Geography Surveyed: Continental United States
Data Collected: 09/17/2005
Release Date: 09/18/2005 1:14 PM ET
Sponsors: KABC-TV Los Angeles, KATU-TV Portland, KEYE-TV Austin, KFOR-TV Oklahoma City, KGTV-TV San Diego, KING-TV Seattle, KJRH-TV Tulsa, KPIX-TV San Francisco, KPNX-TV Phoenix, KPRC-TV Houston, KSDK-TV St. Louis, KSL-TV Salt Lake City, KTHV-TV Little Rock, KUSA-TV Denver, KVBC-TV Las Vegas, KWCH-TV Wichita, KXAS-TV Dallas, KXTV-TV Sacramento, WABC-TV New York, WBIR-TV Knoxville, WBTV-TV Charlotte, WBZ-TV Boston, WCAU-TV Philadelphia, WCPO-TV Cincinnati, WCSC-TV Charleston, WCSH-TV Portland, WDIV-TV Detroit, WFLA-TV Tampa, WFMY-TV Greensboro, NC, WFOR-TV Miami, WGRZ-TV Buffalo, WHAS-TV Louisville, WHO-TV Des Moines, WKMG-TV Orlando, WKRG-TV Mobile-Pensacola, WKYC-TV Cleveland, WLNE-TV Providence, WLTX-TV Columbia, SC, WMAR-TV Baltimore, WNEP-TV Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, WOAI-TV San Antonio, WPTV-TV West Palm Beach, WRGB-TV Albany, WSLS-TV Roanoke, WTLV-TV Jacksonville, WTVD-TV Raleigh, WUSA-TV Washington, DC, WXIA-TV Atlanta, WXIN-TV Indianapolis, WYTV-TV Youngstown, WZZM-TV Grand Rapids
2 Days After Jackson Square Speech, Relief on the One Hand, Concern on the Other: 2 polling days after President Bush's prime-time address to the nation from the French Quarter in New Orleans, 3 trends emerge. 1) The number of Americans who think the Federal Government is "not doing enough" to help the victims of the hurricane is declining; 2) The number of Americans concerned about using public funds to rebuild the Gulf Coast is increasing; and 3) Americans are not yet ready to forgive President Bush for his personal response to the hurricane.
Details: 47% of Americans today 9/18/05 say America is "not doing enough" for victims, down 21 points from 9/2/05, and the lowest it has been since the storm. Whites and Blacks differ materially on this question. The number of Americans who say the federal government is doing "too much" to help victims is up to 12%, the highest it has been in 18 days of tracking. 45% of Americans today say that, in general, storm-damaged areas should be rebuilt with private money; 33% say storm-damaged areas should be rebuilt with public money; 16% say damaged areas should not be rebuilt. When asked specifically about New Orleans, 37% of Americans today say New Orleans should be rebuilt with private money, 28% say New Orleans should be rebuilt with public money. 30% say New Orleans should not be rebuilt. 42% of Americans today approve of President Bush's response to the hurricane. 54% disapprove. These numbers are no different than they were before Bush's speech from Jackson Square on 9/15. There is a 12-point Gender Gap and a 46-point Black/White gap on this question.
Logistics: On 9/15/05, 600 adults nationwide were interviewed before President Bush began speaking at 9 pm ET. Following the speech, 1200 Americans were interviewed 9/16/05 and 600 were interviewed 9/17/05. Margin of sampling error for each question, on each day, is shown in the crosstabbed data and tracking graphs.
1
Asked of 600 Adults
Credibility Interval for this question = ± 4.1 percentage points.