The oil spill in the Gulf may be mostly out of the headlines now but Louisiana voters aren't getting any less mad at Barack Obama about his handling of it. Only 32% give Obama good marks for his actions in the aftermath of the spill, while 61% disapprove.
Louisianans are feeling more and more that George W. Bush's leadership on Katrina was better than Obama's on the spill. 54% think Bush did the superior job of helping the state through a crisis to 33% who pick Obama. That 21 point margin represents a widening since PPP asked the same question in June and found Bush ahead by a 15 point margin. Bush beats Obama 87-2 on that score with Republicans and 42-30 with independents, while Obama has just a 65-24 advantage with Democrats.
Louisianans are generally softening with time in their feelings about how Bush handled Katrina. Almost as many, 44%, now approve of his actions on it as the 47% who disapprove. Of course it should be noted that many of the people most negatively impacted by the federal government's handling of Katrina aren't in Louisiana to answer polls about it now.
If there is a political 'winner' in the aftermath of the oil spill it's Bobby Jindal. 70% of Louisiana voters are happy with how he handled the spill to only 20% giving him bad marks and his overall approval rating of 58% puts him at the top of the heap for Governors and Senators PPP's polled on this year. Specifically on the issue of the spill 89% of Republicans, 76% of independents, and even a 47% plurality of Democrats think he did a good job.
One thing very clear is that the spill hasn't done much to change Louisianans' opinions on offshore drilling. 82% of voters in the state support it with only 9% opposed and only 21% say the spill made them less supportive of drilling while 32% say it actually made them more so.
Full results here
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12 comments:
I'm willing to bet your sample doesn't include the thousands of people who moved away from Louisiana and never returned.
Fortunately, you don't have to bet on it since the article says it outright:
"Of course it should be noted that many of the people most negatively impacted by the federal government's handling of Katrina aren't in Louisiana to answer polls about it now."
Read the 3rd paragraph dummy. You must be a Dem to be so quick to accuse without your facts
That's the biggest reason for the rightward movement of the state in the last two cycles. Notice Tom said:
"Of course it should be noted that many of the people most negatively impacted by the federal government's handling of Katrina aren't in Louisiana to answer polls about it now."
The contrast between Gov. Jindal and the hapless Gov. Blanco is even more stunning than the contrast between Bush and on-vacation Obama.
61% Say Finding New Energy Sources More Important Than Conservation
http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/current_events/environment_energy/energy_update
The most surprising part of this PPP post is how surprised leftists are that the majority of Americans support drilling for energy. It is just more proof of how desperately out of touch the left is... how radically the left is opposed to the American way.
In addition to the skewed sample, you cannot ignore the intense partisan geographic divide. A much higher proportion of the population in the gulf region (than in the US as a whole ) align with the Republican party and are inclined to believe anything negative about a Democratic President than about a Republican one. If one asked whether Bush or Obama wrote better law-review articles, I'd bet a poll taken from this region would say Bush did.
First off, this is Louisiana. I mean come on, LA residents think Vitter is someone with high morals.
Anyways, pretty remarkable that you asked this question to a "Likely Voter" screen.
What are you now, Rasmussen-lite?
If you're going to ask a question like this -- one that is meant to judge the beliefs of the state's residents -- shouldn't you at very least use an "All Adults" screen?
Of course Brendan, in a poll of better law review articles, answering Bush would be just as sensible as answering Obama, as Obama has 0 (yes, 0) law review articles, or for that matter, published scholarship of any kind, to his name. Which is truly bizarre for a someone who taught law classes at a leading law school.
Now I will grant that there is likely to be a bias of proximity: people are likely to be more critical today of the current crisis than one from five years ago. But that said, the tremedous difference in the way the media covered the two crises (Bush was relentlessly blamed for Katrina, while Obama got virtually no blame for how the oil spill was handled) is one of many examples of extreme bias in much of the U.S. media.
Not exactly sure how you can compare a natural disaster such as Katrina (who are you going to blame or have recourse with- GOD?) with the oil spill (a corporation). The dynamics of the events are totally different. It's like comparing apples to oranges.
When you consider the liberals in Louisiana and some of their past leaders, Vitter actually does have high morals. And don't forget that N.O. kept "Chocolate City" Nagin around and voted Landrieu mayor this year.
As to comparing a hurricane and an oil spill, yes they are two different types of disasters, but they are still disasters effecting the environment and the people. Ergo, they are essentially apples to apples. And BTW, it's starting to come about that the feds (USCG) caused the spill rather than BP.
Interesting polling data. And it appears to comport with the level of support for drilling shown at Louisiana hearings and rallies where residents have asked that the administration’s deepwater moratorium be lifted. Some observers say the moratorium could cause even more hardship for Gulf Coast communities and families than the spill.
Jane Van Ryan
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