As Oklahoma recovers from severe damage caused by last week’s tornado, a majority of Americans (59%) say federal spending in response to natural disasters is emergency aid that does not need to be offset by cuts to other programs, while 29% say such spending must be offset by cuts to other programs.

While there are partisan differences in opinions about how disaster aid should be treated, majorities of Democrats (69%), independents (57%) and Republicans (52%) say that federal spending in response to natural disasters does not require offsetting spending cuts elsewhere.

The national survey by the Pew Research Center and the Washington Post, conducted May 23-26 among 1,005 adults, finds broad support across demographic groups for the view that federal spending in response to natural disasters is emergency aid and does not need to be offset by cuts to other programs. Comparable majorities of those living in the Northeast (62%), Midwest (58%), West (58%) and South (57%) all agree that federal spending in response to disasters is emergency aid.

Among Republicans and Republican-leaning independents, those who agree with the Tea Party are divided: 49% say government disaster spending does not require offsetting cuts, 42% say that it does. By a 54%-30% margin, Republicans who do not agree with the Tea Party, or have no opinion of the movement, say emergency disaster spending does not require offsetting cuts.

Young people under the age of 30 are about as likely to say emergency disaster spending requires offsetting cuts (42%) as not (48%). Broad majorities of all other age groups say federal spending in response to natural disasters is emergency aid that does not require cuts to other programs.

High Interest in Oklahoma Tornado

Nearly half of Americans (47%) say they paid very close attention to news about the deadly tornado that stuck Moore, Oklahoma, last week. Interest in the tornado was only slightly lower than interest in Hurricane Sandy last fall (53%).

Interest in the storm far surpassed interest in the week’s other top stories, including the murder of a British soldier in London (18% very closely), the debate over immigration policy in the U.S. (17%) and news about the Obama administration’s policy on the use of military drones (17%).

Just over half of the public (53%) say they followed news about Hurricane Sandy and the storm’s impact very closely last week, outpacing interest in the 2012 presidential election (47% very closely) and news about the U.S. economy (38% very closely).

The latest national survey by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press, conducted Nov. 1-4, 2012, among 1,011 adults, finds that interest in the storm is particularly high in the Northeast: fully 73% of those living in this region say they are following news about Sandy very closely, compared with 53% of those in the South, 46% of those in the Midwest and 43% of those in the West.

Interest in Hurricane Sandy is far higher than for Hurricane Isaac earlier this year (31% very closely) and ranks as one of the most closely followed storms in Pew Research surveys dating to 1989. Interest is comparable to that for Hurricane Ike in September 2008 (50% very closely), but remains well below the 70% who were following Hurricane Katrina very closely in September 2005.

Interest in 2012 Campaign Lags Behind 2008

Overall, 47% say they have been following news about the candidates for the 2012 presidential election very closely, down modestly from 52% a week ago. Campaign news interest has lagged behind measures from comparable points in 2008 in four out of the past five weeks. And the high mark for campaign interest measured in 2012 (52% in the Oct. 25-28 survey) is lower than the high measured in 2008 (61% in the Oct. 17-20, 2008 survey).

Views of Economic News

As has been the case throughout 2012, most Americans (55%) say they are hearing a mix of good and bad news about the U.S. economy. A third (33%) say they have been hearing mostly bad news about the economy, up slightly from October (28%). Just 10% are hearing mostly good news about the economy, though this, too, has risen since the summer. In August, just 3% said they were hearing mostly good economic news.

The percentage of independents who say they are hearing mostly bad news about the economy has risen over the past month. In the current survey, 38% of independents say the economic news they have been hearing is mostly bad, up from 29% at the start of October. Views of Republicans and Democrats are little changed.

Less Bad News about Gas Prices

While overall views of economic news have shifted only slightly, news about gas prices has improved dramatically since early October. Overall, half (50%) say they are hearing mostly bad news about gas prices, down 22 points from a month ago. More now say they are hearing a mix of good and bad news (30%) or mostly good news about gas prices (16%) than did so in October (21% and 4%, respectively).

