Bloomberg Mishandled Occupy Wall Street, Says Majority Of Voters In Survey

[Starry Messenger]

http://gothamist.com/2011/12/14/bloomberg_mishandled_occupy_wall_st.php

A Quinnipiac University poll released today found that NYC voters disapprove of the way Mayor Bloomberg has handled the Occupy Wall Street protests, by a margin of 51 - 42 percent. About 50 percent of voters approve of the way the NYPD has handled the protests, with 45 percent disapproving (and 5 percent unsure). But when asked about overall NYPD performance—particularly Commissioner Ray Kelly—voters expressed satisfaction! 66 percent of those polled said they approved of Kelly's work (with the highest response coming from independent voters, at 71 percent). Ray Kelly 2013? Some more interesting findings:

<snip

*More Republicans say they've been following the Occupy Wall Street protests "very closely" than Democrats, with a breakdown of 43 percent (Republican) and 31 percent (Democrats).

*68 percent of all NYC voters say they agree with Occupy Wall Street protesters, and 84 precent of black voters say they approve, more than any other racial group.

<snip>

I had to snip out some of the survey findings due to not being sure if bullet points were considered paragraphs in copyright, so you'll need to follow the links to see the rest. They are very interesting, with 64% of voters saying they like Bloomberg as a person (!), but thought he'd lost focus.

What are people's thoughts on why more Republicans might be watching OWS very closely, more than Democrats?

[kenfrequed]

1. Time to replace him

Bloomberg is a corporate tool that feigns at being socially liberal but swung wildly towards Bush. I think New York can do better and put an actual progressive in the mayors office.

[Starry Messenger]

2. I think so too!

I was shocked to see he polled so high on personal likeability. He's always struck me as kind of a lizard.

[sabrina 1]

3. Republicans are afraid of the people. They watch so they can come up with talking points to try to

undermine it. And as we have learned, they are willing to pay for those talking points. Republicans support Wall Street no matter how corrupt.

The poll showing that 68% of NYers support OWS has to be terrifying for them. That number has gone up since it started btw.

[Starry Messenger]

4. I didn't know it had gone up, very cool.

That *is* quite high. With all of the memes that OWS was "losing the public", this caught my attention when the link popped up on Twitter. Looks like the rumors of OWS being dead are premature.

I remember reading an article about a month ago that Wall Street was watching OWS very closely, that it worried them. I wish I could remember the link.

[sabrina 1]

7. Lol, the rumors of its demise started on the first day.

This is part of the smear campaign, to keep saying 'OWS is dead' and then there are the usual whines 'they have no message' and ' but what do they waaaaaannnt', nobody seems to know!' (lol, this always reminds of CNN's Erin Burnett, the poster girl for how Goldman Sachs influences the media)

And here's proof that while they keep claiming 'it's over', they themselves know and fear that this is far from the truth.

[a href="http://articles.businessinsider.com/2011-11-21/news/30424367_1_memo-political-parties-ows"]Bank Lobbyists Outline Attack On Occupy Wall Street To 'Undermine' Protests[/a]

One high profile DC lobbying group has pitched the American Bankers Association (ABA) to launch an $850,000 campaign to discredit the Occupy Wall Street (OWS) movement, and smear politicians sympathetic to the cause.

MSNBC reports Clark Lytle Geduldig & Cranford, already the lobbying group for the American Bankers Association, Koch Industries, and MasterCard, urged the ABA to perform "opposition research" on OWS so that it could build "negative narratives" about the protest and its supporters.

.....

The memo went on to say: "It may be easy to dismiss OWS as a ragtag group of protesters but they have demonstrated that they should be treated more like an organized competitor who is very nimble and capable of working the media, coordinating third party support and engaging office holders to do their bidding. To counter that, we have to do the same."

Too bad to see people repeating the propaganda though. At least make them pay for it!

[Starry Messenger]

8. Ooh, good article.

Yeah, foolish to do volunteer work for Wall Street. They have all of our money anyway, why not get a little back *and* be an ahole at the same time?

[EC]

5. They're scared..

They really thought they were the majority and the massive size of the movements are scaring them. Well, there is the message that is scary to them too.

[Cid_B]

6. I looked at the article...

... but didn't see the exact phrasing of the question.

Could it be inferred that the poll question includes some respondents who didn't believe he was harsh enough on OWS?

IOW, they disapprove because he let it go on for so long etc...

[sabrina 1]

9. I doubt it. There have been many polls in NY since this began, and almost all of them show a

majority supports the occupiers, including allowing them to use Zuccotti Park. And over 80% in some polls, support their right to be there even if they do not agree with them.

In this poll, the numbers have gone up on those who agree with them.

Bloomberg's handling of this, including the arrests of the media, has not been popular at all. In fact, probably more than anything else, it has helped the movement grow.

[nadinbrzezinski]

10. Tea party... that is why Republicans are following it closely

on a deep level they fear both OWSers and Tea parties finding out just how much in common they got... (And it is happening)

[Fire Walk With Me]

11. "Who are these people!?"