Poll Watch: 32% Have Favorable View of Occupy Wall Street
Protesters and members of Occupy Wall Street wait for the start of the march, during an annual demonstration calling for a stop to police brutality in New York October 22, 2011
Although most Americans don’t trust Wall Street, that hasn’t translated into full support –or understanding– of the Occupy Wall Street movement. Despite large majorities who think that Wall Street bankers are greedy, overpaid and dishonest, four in ten don’t have an opinion about the weeks-long protests, according to a new CNN/ORC International poll released Monday.
Among those who have an opinion, the public is split on how they feel about Occupy Wall Street. Thirty-two percent of Americans say they have a favorable view of the movement that has spread from Wall Street to Chicago, and that even cropped up at the most recent CNN presidential debate in Las Vegas. Twenty-nine percent of the nation says they have an unfavorable view of Occupy Wall Street.
But opinions are clear about Wall Street itself. Eight in ten say Wall Street bankers are greedy, 77% say they’re overpaid, and two-thirds say Wall Street bankers are dishonest, a number that has gone up by a third in roughly two decades.
Over time, opinions about the financial center of the U.S. have gotten worse. In the 1990s, only 30% of the country said they had no trust at all in Wall Street to do what is best for the economy, 24 percentage points lower than now.
Pretty much what I would expect. Most Americans are too caught up in their own lives to involve themselves in a protest movement in which there are NO clear goals or objectives.
Although this “occupation” may last a while, eventually it will just flame out with NO real impact. What will have an impact will be the Presidential race for 2012 which starts in the first week of the New Year with the Iowa GOP Caucuses.