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POLITICS

41% Say Their Views Closer to Tea Party’s Than to Wall Street Protesters’

The Occupy Wall Street protesters have been compared by some with the Tea Party protests that erupted more than two years ago in reaction to Washington’s big government spending plans. Americans are evenly divided in their opinions of those currently protesting against Wall Street but tend to see their own views as more in line with those of the Tea Party. 

The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 41% of American Adults think their personal views are closer to the Tea Party’s than to those of the Occupy Wall Street protesters. Thirty-four percent (34%) feel the views of the Occupy Wall Street protesters are closer to their own. One-in-four adults (26%) are undecided. (To see survey question wording, click here.)
 

Sixty-nine percent (69%) of Republicans say their thinking is more like the Tea Party’s, while 54% of Democrats see their views as closer to those of the Occupy Wall Street protesters. Adults not affiliated with either party think more like the Tea Party by a narrow 36% to 29% margin, with 35% undecided.

Fifty-two percent (52%) of investors are more likely to share the views of the Tea Party, compared to 31% of non-investors.

Forty-four percent (44%) of all Americans now hold at least a somewhat favorable opinion of the Occupy Wall Street protesters while 43% regard the protesters unfavorably. Not surprisingly, both positive and negative reaction are from the beginning of the month.  Still, the numbers remain evenly divided.

These figures include 21% with a Very Favorable view of the protesters and 26% with a Very Unfavorable one.

But most Americans still aren’t paying much attention to the Wall Street protests. Only 26% are following the story Very Closely. That’s up only slightly from the earlier survey. Another 36% are following news on the topic Somewhat Closely.

(Want a free daily e-mail update? If it's in the news, it's in our polls).  Rasmussen Reports updates are also available on Twitter or Facebook.

The survey of 1,000 Adults was conducted on October 21-22, 2011 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. Field work for all Rasmussen Reports surveys is conducted by Pulse Opinion Research, LLC. See methodology.

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