Why Occupy Wall Street is more popular than the Tea Party: 5 theories

A new TIME poll says that 27 percent of Americans view the Tea Party favorably — while 54 percent like Occupy Wall Street. What gives?

Occupy Wall Street
(Image credit: Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

Conservatives have been working hard to paint the Occupy Wall Street protesters as an unruly "mob" of dirty, "lazy hippies" and anarchists whose grievances are way outside the mainstream, says Brian Montopoli at CBS News. "The polls don't back that up." A new TIME survey found that 54 percent of Americans hold a favorable view of the Occupy Wall Street protests, while an NBC/Wall Street Journal poll has 37 percent supporting the movement versus 18 percent opposing it. The Tea Party fared much worse: In the TIME poll, 27 percent viewed the Tea Party favorably, while NBC/WSJ found a 28-41 percent support deficit. Why is Occupy Wall Street twice as popular as the Tea Party?

1. Americans like real populists over "fake populists"

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