News about other economic sectors has been more stable over the past month. Overall, 46% say they have been hearing mostly bad news about the job situation, 37% say they have been hearing mixed news, and just 14% say they have been hearing mostly good news.

News about real estate and financial markets remains mixed, with little change in views from October.

A majority of Americans see the massive oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico as a major environmental disaster, but nearly as many voice optimism that efforts to control the spill will succeed.

The latest national survey by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press, conducted May 6-9 among 994 adults, finds that the public is critical of the response to the crisis by the federal government and British Petroleum, the company that operated the oil rig that exploded on April 20 and is now struggling to stop the underwater oil release.

Evaluations of the initial government response are similar to public views of federal efforts immediately after Hurricane Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast in 2005. Currently, 54% say the response by the federal government has been only fair or poor, which is comparable to the government’s initial rating for handling Hurricane Katrina in September 2005 (58% only fair/poor). Nonetheless, British Petroleum gets even more negative ratings for its handling of the oil leak (63% only fair/poor).

The criticism extends to President Obama, with just 38% saying they approve of his handling of the oil leak and 36% saying they disapprove. About a quarter (26%) offer no opinion. Still, opinion about Obama’s performance is not as negative as opinion about former President George W. Bush’s response to the flooding caused by Katrina. That September, 52% disapproved of Bush’s response to Katrina and 67% said he could have done more. Today, 47% say Obama could have done more to get the government’s response to the oil leak going quickly.

The spill also appears to have taken a toll on support for offshore drilling near the United States. Currently, 54% say they favor allowing more offshore drilling for oil and gas in U.S. waters, which is down from 63% in early February and 68% in April 2009. Virtually all of the decline in support for offshore drilling has occurred among Democrats and independents as Republicans remain as supportive as they were before the spill.

There also is slightly less support for increasing federal funding for research on wind, solar and hydrogen technology than there was in February (73% today, 78% then). About two-thirds (65%) favor spending more on subway, rail and transit systems, compared with 70% in February. About half (45%) favor promoting the increased use of nuclear power, down slightly from 52% earlier this year.

In general, the public is divided over whether oil spills like the one in the Gulf of Mexico are unavoidable if the United States is going to get an adequate supply of energy: 41% say such spills are unavoidable while 45% disagree.

The public had a much different reaction in April 1989, shortly after the huge oil spill caused by the crash of the Exxon Valdez tanker ship in Alaska. At that time, 74% said such spills were unavoidable while just 18% said they were not. The percentage saying such spills are unavoidable has declined substantially across partisan groups, education levels and regions.

Major Disaster Unfolding in the Gulf

More than half (55%) of the public say the oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico is a major environmental disaster; another 37% see it as a serious problem – but not a disaster. Just 4% say it is not too serious.

At the same time, 51% say efforts to control the spill and keep it from spreading further will be successful. About three-in-ten (29%) say those efforts will not succeed.

Independents (60%) and Democrats (55%) are more likely to say they see the spill as a major disaster than Republicans (46%). Democrats also express less certainty that the efforts to control the spill will succeed: 57% of Republicans say they think these efforts will be successful, compared with 47% of Democrats. More than half of independents (52%) agree.

Those following news about the growing oil slick very closely also are more likely to see the oil leak in the gulf as a major disaster. Among those who say they are following this news very closely, 67% characterize it as a major environmental disaster. Among those following it less closely, just 47% say they see the spill that way.

Rating the President’s Performance

Obama’s overall approval rating is unchanged from last month; 47% say they approve of the way Obama is handling his job as president, while 42% disapprove. But a smaller percentage (38%) say they approve of his handling of the oil leak in the Gulf, while 36% disapprove. About a quarter say they do not know (26%), more than double the 11% that say they do not know when asked about the president’s overall performance.

