Political and business leaders are moderating their responses to the growing “Occupy Wall Street” protests, which have spread far beyond Manhattan's Financial District to other cities in the US and around the globe.

“Some of them recognize this has the potential to catch fire,” says Lane Bailey, president of global public affairs at GolinHarris. “Politicians are no longer looking at this in strictly political terms, but taking more of a macro view.”

That's why political leaders from New ...