WASHINGTON — Democrats and Republicans alike are struggling to make sense of the Wall Street protests and figure out how to respond to the growing nationwide movement a month after young people pitched a tent in front of the New York Stock Exchange and began demonstrating against economic inequality.

The political establishment’s quandary centers on this question: Do the protests have long-lasting political consequences or are they simply a temporary reflection of voter frustration with the economy?

Democrats have been largely supportive of the so-called Occupy Wall Street movement, which has drawn attention to the economic concerns of the country’s middle class, Wall Street greed and high unemployment. The protesters have referred to themselves as the “99 percent,” or the vast majority of Americans who do not fall into the wealthiest 1 percent of the population.

The spontaneous protests have taken root in New York’s Zuccotti Park and spread to other U.S. cities, including Boston, Chicago and Los Angeles, at a time when President Barack Obama’s poll numbers have declined and Democrats have privately grown wary that they may be suffering from an enthusiasm gap compared with Republicans.

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