Public Approves Of Pipeline Demonstrators & Army Decision

The media never wanted to cover the Standing Rock demonstrations trying to stop the Dakota Access pipeline very much. Most coverage came through social media, but the word did get out -- and thousands joined those demonstrators in their effort. In the end, they won their battle, and the Army Corps of Engineers denied the pipeline route near the Standing Rock Reservation (which did get some media coverage).

What did the American people think of the demonstrators, and the decision to reroute the pipeline a second time (having already been rerouted away from white populated areas)? It turns out that by a fairly substantial margin (48% to 25%) the public supports the Standing Rock demonstrators, and an even larger margin supported the decision to stop the pipeline route going near the reservation (55% to 19%).

That's a bit surprising. There were 76 different policing agencies standing against (and sometimes abusing) the demonstrators -- and most in this country usually side with the police. I guess the justice of what the demonstrators were fighting for eked out this time (in spite of the media and corporate power).

Also interesting is the chart below. The same survey asked respondents if various types of political action could still work these days. A substantial majority said petitions and strikes could be effective -- and pluralities thought marches and contacting congress could be effective. Only two types of political action were thought ineffective by pluralities -- blockades and riots.

These charts were made from a recent YouGov Poll -- done on December 6th and 7th of a random national sample of 1,000 people, and has a 4.1 point margin of error.