Occupy L.A.: State voters agree with protest issues, poll says
A majority of California voters say they agree with the underlying reasons for the Occupy protests, but a smaller number say they identify with the protesters, according to Field Poll results released Tuesday.
In the past two months, protesters have set up camp in cities across the United States to protest income inequality and corporate influence in government.
The latest Field Poll results show that 58% of California voters surveyed agreed with the reasons for the protests but only 46% said they personally identify a lot or somewhat with the movement.
Support for the Occupy protests was starkly split on party lines, with more than two-thirds (64%) of Democrats saying they sympathized with the movement, while nearly three-quarters (73%) of Republicans said they did not.
One large underlying difference between Occupy supporters and non-supporters was the matter of where they placed blame for the country's economic woes.
Voters who identified with the Occupy movement said 52% to 24% that financial institutions and Wall Street are more to blame than the federal government for economic problems.
Those who did not identify with the protesters blamed the federal government more, 64% to 20%. The rest said "both" or had no opinion.
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— Abby Sewell
Photo: The Occupy L.A. camp early Tuesday morning. Photo: Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times.
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