Katrina: More from Pew Research Center

Legacy blog posts Polls in the News

[Support Katrina relief!]

The Pew Research Center has just released results of another survey conducted over the last two nights (9/6-7, n=1,000 adults, sampling error  3.5%).  The results are remarkably similar to the CBS News poll released this morning that was also conducted Tuesday and Wednesday evenings.  Specifically,

  • 38% approve of "the way George W. Bush is handling the impact of Hurricane Katrina on New Orleans," 52% disapprove.  CBS reported a Bush Katrina job rating of 38% approve, 58% disapprove.
  • 40% approve of "the way George W. Bush is handling his job as president," while 52% disapprove.  This job rating is the lowest Pew has measured in Bush’s presidency, representing a 4 point drop from 44% approve, 48% disapprove in July.  CBS reported Bush’s overall job rating at 41% approve, 51% disapprove.
  • 28% agreed that "President Bush did all he could to get relief efforts going quickly," while 67% chose the alternative statement that "he could have done more."  On the CBS poll, 32% said the timing of President Bush’s response to the Hurricane was "about right," while 65% said it was "too slow" (1% actually said it was "too quick"). 

The Pew report provides an in-depth look at views on the reaction to Hurricane Katrina, including an analysis of the significant differences in perception by race and partisanship.  They also look at how Americans are getting news about Katrina and how their attention level compares to past crises.  Pew also provides a questionnaire filled in with all results, demographic cross-tabs and a complete PDF version of the whole package suitable for printing.  Great stuff as always.  Read it all. 

 

Mark Blumenthal

Mark Blumenthal is political pollster with deep and varied experience across survey research, campaigns, and media. The original "Mystery Pollster" and co-creator of Pollster.com, he explains complex concepts to a multitude of audiences and how data informs politics and decision-making. A researcher and consultant who crafts effective questions and identifies innovative solutions to deliver results. An award winning political journalist who brings insights and crafts compelling narratives from chaotic data.