"Most Americans Wild for Walmart: 69% Favor the Super Store"

This is the reason PARD can only delay Wal-Mart in court with slick lawyers and wordy briefs and No SuperWalMart was only able to chase off Wal-Mart because they stacked the City Council. If it were up to the PEOPLE to decide, both Pullman and Moscow would have Wal-Mart Supercenters.

Just look at last fall's Pullman City Council races. The candidates that supported Wal-Mart got about the same percentage of the popular vote as the percentage of Americans in this poll that support Wal-Mart. Coincidence? I think not. PARD can prattle on all they want about "the public have a greater role in the process," but that's the last thing they would want. If the full-time residents of Pullman were allowed to decide, we could dispense with all the legalities and appeals and expense. The Proletariat just can't be trusted.

Notice that it is lower and middle income Americans that support Wal-Mart the most, for obvious reasons. But lower and middle income Americans don't control the media. In fact, their voice is seldom heard in the media. They are too busy with their jobs and personal lives to be write letters, hold meetings, stage protests, or be activists. They don't have the luxury of the spare time that the upper class does. That is why we have this steady drumbeat of anti-Wal-Mart hysteria.

The academics and media bigwigs feel Wal-Mart is beneath them. Notice the poll numbers below for people who don't shop at Wal-Mart. It's telling.

The war on Wal-Mart is a class war, make no mistake about it.

From a June 28, 2006 Rasmussen Reports poll:

Sixty-nine percent (69%) of Americans have a favorable opinion of Walmart, including 29% who have a very favorable opinion of the retail giant. A Rasmussen Reports survey of 1,000 adults found that 29% have an unfavorable opinion of the firm. Lower and middle income Americans are more likely to have a favorable opinion of Walmart than upper income Americans.

The reviews are even better among those who have worked for Walmart (or have family members who have been employed by the firm). Among these worers, 79% have a favorable opinion of the company.

Forty-two percent (42%) of all Americans say they shop at Walmart at least once a month. This includes 7% who visit at least once a week. Not surprisingly, Walmart shoppers have a much higher opinion of the store than those who rarely or never shop there.

Twenty-five percent (25%) of Americans say they rarely or never shop at Walmart. Among these adults, just 35% have a favorable opinion of the company.

Given a choice, between Walmart, Target, and K-mart, 48% of Americans would shop at Walmart. Thirty percent (30%) picked Target and 9% K-Mart.

Fifty-four percent (54%) of Americans say that, generally speaking, Walmart is good for the community. Twenty-nine percent (29%) take the opposite view and say the store is bad for the community.

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HT: Marshall Manson