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Siena Poll: Occupy Wall Street Doesn’t Represent “99 Percent”

Posted by: Joseph Spector - Posted in Uncategorized on Nov 15, 2011

By a 66 percent to 31 percent margin, New York voters say that the Occupy Wall Street movement does not represent 99 percent of people, according to a Siena College poll today. But the poll said that by a 57 percent to 40 percent margin, protesters should be allowed to occupy public parks 24 hours a day.

The poll comes on the morning of New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg decided early day to clear Zuccotti Park near Wall Street of protesters, saying in a statement that, “No right is absolute and with every right comes responsibilities. The First Amendment gives every New Yorker the right to speak out – but it does not give anyone the right to sleep in a park or otherwise take it over to the exclusion of others – nor does it permit anyone in our society to live outside the law.”

A majority of Democrats said in the Siena poll that they do not believe the movement represents 99 percent of people. By a 58 percent to 37 percent margin, voters believe that the Occupy Wall Street movement does not have a clear message, said Siena College pollster Steven Greenberg.

Support for the Occupy Wall Street movement appears to be waning, according to the poll. Voters had a 45 percent to 44 percent favorable view of the movement, today’s poll found. That’s down from 49 percent to 38 percent last month.