http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/ezra-k...

"Can Occupy Wall Street go mainstream? Part of that will depend on how independent voters respond to the burgeoning movement. So far, it’s not “Occupy Wall Street,” but its companion slogan, “We are the 99 percent,” that most effectively captures independent support, according to preliminary findings by Celinda Lake, a leading Democratic pollster.

Lake recently conducted a handful of focus groups — comprised mostly of white, blue-collar, and middle-class voters from swing states — and found that “Occupy Wall Street was actually confusing to some people and associated more with youthful protest,” she told me. By contrast, “ ‘We are the 99 percent’ had a much more immediately political, values-oriented connection. ‘That’s me, that’s what’s wrong, the 1 percent is greedy,’ ” Lake explained. (She adds that the slogan was explained to focus groups as pitting the 99 percent against the 1 percent.)

...Such a distinction might not make a difference to the activists at the heart of the movement, who are proud of Occupy Wall Street’s grassroots origins outside the control of Beltway institutions. But the politicians and professional advocates who have since glommed onto the movement might be more inclined to take heed."