Who Are the 99%?

Who are the people participating in the Occupy Wall Street movement?

As the Occupy Wall Street movement has grown from just angry people in New York City, it has moved across the country and now there are protesters in almost every major city. Although they have several missions, the majority of the movement is leaderless and continually evolving.

Like many of us, I'm confused by the media coverage of the occupation. Some reporters say that people are angry about the lack of jobs while others say that they are protesting what they see as the wholesale purchase of America by the banks and others are there to speak out about the huge economic disparity between the top 1% and the rest of the country.

Recently, I went to our nation's capital to meet with the protesters and see what they were all about. I was surprised at how revolutionary this revolution really is. The Occupy D.C group was made up of people from several different groups along with individuals who weren't affiliated with any political organization.

Unlike other protests and movements, this one doesn't have an official anything. However, the people at Fast Company, who also wanted to know who the protester were, surveyed visitors to Occupywallstreet.org, the closest thing to an official website the group has, to find out what their thoughts.

Their results were surprising. The protesters are often portrayed as college students and young people who are unemployed, white Democrats. The poll's result showed that, for the most part, that assumption is completely false.

The surveys were done at two times, one on Oct 5 and the other on Oct 21. Although the demographic didn't change, the degree of participation did. On Oct 5th, only 24% of visitors had actually taken part in a protest while on Oct 21st, the number soared to 43%.

Take a look at the infographic to see who the protester are:

What do you think about this data? Were you surprised at all? Please share your thoughts in the comments.