Not surprisingly, partisans offer decidedly different takes on Obama’s response to the worsening oil slick now threatening much of the Gulf Coast. More than half of Democrats say they approve of how Obama is handling the oil leak (53%), while 23% disapprove. Opinions among Republicans are the reverse: 18% approve of the job Obama is doing while 54% disapprove. Independents mirror the nation as a whole: 37% of independents approve and 38% disapprove of Obama’s performance on this.

In September 2005, shortly after Katrina hit the Gulf Coast, about half of the public (52%) disapproved of Bush’s response to the disaster then unfolding in New Orleans and elsewhere on the Gulf Coast; 38% approved of his performance. At that time, the partisan differences were also stark: two thirds of Republicans (67%) approved of his job performance, compared with 20% of Democrats and 38% of independents.

The public also was highly critical of how Bush’s father, President George H. W. Bush, handled the response to Exxon Valdez oil spill in 1989. More than half (52%) disapproved of the president’s handling of the crisis that April. About a quarter (24%) said they approved of the older Bush’s performance, while 24% answered that they did not know.

By another measure, close to half the public (47%) says Obama could have done more in his initial response to the oil spill in the Gulf. Just more than a third (36%) say he did all he could. Again, partisan views differ sharply. Six-in-ten Republicans (60%) say Obama could have done more, compared with 53% of independents and 32% of Democrats.

In 2005, a greater percentage of the public (67%) said that George W. Bush could have done more to get relief efforts going quickly following the devastation caused by Katrina. Fewer than three-in-ten (28%) said Bush did all he could do. At that time, the partisan differences were also sharp: More than eight-in-ten Democrats (84%) said Bush could have done more, compared with 71% of independents and 40% of Republicans.

Less Support for Offshore Drilling among Democrats and Independents

The spill also seems to have taken a toll on support for offshore drilling near the United States. Though more than half (54%) say they approve of offshore drilling, that is down from 63% in February and 68% in April 2009.

But more Americans still say they favor allowing increased drilling in U.S. waters than favor promoting the use of nuclear power (45%). The public expresses slightly lower levels of support than in February for each of the four approaches to boosting the energy supply included in the survey. Currently, 73% favor more fun
ding for alternative energy sources, while 65% favor more spending on mass transit.

Opinions among Republicans are unchanged from February (76% approve), but the percentage of Democrats and independents that say they favor off shore drilling has dropped 13 points each to 41% among Democrats and 53% among independents.

Public Critical of Both Government and British Petroleum

Americans are more critical of British Petroleum than the federal government when assessing the response of both to the crisis in the gulf. More than half of the public (54%) rate the response of the government as only fair or poor, while 33% rate it as good or excellent. Republicans are much more likely to be highly critical than Democrats or independents.

Just 16% of Republicans rate the government response positively, while 71% say it has been only fair or poor. Independent views also tilt negative: 52% say the response has been only fair or poor, while 37% say it has been excellent or good. Democrats are more divided: 42% rate the response as excellent or good, while 46% rate it as only fair or poor.

More than six-in-ten (63%), meanwhile, rate BP’s performance as only fair or poor, while 24% rate it as good or excellent. Similar majorities of independents (67%), Democrats (65%) and Republicans (59%) rate the company’s response as only fair or poor. Three-in-ten Republicans (31%) rate the response as excellent or good, compared to 19% of Democrats and 24% of independents.

The public overwhelmingly supports the Hurricane Katrina rebuilding aid already approved by Congress. Going forward, however, as many Americans worry that the government will spend too much on hurricane relief as say it will spend too little. And while Katrina’s potential impact on the budget has become a major issue in Washington, there is much greater public concern hurricane assistance will not go to people who really need it.

The latest national survey by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press, conducted among 1,500 adults from Oct. 6-10, finds that 51% of Americans say their biggest concern about the government’s relief effort is that the money will not go to the needy, while 32% worry that the money will be wasted on unnecessary things. Just 6% say their biggest concern is that the relief effort will add too much to the budget deficit.

