Occupy Wall Street- A Growing Force?
ORC International's Tracking Results Shows Awareness of Movement Continues to Grow
PRINCETON, N.J., Nov. 3, 2011 Positive sentiment toward the Occupy Wall Street movement continues to grow
based on a new poll and ongoing social media analysis by global market research firm, ORC International. Our
most recent social media analysis shows that while positive sentiment toward the movement has remained
essentially unchanged, negative sentiment has declined by eight points from 35% in early October to 27% now.
Social dialogue continues to grow and peaked on October 14 – with 1.7 million posts – when talks sparked around
the clean-up of Zuccotti Park – the Occupy Wall Street location. The previous peak of 1 million posts was tracked
on October 6 after President Obama's commentary about the movement.
These findings are further supported by a telephone poll released today by ORC International** showing a 13
point increase in awareness – nearly two-thirds of Americans (64%) – are now aware of the movement.
Additionally, more than one-third now agree (36%) with the movement's position – up 9 points from early
October.
According to Jeffrey Resnick, Global Managing Director of Innovation and Strategy for ORC International,
"Continued wide coverage by the media is bringing Occupy Wall Street into the living rooms of America. Global
protests have tapped into shared frustrations of societal inequality and have helped to fuel the broadening impact
of the movement. OWS is clearly gaining momentum. If interest in the movement and commitment to it continue,
it has the potential to become an enduring movement. The final chapter in this story is far from written."
Jenny Verbitsky, Product Manager for ORC's Social Analytics Solutions further commented saying "We're really
starting to see the movement grow via the social space. Since September, there have been over 33 million posts,
of which more than 20 million were posted in October alone – which is when we began to see a rise in protest
locations globally. It's very telling how influential social media has been when it comes to spreading the word."
*Social media analysis gathered using Infegy's Social Radar listening tool.
**Poll conducted using ORC International's CARAVAN® service from October 29-31, 2011. The poll interviewed
1005 US Adults by telephone.
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