A new Time Magazine poll shows that the protesters down at Zuccotti Park as part of the Occupy Wall Street demonstrations are viewed favorably by 54 percent of Americans.  Meanwhile, the poll found that only 27 percent have similar feelings toward Occupy Wall Street’s right wing counterpart, the Tea Party.

The poll comes out just as Mayor Mike Bloomberg has ordered the protesters to temporarily vacate the park so that it can be cleaned, something that may spark a confrontation between the police and the demonstrators.

The poll also comes out as the Tea Party is resisting comparisons to Occupy Wall Street.

One Tea Party organizer told Politico “The left is trying to create a counter force to the tea party, but it’s almost laughable that anyone is comparing the two, because they’re totally different,” while another said, “They just seem really, truly very unhappy, angry,” while Tea Partiers were “kind of cheerful, happy warriors.”

Part of the relative unpopularity of the Tea Party could be because Democratic leaders have fought to paint them as part of the extreme wing of the Republican Party, but one that holds immense influence over rank-and-file Republicans.  Even yesterday, Sen. Chuck Schumer distributed a memo in which he said that Republicans blocking of the president’s jobs bill was going to be label “Tea Party Economics.”

 

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