The survey finds growing public perceptions of economic inequality in the aftermath of Katrina. Nearly half (48%) believe that American society is divided between the “haves” and “have-nots.” That represents a 10-point rise since March 2005, with the increase coming across the economic spectrum.

But there has been a much smaller increase in the percentage of Americans who say they themselves fall into the “have-not” group ­ from 34% in March to 38% currently. A plurality of Americans (47%) continue to identify themselves as among the “haves.”

So far, there is no evidence that the crisis along the Gulf Coast has fundamentally changed long-term public attitudes on race, poverty and the role of government. But there has been a decided shift in views of the government’s priorities. Half of Americans now say it is more important for President Bush to focus on domestic policy, while a third says he should focus on the war on terrorism. The number citing domestic policy a more important priority has declined a bit since the days immediately after the hurricane (from 56% to 50%), but is still much higher than it had been since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

In addition, the public by more than three-to-one (64%-20%) believes it is more important for Bush to focus on domestic policy than on foreign policy generally. This represents a significant shift since January, when a smaller majority (53%) felt Bush should focus greater attention on domestic than foreign policy.

Dem Advantage on Deficit

The public generally continues to view deficit reduction as a key priority, although it is a relatively minor concern when compared with other potential consequences of the hurricane relief effort. About four-in-ten (42%) say that reducing the federal budget deficit should be a top priority for the president and Congress, about the same number that expressed this view in March (39%).

Democrats continue to view deficit reduction as a more important priority than do Republicans. This is particularly the case for conservative and moderate Democrats (51% top priority). In recent years, reducing the deficit has rated as a much higher priority for Democrats than Republicans; in the 1990s, by contrast, Republicans rated the deficit as the higher priority.

Democrats hold a sizable advantage as the party better able to reduce the deficit. Nearly half of the public (47%) says the Democratic Party could do a better job on this issue, compared with just 29% who choose the Republican Party. There is a high degree of partisanship in opinions on which party could do better in cutting the deficit. But just half of moderate and liberal Republicans feel the GOP would do better in reducing the deficit.

Where to Cut?

The public is divided over how best to finance the government’s hurricane rebuilding and recovery efforts. When the prospect of reducing spending on the war in Iraq is mentioned, a plurality (31%) chooses that option, while 20% favor cutting domestic spending.

But these differences narrow when the former option for financing hurricane relief is described as reducing “defense and military spending,” rather than reducing funding “for the war in Iraq.” In this version of the question, about as many favor cutting back on domestic spending as support reducing defense and military spending (31% vs. 28%). In both versions of the question, raising taxes and increasing the budget deficit are viewed as less preferable options for financing hurricane relief.

Economic Gloom, But Jobs Picture Better

Public evaluations of the national economic conditions, if anything, have become a bit more negative. Just 25% of Americans see the national economy as excellent or good, while 74% say the economy is only fair (45%) or poor (29%). Last month, 31% expressed a positive view of the national economy.

However, people are somewhat less pessimistic in their expectations for the economy over the next year than they were in September. The number saying they expect the economy to get worse fell slightly (from 37% to 32%); a plurality predicts that the economy will remain about the same (45%).

A majority of Americans (56%) say that jobs are difficult to find in their communities, while 36% report there are plenty of jobs in their community. These assessments are a bit more positive than May 2005 when just three in ten said that plenty of jobs were available in their community. The job situation is looking better among those with lower incomes; 63% of those earning less than $30,000 say jobs are hard to find, down from 75% in May.

On the left, some have expressed the hope that Katrina will turn the public’s attention to the ongoing hardships of the poor and needy, leading to a revival of support for government assistance programs. Some on the right believe the widespread perception that government failed in responding to the crisis could bolster conservative efforts to limit government’s role generally. And across the ideological spectrum, many wonder if the fact that so many of Katrina’s victims were black will trigger a re-evaluation of race relations in this country.

