According to a new Pew Research/Washington Post poll, nearly 40 percent of Americans support the Occupy Wall Street movement. In contrast, only 32 percent of Americans support the Tea Party movement. Conversely, while 44 percent oppose the Tea Party movement, just 35 percent oppose the Occupy movement.

Politicians jockeying for the Independent vote in 2012 may want to take note that more Independents support the Occupy Wall Street movement than do not: 43% support the movement and 35% are opposed. By contrast, the balance of opinion among Independents toward the Tea Party is much more negative: Just 30% of Independents support the Tea Party movement; nearly 50% are opposed.

Among those who have followed news about the Occupy  protests very closely, 60% say they support the movement, and 31% oppose it.  Support drops to 33% among those who say they have not followed the news too closely, and it is just 12% among those who have not followed the news of the protests at all. In other words, the more aware Americans are about the Occupy Movement, the more likely they are to support it.

Interestingly, according to a different survey released by Time last week, the Occupy Wall Street movement is more popular than either Barack Obama or the Tea Party. President Obama has an approval rating of 44 percent. That stands in contrast to the 54 percent who say their opinion of Occupy Wall Street is either “very favorable” or “somewhat favorable”. Comparatively, the Tea Party only garnered a 27 percent approval rating,

In that same survey, a full 86 percent agree that Wall Street and its lobbyists have “too much influence in Washington.” Furthermore, 68 percent agree that wealthy Americans should pay more in taxes..