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The Demographics of Occupy Wall Street

T

ThePlayDrive

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There has been much controversy over the answer to the question: Who are these "occupiers"? Are the 75% students, 90% poor, 110% greedy, 200% socialists?! Well now we (kind of, almost, better than that what we had before) have an answer!

None of the above. But here is what they claim to be.

They aren't all kids. Xers, Boomers, and older are also in on it: One-third of respondents is older than 35, and one-fourth is 45 or older.

It's not all students and the educated elite. About 8% have, at best, a high school degree. And just about a quarter (26.7%) are enrolled in school. Only about 10% are full-time students.

"Get a job!" wouldn't apply to most of them. Half of the respondents are already employed full-time, and an additional 20% work part-time. Just 13.1% are unemployed—not a whole lot more than the national average.

"Tax the rich!" could hit close to home. About 15% earn between $50,000 and $80,000 annually (pretty good anywhere except in Manhattan). Thirteen percent earn over $75,000 annually, and nearly 2% bring in more than $150,000.

It may be a party, but not that kind. The movement is often identified as a liberal, even Democrat-dominated cause. But just 27.3% of respondents call themselves Democrats (and 2.4% are Republican). And the rest, 70% call themselves independents.

Not everyone tweets. The microblogging site played a big role in getting the movement started. But that's not how most people keep up with it. Twenty-nine percent of respondents are regular Twitter users. But 66% are Facebook regulars. The biggest online community, however, is YouTube, with about 74% being regular users.

The Demographics Of Occupy Wall Street
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theplaydrive said:
There has been much controversy over the answer to the question: Who are these "occupiers"? Are the 75% students, 90% poor, 110% greedy, 200% socialists?! Well now we (kind of, almost, better than that what we had before) have an answer!

None of the above. But here is what they claim to be.
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Interesting...although I'm not sure using visitors to the OWS website is necessarily a representative sample.
 
StillBallin75 said:
Interesting...although I'm not sure using visitors to the OWS website is necessarily a representative sample.
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I agree, that's why I said "kind of, almost, better than that what we had before".
 
The article says that only 25% of their sample attended an event. Sounds like it has the accuracy of a cnn.com poll.
 
Samhain said:
The article says that only 25% of their sample attended an event. Sounds like it has the accuracy of a cnn.com poll.
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Not so fast. I have my own questions about the sample as well, but just because you sympathize or are part of a movement doesn't mean you necessarily have to attend an event.
 
Most of those numbers don't even dispute the generalizations. I don't understand why many of them even need disputed.

Many of them unemployed? Yeah, surely we could understand why they are upset.
Many are lower incomes (relatively). Sure, so? They cant complain because they aren't rich?

It is good that fewer and fewer are wanting to be associated with either party.
 
StillBallin75 said:
Not so fast. I have my own questions about the sample as well, but just because you sympathize or are part of a movement doesn't mean you necessarily have to attend an event.
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That's not what your premise is. Your premise is the demographics of OWS.

Now you are saying that this represents its supporters? Try Gallup, they say 57% of the country is a supporter.
 
Samhain said:
That's not what your premise is. Your premise is the demographics of OWS.

Now you are saying that this represents its supporters? Try Gallup, they say 57% of the country is a supporter.
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The fact remains. You don't have to necessarily attend an event to consider yourself a member of the movement. Just because only 25% of those sampled attended an event really doesn't mean anything.
 
StillBallin75 said:
The fact remains. You don't have to necessarily attend an event to consider yourself a member of the movement. Just because only 25% of those sampled attended an event really doesn't mean anything.
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And your poll doesn't count "members of the movement". It polls visitors to a web site. Which anyone, supporters, and non-supporters, can access. So its worthless.
 
Samhain said:
And your poll doesn't count "members of the movement".
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My point is that "members of OWS" is very loosely defined. Where do you draw the line?

It polls visitors to a web site. Which anyone, supporters, and non-supporters, can access. So its worthless.
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And what makes you think the analysts didn't simply eliminate those who were non-members of OWS by asking them "Do you consider yourself to be a member of OWS"?
 
StillBallin75 said:
My point is that "members of OWS" is very loosely defined. Where do you draw the line?



And what makes you think the analysts didn't simply eliminate those who were non-members of OWS by asking them "Do you consider yourself to be a member of OWS"?
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Because they don't tell you if they did.

I'm not trying to state that this movement, or any other movement, is or isn't diverse. Just pointing out that the article being quoted has holes the size of a Mac truck.
 
Harry Guerrilla said:
I preferred this one.

View attachment 67117025
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I saw that; a friend of mine posted it on Facebook. The problem with that analysis is that the problems that face this country go way beyond what individuals can control. There are real structural issues with our economy, not that her achievements aren't admirable. Given the current state of the economy and the political paralysis in Washington, people have every damn right to be angry at something.
 
StillBallin75 said:
I saw that; a friend of mine posted it on Facebook. The problem with that analysis is that the problems that face this country go way beyond what individuals can control. There are real structural issues with our economy, not that her achievements aren't admirable. Given the current state of the economy and the political paralysis in Washington, people have every damn right to be angry at something.
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The majority of those picture posts involve, "I have a bunch of college debt", "I can't find a job" and "I'm a single mother"....
I'm sympathetic to those who truly can't find a job, but the other stuff, it wavers.

Taking a loan out for $150k to get a degree in, Aquatic Bohemian Interpretative Dance, wasn't smart for some.
 
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