The Wall Street Journal reports that:
But the actual question does not mention Occupy Wall Street. Instead we ge these two questions:
The Occupy Wall Street Movement: 16% very positive, 16% somewhat positive, 20% neutral, 12% somewhat negative, 23% very negative, 13% don’t know name
Q22 Do you consider yourself a supporter of the Occupy Wall Street Movement?
28% Yes, 63% No, 2% Depends, 7% Not sure
How can The Journal lead with a statement that 75% of Americans agree with the Occupy movement, but then fail to include the net negatives on the movement in their write up?
Here is the question The Journal bases their lead on:
The current economic structure of the country is out of balance and favors a very small proportion of the rich over the rest of the country. America needs to reduce the power of major banks and corporations and demand greater accountability and transparency. The government should not provide financial aid to corporations and should not provide tax breaks to the rich.
The national debt must be cut significantly by reducing spending and the size of government, including eliminating some federal agencies and programs. Regulations on business by the federal government should be reduced and instead, the private sector and individuals should have greater control. The government should not raise taxes on anyone.
But how can The Journal assign the first view to the Occupy movement? The first sentence can be assigned to them maybe. But the second is a total projection by the pollsters. The Occupy movement quite famously has not come up with policy proposals. More importantly, the vast majority of Tea Party members would agree with the second two sentences: “America needs to reduce the power of major banks and corporations and demand greater accountability and transparency. The government should not provide financial aid to corporations and should not provide tax breaks to the rich.”
Juxtaposing the first and second statements is a completely bogus way to compare the views of the Occupy and Tea Party movements.
