Those on the Front Line Say Obama's Response was worse than Bush's to Katrina...

: On Disaster Clean-Ups, Louisiana Voters Give Poorer Marks to Obama Than Bush

Published June 16, 2010
| FOXNews.com


Louisiana voters think President George W. Bush did a better job handling the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina than President Obama has done in the wake of the BP oil spill, according to a new poll.

The Public Policy Polling survey showed 50 percent of state voters rated Bush's performance in 2005 as better than Obama's. Just 35 percent picked Obama.

The survey by PPP, a Democratic-owned firm, comes as the president tries to inspire confidence in his administration's response to the BP oil spill. He just returned from his fourth trip to the region to survey the damage and meet with officials, and on Tuesday night delivered an address to the nation from the Oval Office. He was meeting with BP executives on Wednesday in Washington to press them to compensate Gulf residents suffering from economic damages due to the spill.

Louisiana voters by no means are happy with the way the Bush administration handled the flooding in 2005. But while the PPP poll showed just a third of voters approved of the way Bush handled Katrina, the numbers were generally worse for Obama. Sixty-two percent said they disapproved of Obama's handling of the crisis, compared with 58 percent for Bush.

The poll of 492 Louisiana voters was taken June 12-13. It had a margin of error of 4.4 percentage points.

Meanwhile, Rasmussen Reports released a new poll Wednesday showing Obama's approval rating hitting a new low -- 42 percent. The daily tracking poll puts a 20-point spread between Obama's strong approval and disapproval, 24 and 44 percent respectively.