Survey: Many Occupy Wall Street protesters are unhappy Democrats who want more influence
The demonstration. Matthew Wolfe
2:58 pm Oct. 18, 20117
Here's a little bit more about Doug Schoen's survey of 200 Occupy Wall Street protesters, which he wrote about in today's Wall Street Journal.
In the Journal column, Schoen, who is Michael Bloomberg's pollster, said the survey, conducted by a senior researcher at his firm, was the first "systematic random sample of Occupy Wall Street opinion." Its findings, which formed the basis for Schoen's conclusions about "the movement" as a whole, led him to write that Occupy Wall Street is "dangerously out of touch" with American values and that protesters are "bound by a deep commitment to radical left-wing policies." His lead was, "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."
Left to my own devices to account for the raw responses to the survey (which Schoen was kind enough to send to me), I'd say the opinions of the protesters were not quite as ... exciting as all that. They are about what I would have expected from a poll of the most committed long-haul demonstrators down at Zuccotti Park, who probably skew a lot younger and more activist-y than the much larger numbers of people who have put in appearances downtown but don't have the wherewithal to camp out, and are certainly an imperfect reflection of the overall (apparently majority) segment of New York that has told other pollsters that it sympathizes with what Occupy Wall Street is doing.
What the pre-interpreted numbers seem to show, to me, anyway, is that many of the protesters consider themselves Democrats, many will vote for Obama in 2012, and, relatively speaking, "income inequality" doesn't actually rank too high on their list of grievances.
What frustrates you the most about the political process in the United States? {Open Ended}
30% Influence of corporate/moneyed/special interests
3% Our democratic/capitalist system
3% Stagnant middle class wages
21% Partisanship
15% Joblessness
6% Income inequality
7% Corruption
2% Entrenched bureaucracy
2% Bush tax cuts
2% Obama abandoned left
2% Military spending
2% Federal Reserve
5% Everything
Also, fascinating:
What would you like to see the Occupy Wall Street movement achieve? {Open Ended}
35% Influence the Democratic Party the way the Tea Party has influenced the GOP
4% Radical redistribution of wealth
5% Overhaul of tax system: replace income tax with flat tax
7% Direct Democracy
9% Engage & mobilize Progressives
9% Promote a national conversation
11% Break the two-party duopoly
4% Dissolution of our representative democracy/capitalist system
4% Single payer health care
4% Pull out of Afghanistan immediately
8% Not sure
They sweep the poor out of town and leave them to fend for themselves in a fetid ghetto like Mott Haven, comfortably out of sight from the corner of 57th and Fifth. Then, every once in a long while, some Dartmouth kid will have the bright idea to venture into the outer boroughs on a de facto safari (Oooh, scary!) to get a glimpse of what his people have wrought for the unwashed masses who never had private SAT tutors. And of course, the liberal takeaway is all about how terrible it is. But will they do a fucking thing to change it? Of course not, because, in the end, the bleeding-heart NYC liberals are cut from the same lace cloth as the let-them-eat-cake conservatives. Changing the system is all well and good, but let's not go too nuts. Daddy has to keep his job at Morgan Stanley, charcoal briquette makingafter all.
Everyone wants a free lunch and no one ever wants to pay for it
These Obamavilles are today's Hoovervilles
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When will you stop being a sucker for the billionaires who pay for Rush Limbaugh's prime rib and hookers?
Why do the dumbest people insist on being first to comment?
The residents of Hooverville were protesting against Hoover. The OWS protesters are not protesting against Obama -- rather against Wall Street and its oligarchs. Hardly an "Obamaville".
I do have to say that had this happened under McCain, they would probably be McCainvilles. But that's not the point of the article. You can say that it's a left-leaning movement, but not even close to a radicalized socialist movement like many on the right are screaming.
I'm interested in trying to find out more about this poll. If anyone knows more details of the methodology, contact me at hbowman108@hotmail.com. I plan to conduct some surveys of my own at Zucotti Park in the future, and results will be posted at statisticalspeech.blogspot.com.