Why Occupy Wall Street Is More Popular than the Tea Party

[Swede]

One of the juicier nuggets in TIME’s wide-ranging new poll is that voters are embracing the Occupy Wall Street movement as they sour on the Tea Party. Twice as many respondents (54%) have a favorable impression of the eclectic band massing in lower Manhattan’s Zuccotti Park than of the conservative movement that has, after two years, become a staple of the American political scene.

A closer look at the poll’s cross-tabs provides a fuller picture of the movement’s diverse support. Occupy Wall Street enjoys majority backing among men (57%) and women (51%), young (60% of respondents 18 to 34) and old (51%). Self-identified Democrats, unsurprisingly, comprise the left-leaning movement’s largest bloc, with 66% professing support. But more than half of independents (55%) harbor favorable views of the protesters, as do a third of Republicans.



Read more: http://swampland.time.com/2011/10/13/why-occupy-wall-street-s-more-popular-than-the-tea-party/#ixzz1axriyPOb

[mother earth]

1. That's right, across the board, it's Working Class America

standing up, at least! Let the wave grow, until they can no longer deny us! That's the beautiful and incredible thing, they've finally united the people, without ever wanting to.

[tblue37]

2. But _Time_ doesn't get it--or CHOOSES NOT to get it:

There are warning signs embedded in the good news too. Not the least of these is the Tea Party’s own waning influence. That grassroots movement also grew from the seeds of economic frustration, generalized rage at Washington’s policies and a virulent strain of populism. Over time, those broadly popular sentiments calcified into a hard-line movement that regards political cooperation as grounds for a primary challenge. TIME’s poll provides a snapshot of a movement that no longer boasts the broad support it once enjoyed. Just 34% say the Tea Party has had a positive impact on U.S. politics, including just 35% of independents. Only 11% of respondents familiar with the movement call themselves members. It’s easy to trace the Tea Party’s withering support to its obstinacy; 89% of those surveyed argue that it’s better for politicians to find common ground than to be hidebound to fixed principles.

The popularity of the Tea Party waned because it was never a real grassroots movement, but merely Koch-funded astroturf campaign aimed at rebrandng the Republican Party.

Many of the few "real" people who signed on to the Tea Party have been royally pissed off at the way Sarah Palin, Michelle Bachmann, and the Republicn honchos have come in to take over their movement and to coopt their "brand" for Republican/corporatist business as usual. Those are the "Tea Party" members who have been drawn to OWS. The rest are just a combination of paid shills and the same authoritarian-follower fools who will always obediently swallow anything the Republicans (or any other authoritarian-leader type)ask them to swallow.

[customerserviceguy]

3. The tea partiers have actually accomplished a few of their goals

When we see OWS accomplishing something, let's see what the polls say who's pissed about it. But, they should enjoy the fact that they're the leading protest movement in this country, maybe they can keep it going until November, 2012.