Louisianans Give Bush Higher Marks Than Obama for Crisis Response

As the five year anniversary again summons up memories of Katrina's devastation of the Gulf Coast, Louisiana voters are giving higher marks to former President George Bush for handling of the storm's aftermath and dealing with crisis than they do for President Obama's handling of the BP oil spill, according to a Public Policy Polling survey conducted Aug. 21-22.

Fifty-four percent say Bush has done a better job in "helping Louisiana to deal with crisis" while 34 percent give more credit to Obama. Thirteen percent are undecided.

Bush gets positive marks for his crisis response from 24 percent of Democrats while Obama gets thumbs-up from only 2 percent of Republicans. Independents credit Bush more by a 42 percent to 30 percent margin with 29 percent undecided.

Sixty-one percent disapprove of Obama's handling of the oil spill while 32 percent approve, with 6 percent undecided. By contrast, a smaller margin 47 percent to 44 percent -- disapproved of how Bush handled Katrina's aftermath. Nine percent were undecided.

Republicans are much more united in their negative view of Obama's performance on the oil spill than Democrats are in support of Obama. Ninety-one percent of Republicans disapprove of Obama's efforts, joined by 28 percent of Democrats. Sixty-four percent of Democrats approve of Obama's oil spill response. Independents disapprove by a 72 percent to 20 percent margin with 7 percent undecided. (Independents make up 11 percent of the sample in the poll).

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