However, a recent survey by the Pew Research Center, conducted Sept. 8-11 among 1,523 Americans, suggests that while Katrina’s impact has already been felt politically ­ in somewhat lower ratings for the president, for instance ­ it has had far less of an impact on long-term values relating to poverty, race and government. In this regard, the initial public reaction to the crisis appears to be far more tempered than to the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, which dramatically raised esteem for government and transformed, at least temporarily, public values in many other areas.

Poverty and Race

Americans broadly support the disaster relief effort, but there is no evidence that basic attitudes on poverty ­ and the government’s role in addressing the issue ­ have been altered by Katrina. Currently, a narrow 51% majority expresses the view that poor people have hard lives because government benefits don’t go far enough to help them live decently; 38% think poor people have it easy because they can get government benefits without doing anything in return.

This is consistent with Pew values surveys conducted over the last two years. In December 2004, 52% agreed that the poor had hard lives because of inadequate government support while 34% agreed with the alternative statement.

Similarly, the hurricane and its aftermath appear to have had little effect on Americans’ views of the impact of racial discrimination on the lives of African Americans. By more than two-to-one (59%-26%), more Americans say that blacks who can’t get ahead in this country are mostly responsible for their own condition, rather than being held back by racial discrimination. That is unchanged since December 2004 (60%), and comparable with results dating to 1994.

Nearly seven-in-ten Americans (69%) continue to feel that the position of blacks in American society has improved in recent years, down only slightly from last year (73%). Notably, opinion among African Americans on this measure is identical to what it was in December 2004; 56% say that the position of blacks in society has improved. Roughly seven-in-ten whites (72%) agree, down somewhat from December 2004 (77%).

More See Government as Wasteful

Over the last decade, Pew’s values surveys have tracked a gradual but substantial change in cynicism about government waste and inefficiency. Americans are far less critical of government now than in the mid-1990s. This shift has been most pronounced among Republicans, whose hostility toward government diminished considerably after the party gained control of the White House and Congress in 2000.

Democrats, by contrast, became somewhat less supportive of government when their party lost power. The net effect of these changes was that the once wide partisan gulf on questions relating to government efficiency had all but disappeared by the end of last year.

But in Katrina’s aftermath, there has been a rise in the number of Americans who view government as almost always wasteful and inefficient ­ from 47% last December to 56% currently. The increase has come among Democrats (up seven percentage points) and especially independents (14 points).

However, it remains to be seen whether this represents a fundamental shift in views of government among independents and Democrats, or a more focused backlash against the government’s handling of Katrina. In Pew’s most recent survey (Sept. 8-11), just 27% of independents and 24% of Democrats said the federal government had done an excellent or good job in responding to Katrina. Notably, independents were even more critical than they had been just a few days earlier (Sept. 6-7), when 35% gave positive ratings to the government’s handling of the hurricane and its aftermath.

But Trust in Government is Unchanged

But public trust and confidence in government, while low, is no lower than it was in the summer. Currently, about three-in-ten (31%) say they can trust the government in Washington to do the right thing just about always, or most of the time. That is virtually unchanged from a Gallup survey in June (30%).

While Katrina has not further weakened the public’s trust in government, there nonetheless is a striking contrast between the public’s lackluster feelings about government and the strongly positive opinions seen in the immediate aftermath of 9/11. In October 2001, Gallup found 60% saying they could trust the government just about always or most of the time ­ the highest level recorded since 1968 in surveys conducted by the University of Michigan’s National Election Study.

About this Survey

Results for this survey are based on telephone interviews conducted under the direction of Princeton Survey Research Associates International among a nationwide sample of 1,523 adults, 18 years of age or older, from Sept. 8-11, 2005. For results based on the total sample, one can say with 95% confidence that the error attributable to sampling is plus or minus 3 percentage points. For results based on form 1 (N=758) and form 2 (N=765) the sampling error is plus or minus 4 percentage points.

In addition to sampling error, one should bear in mind that question wording and practical difficulties in conducting surveys can introduce error or bias into the findings of opinion polls.

