Occupy Wall Street Protests not working? What do you think?

[HappySqurriel]

fordy said:

So at first, you say nobody knows what the occupy movement stands for, now you say they're against it. You do realise that you destroyed your own argument there as this being a legitimate and accurate poll, don't you? How can someone support or oppose something that apparently nobody knows anything about?

Actually, he really didn't ...

Public opinion polling is not based on an well-informed understanding of something, it is based on how people respond to a series of quesions about them.

With no clear message from OWS, people initially assumed that it was a movement to demonstrate rate against investment banks which prosper due to their close ties to governmen; and the vast majority of people are against this kind of behaviour, so they supported the movement. As the movement grew, spread to other cities, and misbehaviour became rampant while no message emerged people became less supportive of the movement.

While the phrasing of the poll question is poor, it is clear that the intention of the pollster was to ensure that people were reporting their support (or lack thereof) for the "movement" and not the illegal acts and misbehaviour of the protestors.