Poll on the government's handling of Katrina

[pegkerr]

If you haven't seen it, ABC News has released a poll assessing opinions about the government's handling of Katrina.

Americans are broadly critical of government preparedness in the Hurricane Katrina disaster — but far fewer take George W. Bush personally to task for the problems, and public anger about the response is less widespread than some critics would suggest.

In an event that clearly has gripped the nation — 91 percent of Americans are paying close attention — hopefulness far outweighs discontent about the slow-starting rescue. And as in so many politically charged issues in this country, partisanship holds great sway in views of the president's performance.

The most critical views cross jurisdictions: Two-thirds in this ABC News/Washington Post poll say the federal government should have been better prepared to deal with a storm this size, and three-quarters say state and local governments in the affected areas likewise were insufficiently prepared.

Other evaluations are divided. Forty-six percent of Americans approve of Bush's handling of the crisis, while 47 percent disapprove. That compares poorly with Bush's 91 percent approval rating for his performance in the immediate aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, but it's far from the broad discontent expressed by critics of the initial days of the hurricane response. (It also almost exactly matches Bush's overall job approval rating, 45 percent, in an ABC/Post poll a week ago.)

Similarly, 48 percent give a positive rating to the federal government's response overall, compared with 51 percent who rate it negatively — another split view, not a broadly critical one.

See the rest of the analysis at the link above. The poll sample was only about 500. I wonder how many, if any, were people who were directly affected by Katrina (lost homes, job or relatives) and how that would affect their responses.

Edited to add: The poll has been criticized by MediaMatters for their polling method (too small of a sample; one day poll taken on the Friday night of a holiday weekend). Thanks to sarekofvulcan for the link.

Comments

[sarekofvulcan.livejournal.com]

MediaMatters (http://mediamatters.org/items/200509060007) says that's a bogus poll because a) it was taken on a Friday night and b) didn't have enough people in it for a national poll.

[callunav.livejournal.com]

I figure it can tell us what 500 people said they thought on Friday night. The way I see it, even with a 'good' poll, you still need to keep in mind what it really says.

I generally consider polls problematic, anyhow, since I almost never am told how the questions were asked, even when I am told how the people were selected. For instance, "Who do you think is at fault?" is different from, "Do you blame the president for this?" is different from, "Do you think anyone's to blame?" is different from "What do you think people should have done differently?" And so forth.

...I always run into trouble asking questions like this when I'm trying to take multiple choice tests, too....

Stats

[nwl.livejournal.com]

My problem exactly with polls! But then I really enjoyed the statistics class I took in college.

What really gets me in this age of websites is when a newspaper article about a recent study has no way for me to access the study, so I have to rely only on their summary.

[dreadmouse.livejournal.com]

I'm not really entitled to an opinion about this, living north of the border as I do. So I'm just going to wish you all good health, a swift recovery to those who are suffering, and a better consensus in the future.

[sarekofvulcan.livejournal.com]

Actually, I'd rather see opinions from people who aren't quite as tied up with all the crap around here. :-(