The Effects of Occupy Wall Street on public opinion (2022. 10)
- Author : Hyun-Jin Cha
- Publication : The Journal of International Relations
- Publisher : The East Asian Association Of International Studies
- Volume : 25(3)
- Date : October 2022
Abstract: This paper aims to analyze the effects of protests on public opinion. This research analyzes how Occupy Wall Street (OWS) from the United States in 2011 affects public opinions about economic crisis. This paper argues that individuals differently evaluate the cause of economic crisis depending on their preferences of the OWS. That is, an individual who favors to OWS is likely to hold for the OWS the Republicans and the former President Bush more accountable than the Democrats and the then President Obama. This is because the protest’s slogan, “we are 99%,” makes people aware of the fundamental inequality between the rich and the poor. The empirical findings from the 2011-2012 American National Election Studies (ANES) demonstrated the main hypotheses. This paper contributes on the effects of social movements on public opinion which has been overlooked by existing literature.