From Quinnipiac:
By a 67 - 23 percent margin, New York City voters agree with the views of the Wall Street protesters and say 87 - 10 percent that it is "okay that they are protesting," according to a Quinnipiac University poll released today.
Agreeing with the protesters views are Democrats 81 - 11 percent and independent voters 58 - 30 percent, while Republicans disagree 58 - 35 percent, the independent Quinnipiac University poll finds. Even Republicans, however, agree 73 - 23 percent with the protesters right to be there.
New York City voters say 72 - 24 percent, including 52 - 41 percent among Republicans, that if the protesters obey the law, they can stay as long as they wish.
This widespread support for the Occupy Wall Street movement will, we can only hope, help forestall efforts to disperse the protesters. While Mike Bloomberg, in his final (thank god) term as mayor, probably figures he's immune to such pressure, other local elected officials will certainly care how their actions vis-a-vis OWS are perceived.
Also, I thought this finding was interesting:
A total of 72 percent of voters say they understand the protesters' views "very well" or "fairly well," with 17 percent who say "not too well" and 10 percent who say "not well at all."
Of course, we're only talking about residents of New York City here—on the whole, far more liberal than average, and also more likely to be exposed to media coverage of the movement. Some respondents may well have even had direct contact with the protests. But given OWS's steadfast adherence to a "no platform" platform, these numbers are surprising nonetheless. It seems like populist discontent over the fortunes of the 1 percent versus those of the 99 percent translates with remarkable clarity even in the absence of a 10-point program.
