A new ABC News/Washington Post poll finds Americans are "broadly critical of government preparedness in the Hurricane Katrina disaster -- but far fewer take President Bush personally to task for the problems, and public anger about the response is less widespread than some critics would suggest:"
Two-thirds of those polled 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.
Most Americans, 55 percent, also say President Bush does not deserve a significant level of personal blame for problems in the federal response to the crisis. And while 44 percent do assign him blame, only about half of those, 23 percent overall, blame the president "a great deal."
Some of these views seem to take into account the magnitude of the natural disaster: Forty-four percent say the situation shows serious problems in the federal government's emergency preparedness overall, but more, 54 percent, instead say that this particular disaster was a special case. Republicans, in particular, take the latter position.
Partisanship, as usual, played a huge role in the perceptions of those polled:
Nearly three-quarters of Republicans approve of the president's performance, and two-thirds rate the government's overall response positively. About seven in 10 Democrats take the opposite view on both scores.
ABC reports that "emotional responses to the rescue efforts fall short of broad outrage." The most prevalent emotion is hopefulness, expressed by 64 percent.
The poll also founds non-whites are 23 percent more likely to disapprove of the president's performance. However, ABC reports much of this is associated with political affiliation; non-whites are 23 points more apt than whites to be Democrats.
The poll was conducted September 2, 2005, among a random national sample of 501 adults. The results have a four-point error margin.
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