More than two-thirds say Occupiers should go home now as support wanes: poll
Survey highlights that younger and more educated people tend to back the protest - but for the first time supporters are in the minority
A poll continues to show a generation and education gap in people's opinions towards the Occupy movement.
Despite the divided opinions between people of different ages, education levels and political beliefs, the poll shows that almost 70 per cent of respondents believed the protesters should leave now. And for the first time since the survey began in September, the percentage of those who did not support the movement surpassed that of supporters.
"There is a generation gap," said Paul Lee Siu-nam, a journalism professor at the Chinese University and one of the researchers. "This gap not only exists during the Occupy movement; we have seen such division on various other social issues."
From November 5 to 11, researchers from the Chinese University's Centre for Communication and Public Opinion Survey interviewed 1,030 Hong Kong citizens aged 15 or older and able to speak Cantonese via telephone.
Some questions - such as if the Occupy protesters should go home - were not asked in the poll in September and October.
More than 43 per cent of respondents said they did not support the Occupy movement - last month the figure was about 35 per cent. The percentage of respondents supporting the movement was now 34 per cent.