Three new polls out today, plus another report on a poll released a few days ago. Here are links and a few quick headlines.
1) A new CBS/New York Times survey is out, the third in three weeks for CBS News. Results are available in a NYT story and a CBS summary. Both outlets provide PDF files with full results. As always, the CBS version tabulates all questions by party identification, the NYT version has extensive time series data and demographics for the current survey.
On the measure we have been watching closely, 44% now approve of President Bush’s handling of the response to Katrina and 50% disapprove, up from 38% approve – 54% disapprove last week. On the other hand, the surveys shows now change in Americans’ unhappiness with the speed of Bush’s response: 64% say it was too slow, compared to 65% last week.
On Bush’s overall job rating, the CBS/NYT survey shows 41% approve and 53% disapprove, within a single percentage point of the results they obtained the last three weeks.
2) NBC News and the Wall Street Journal released a new Hart/McInturff poll, their first since July. Summary articles are available via MSNBC and the Journal (subscription required), which also has a pdf online with full results (which seems to be accessible to non-subscribers).
Consistent with virtually every other survey released over the last two weeks, NBC/WSJ finds the overall Bush job rating dropping to the “lowest level of his presidency,” in this case 40% approve, 55% disapprove. The approval rating dropped six points (from 46%) since July.
Their results on Bush’s handling on Katrina show on one question, 38% saying they are very or somewhat satisfied with the “way the Bush administration is handling . . . the response to Hurricane Katrina” 58% are very or somewhat dissatisfied). Then, three question later, 48% approve and 48% disapprove “the way George W. Bush is handling the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina” (emphasis added).
MP wonders if respondents heard the second question as referring more specifically to Bush’s more recent performance. Seperately, Gallup found evidence on its most recent survey (subscription required, also available here) that Americans distinguish the way Bush handled “what happened immediately after Hurricane Katrina hit” from “what has happened in the past few days in the areas affected by Hurricane Katrina and NOT what happened immediately after it hit.” They asked two questions about Bush’s handling using that language. The percentage who rated Bush’s performance as “very good” or “good” was 44% immediately after Katrina hit and 58% in the past few days.
3) SurveyUSA has released several new national surveys in the last few days that update their “breaking news” tracking series. They released two surveys conducted Tuesday and Wednesday, interviewing 600 adults each evening with their automated methodology that updated their questions on the federal government response to Katrina.
Unlike the CBS/NYTimes survey, Survey USA has shown no significant trend in the way their respondents rate “President Bush’s response to Hurricane Katrina.” On the latest survey, 40% approve and 55% disapprove. As the chart below shows (apologies to Franklin, his charts are spiffier), the trend has been a flat line over the last week.
[Correction (9/16): The original version of this post included the wrong chart. The original chart showed responses to a different question tracked by SurveyUSA which indicates a slight decrease in the percentage (now 51%) that says the federal government is not doing enough for Hurricane victims].
Separately, SurveyUSA has been conducting another series of national surveys (see the latest) that tracks a slightly different set of ratings of Bush and various federal, state and local officials (using a 10-point numeric scale). Bush’s rating in that series has not changed significantly over the last week either.
4) Finally, the Pew Research Center today released a more complete report on their survey conducted last week. Pew actually completed two surveys last week, one fielded September 6-7 and a second more in-depth survey completed September 8-11. They released two reports on the second survey, one on Monday and a longer one today. Follow the links to find complete questionnaires with results, cross-tabulations and PDF files of the whole package suitable for printing.
One theme consistent across these surveys is the extent to which Americans see the profound implications of the Katrina for our economy, our image abroad and our ability to respond to a terrorist attack. A few highlights:
- Pew found that 37% of Americans think that “economic conditions in the country as a whole” will be worse a year from now, up from 24% in August and 9% last year. Only 18% say the economy will get better compared to twice as many who held that view a year ago (36%).
- On a similar question, NBC/WSJ found 49% of Americans saying they expect “the nation’s economy” to get worse over the next 12 months, 16% that it will get better.
- CBS/NYT found that 56% believe “the economy” will get worse “as a result of Hurricane Katrina,” only 10% that it will get better.
- CBS/NYT found that 58% saying that “the federal government’s response in the days immediately after the hurricane” has worsened “the United States’ image in the rest of the world.”
- NBC/WSJ found that 75% believe we are not “adequately prepared for a nuclear, biological, or chemical attack” (up from 66% two years ago); only 19% believe we are prepared.
As always, MP’s brief blog post does little justice to the in-depth analyses from the various pollsters. If you can, read them in full.
