the Tea Party got elected they have been browbeaten by republicans AND democrats for not compromising on fiscal issues to the point where both parties blamed the Tea Party people for the S & P downgrade. And yet they stick to their guns.

Stop whining about how it doesn't work for you and MAKE IT work for you.

I give up I'll just wait for this:
11/11/11

reply to post by ldyserenity


God I love ATS.

reply to post by projectvxn


At least you got the humor of it.

reply to post by jlv70


Maybe he does have an ax to grind.

But his numbers are showing nearly exactly what the ATS numbers are showing.

Are you saying that ATS is grinding the same ax?

Some 37 percent of people back the protests that have spread from New York to cities across the country and abroad, one of the first snapshots of how the public views the "Occupy Wall Street" movement. A majority of those protest supporters are Democrats, but the anger about politics in general is much more widespread, the poll indicates.

Of the Americans who support the Wall Street protests, 64 percent in the poll are Democrats, while 22 percent are independents and just 14 percent are Republicans. The protest backers are more likely to approve of President Barack Obama and more likely to disapprove of Congress than are people who don't support the demonstrations.

The poll found that most protest supporters do not blame Obama for the economic crisis. Sixty-eight percent say former President George W. Bush deserves "almost all" or "a lot but not all" of the blame. Just 15 percent say Obama deserves that much blame. Nearly six in 10 protest supporters blame Republicans in Congress for the nation's economic problems, and 21 percent blame congressional Democrats.

hosted.ap.org...

Here is another poll released today interesting read there isn't it.?

reply to post by DavidsHope

During the Vietnam war protests there was considerable violence. It didn't start out that way but it escalated.
it escalated because the then PTB refused to listen. As their refusal grew demonstrations grew. And then came Kent State, along with a few other incidents.

Awesome, so, when I hold someone/something hostage, and don't get what I want... it's "TPTB" fault that I had to resort to violence.

Interesting course of logic.

When people began to die the media took notice. But mainly not until then did anyone take seriously the demonstrations. Know what happened? Vietnam stopped.

And a very skewed interpretation of history.

Vietnam was not fought as a war to win. There were multiple factors that influenced our withdraw. For one - the NVA and VC were persistent as all holy hell. The other end of it was that the South Vietnamese were tired of the war and the killing of people they saw as family (remember - many of those Asian cultures have lived and worked family fields/farms/property for generations upon generations - something Americans have a little difficulty grasping). They no longer valued their independent sovereignty over the lives of family.

At that point - the war was a strategic loss from which there could be no recovery, as there is no longer a way to win.

The protests here in the U.S. had little to do with it, honestly.

reply to post by jlv70


Let me clear this up a little more to see how ridiculous your charge of bias is:

Survey Results: Occupy Wall Street

48% support the overall direction of Occupy Wall St.

And yet only 26% believe that Occupy Wall St. has a cohesive message.
(Agree with the direction but don't know the message? Sounds like blindly following to me)

33% believe that Occupy Wall St. can initiate a good global change. I don't see how as no one knows what that change is...Reminds me of the 2008 election of Barack Obama.

49% believe that the actions of Wall St. Banks and other financial institutions are one factor responsible for the current economic crisis. (I agree there)

A whopping 73% believe that Washington politicians are at fault than anyone else for the current state of the economy and that cronyism should be punished.

Now here is where it gets interesting 43% of respondents believe that government spending on infrastructure and social programs, and jobs is necessary. (Because that worked last time when Obama spent a trillion to get it done right?)

33% believe entitlements should be a basic right of citizenship. I'm guessing these aren't the conservative members and guests responding.

The majority of those polled believe that the end of the protests will become violent. Which brings me to the next point that I outlined in the OP. A whole 1/3rd just like Douglas Schoen says, believe violence is necessary to get the message across(even though they don't know what the message is).


So right there we have parallels with Schoen's work. The entitlement culture. The desire for more government spending and bigger government. The desire for violence.

Maybe Schoen ran the ATS poll as well?

I think this article is purposely making the protests seem more left than it is. No mention of any conservatives at all.

Or am I completely out of touch with the movement? Ron Paul, end the fed? Why are so many people for the bank bailouts?

"Fewer than one in three (32%) call themselves Democrats, while roughly the same proportion (33%) say they aren't represented by any political party. "

What about the other 33%?

reply to post by jessejamesxx


Read my post above.

If the article were trying to do that then so would the ATS poll taken well before this article was released.