Latest poll confirms; OWS is an extremely Leftist movement.

It has been quite a struggle to point out to people just how Leftist the occupy movement truly is.  What makes it more frustrating is that certain "libertarian" bloggers and other individuals who are sympathetic with the underlying movement are either turning a blind eye or plain ignorant about the makeup of the protesters.

I have tried to present pictures and ideas, but am still accused of generalizing and blowing things out of proportion.

So a recent poll conducted with 301 protesters is shedding quite a light and confirming many of my suspicions.

Some of the highlights:


15. What is your employment status (check one)
Student………………………………………………………….25
Employed full-time……………………………………………..30
Unemployed…………………………………………………….28
Employed part-time…………………………………………….18

Fascinating.  70% of the protesters are either students, unemployed or partially employed.   So much for representing main stream America. 


1. Do you approve or disapprove of the way Barack Obama is handling his job as president?
Approve……………………………………………………..27%
Disapprove…………………………………………………. 73%

Obama is economically, a very liberal president.  He believes in distribution, bailouts, corporatism (biggest recipient of Wall St. donations, auto bailouts), green technology to the point of stupidity (Solyndra), class warfare and other popular Lefist rhetoric.  Despite all that, he is getting major disapproval from the OWS folks!



3. If the 2012 election for the U.S. House of Representatives were being held today, would you
vote for the Republican candidate or the Democratic candidate in your district?
Democratic candidate………………………………………42
Republican candidate………………………………………...4
Wouldn’t vote……………………………………………....22
Someone else……………………………………………….32

While these folks are disillusioned with Obama, they still prefer Democrat over anyone else.  




5. Is your opinion of the Tea Party movement favorable, unfavorable or haven’t you heard
enough about it?
Favorable……………………………………………………..7
Unfavorable…………………………………………………75
Haven’t heard enough……………………………………....18

This one is no surprise, but for the pundits out there claiming that there are many similarities between Tea Parties and OWS - firstly, completely incorrect and secondly, a vast majority disapproves of the TP suggesting there is no appreciation for the perceived commonality. 


...and the two big ones...


8. Generally speaking, which of the following political parties do you identify with most closely?
(check one)
Democratic…………………………………………………25
Republican…………………………………………………..2
Tea Party…………………………………………………….0  
Socialist Party……………………………………………...11
Green Party………………………………………………...11
Other……………………………………………………….12
I do not identify with any party……………………………39



17. When it comes to politics, do you usually think of yourself as (check one):
Extremely liberal………………………………………………….39 
Liberal…………………………………………………………….33 
Slightly liberal…………………………………………………......8
Moderate/middle of the road……………………………………..15
Slightly conservative………………………………………………2
Conservative……………………………………………………….3
Extremely conservative……………………………………………1


Right.  So we have 11% admitting to being Socialists.  Green party in the US share many platforms of Socialism, but to be generous we will attribute only half of those to Socialism.   There is an overwhelming amount that does not identify with any party, so we look at question 17 instead.

With 39% identifying as extremely liberal it is the equivalent of modern day Socialists.  Another 33% are liberal, from my experience half of the people who admit to being liberals sympathize with *some* elements of socialism.  We can confidently say that 55% of the people asked prefer some kind of Socialism in this country.   Going back to question 8, the lack of identification combined with Socialist/Green Party identification is about the equivalent that one can deduce from question 17.

Therefore, we can declare two obvious things.

First, there is a vast animosity to the Tea Party - a perfect ideological opposition.  If a majority of Tea Partiers believe in limited government, constrained Federal power and libertarian ideals then the OWS movement endorses big government and more Federal power.   A perfect opposite ideology of the Tea Party is the Socialist party.

Secondly, half of the respondents openly admit to being either left or extremely left of center.

Anyone who claims or thinks that OWS is some kind of organic movement representing a legitimate voice of middle class America is smoking something super potent.


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