Overall, 58 percent of New York voters said they generally agree with the protesters' views. | REUTERS Poll: N.Y. GOP OK with protests

While most New York Republicans disagree with the Occupy Wall Street protesters, an overwhelming majority say they support the movement’s right to protest, according to a new poll.

In a Quinnipiac University survey released Thursday, 53 percent of Republicans said they generally disagree with the demonstrators, but 71 percent think it is OK that the protesters have taken to the streets.


Among New York Democrats, 12 percent said they disagreed with the protesters, while a whopping 86 percent of them said they support the Occupiers’ right to demonstrate on Wall Street.

Overall, 58 percent of New York voters said they generally agree with the protesters’ views, while 28 percent said they generally disagree. Asked whether it is OK that the Occupiers are protesting regardless of one’s personal views about the protests, more than eight out of 10 New Yorkers, 82 percent, said the demonstrations were OK.

A majority of New Yorkers, 71 percent, said they have been following news about the Wall Street protests either very closely or somewhat closely, including 68 percent of Democrats and 70 percent of Republicans.

But fewer New Yorkers, 60 percent of them, said they understand the views of the Occupy protesters either very well or fairly well, including 62 percent of Democrats and 47 percent of Republicans.

On another issue, almost seven out of 10 New Yorkers, 66 percent, said they think New York’s soon-to-expire “millionaires’ tax” should be extended, while 26 percent said it should sunset.

Republicans were more supportive of ending the tax – 57 percent of them said the tax should be extended, while 34 percent said it should expire. Among New York Democrats, 72 percent said the tax should be extended, while just 20 percent said it should end.

The poll was conducted Oct. 18 to 24 among 1,540 registered voters and has a margin of error of plus or minus 2.5 percentage points.