Polling on statement topics

I think it might be helpful for each statement topic to be accompanied by a reference to a national, scientific poll that shows how support for this part of the statement reflects broad, popular opinion. If no poll has been done, then volunteers could be organized to conduct a poll.

The success of OWS will ultimately be determined by whether it truly gives a better voice to the 99%-and that will mean really listening to people unlikely to show up at rallies and protests.

We may even be able to get a recognized polling oganization to donate this to the movement, if we can be clear enough in our specifications.

Years ago, I use to work at the National Opinion Research Center.

Part of why I suggest this:
OWS has a lot of volunteer energy-and this something labor intensive and potentially useful. It could provide a sanity check on a lot of ideas floating around.

It isn't all that hard to do. Typically it involves getting a few hundred folks to describe themselves and answer a few questions. One big problem is a lot of folks don't want to answer questions. That is overcome sometimes by offering small amounts of cash. IF you ask the right questions, you can classify voters pretty well and adjust your data accordingly.

I think where some national polling organizations would be helpful is interpreting data and validating/certifying results.