NEW POLLS SHOW DISAPPROVAL
FOR BUSH'S HANDLING OF KATRINA

From CBS News courtesy of the Daily Kos:

President George W. Bush's overall response to Katrina meets with disapproval today -- a dramatic change from the public’s reaction just after the storm hit on August 29th. Last week, in the two days immediately after Katrina made landfall, a majority of Americans said they approved of Bush's response, although more than a third were not sure. Now, only 38 percent approve. A majority disapproves.

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And from Zogby International, again courtesy of Kos:

President Bush’s job approval rating took a hit in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, dropping to a historic low of 41%, a new Zogby America poll reveals. The same survey found the nation’s forty-third president would lose election contests against all of his predecessors since Jimmy Carter.

The Zogby America survey of 1157 likely voters, conducted from September 6 through 7, 2005, has a margin of error of +/-2.9 percentage points.

The public rates the performance of all levels of government in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina negatively, with 36% giving the President passing marks on his handling of the crisis—slightly higher than the 32% who give government in general good marks for its handling of the storm that devastated New Orleans and much of the Gulf coast.

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These numbers make much more sense than the Gallup numbers I posted yesterday--I don't understand how any honest person who watched the real life drama unfold in New Orleans last week can believe that Bush did a good job. I have no idea how Gallup got such a different result. Heck, for all I know, Gallup had the more accurate poll, but the Zogby and CBS polls do what Gallup couldn't; that is, they help make it easier to believe that Americans are compassionate and intelligent people. It is important to note that that both of these new polls also show great dissatisfaction with the state and local response as well. Indeed, as many have observed, there's plenty of blame to go around. However, the lion's share of blame belongs to the President, whose Department of Homeland Security has "primary responsibility" for dealing with disasters such as Katrina: it was their job to make sure that state and local officials did their jobs, and in that they failed utterly.

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