With hearings on the nomination of John Roberts beginning today in Washington, a growing number of Americans say that Roberts should be confirmed as chief justice. In polling conducted over the weekend by the Pew Research Center, 46% expressed support for Roberts’s confirmation, up from 35% in a poll conducted last week. Opposition to Roberts was mostly unchanged (21% now, 19% last week). A third of respondents had no opinion, down from 46% last week.

With President Bush facing the task of filling another court vacancy, public opinion continues to tilt in favor of maintaining the court’s ideological balance. About four-in-ten (39%) believe Bush should nominate people who will keep the court about as it is now; 30% favor Bush selecting nominees who will make the court more conservative; and 24% say Bush should choose nominees who will move the court in a more liberal direction. The balance of opinion on this issue has been stable since March.

The latest national survey by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press, conducted among 1,523 Americans Sept. 8-11, finds about half (48%) saying that the president’s choices of the next Supreme Court justices are very important to them personally; this percentage has remained steady since June. A similar number (46%) said the nomination of a chief justice was personally very important to them.

As expected, there are partisan differences over Roberts’s nomination, though about as many Democrats support his confirmation as oppose it (31% vs. 33%). A relatively high proportion of Democrats and independents (36% each) declined to offer an opinion. About two-thirds of Republicans (68%) believe the Senate should confirm Roberts, but even among Republicans about a quarter (24%) did not express an opinion.

More Disapprove of Local Hurricane Response

Two weeks after Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans and the Gulf Coast, the public has become significantly more critical of the response by state and local governments in Mississippi and Louisiana. Currently, just 34% give state and local governments an excellent or good rating on their handling of the disaster, down from 41% last week. Public evaluations of the federal government’s response to the disaster are largely unchanged from last week ­ 37% positive, 61% negative.

Judgments about the performance of state and local governments are similar among Republicans and Democrats (34% positive for Republicans, 37% for Democrats), unlike views of the federal government’s response which are highly partisan. Similarly, whites and blacks have identical views about the state and local response, but blacks are much more negative than whites about how the federal government has dealt with the hurricane’s impact.

The news media continue to get good evaluations for their coverage of the disaster, with 63% rating the press performance excellent or good ­ about the same as last week. While the hurricane’s aftermath continues to dominate the news, just 23% of those polled said news organizations are giving it too much coverage. Most said the level of coverage was about right (61%); 14% ­ including 29% of African-Americans ­ thought there had been too little coverage.

Despite the outpouring of sympathy and donations to the relief effort in the Gulf Coast region, the public is divided on the question of whether the federal government should help pay for rebuilding New Orleans. Just over half (51%) say it should, but 41% think it is too risky to rebuild the city in its present location. Modest majorities of Democrats (55%) and independents (53%) believe the federal government should help pay for rebuilding New Orleans, while Republicans are divided; 44% think the government should help, while 47% believe it is too risky.

There is a deeper partisan divide over whether the U.S. has sufficient military forces to fight effectively in Iraq and still respond to domestic crises like the hurricane. Seven-in-ten Republicans say the U.S. has enough forces to accomplish both missions; only about half as many Democrats and independents agree (32% and 38%, respectively).

The American public is highly critical of President Bush’s handling of Hurricane Katrina relief efforts. Two-in-three Americans (67%) believe he could have done more to speed up relief efforts, while just 28% think he did all he could to get them going quickly. At the same time, Bush’s overall job approval rating has slipped to 40% and his disapproval rating has climbed to 52%, among the highest for his presidency. Uncharacteristically, the president’s ratings have slipped the most among his core constituents ­ Republicans and conservatives.

However, the public also faults state and local governments, as well as the federal government, for the response to Katrina and its aftermath. While 58% think the federal government has done only a fair or poor job in reacting to the devastation along the Gulf Coast, about half (51%) give sub-par ratings to state and local governments in Louisiana and Mississippi.

The storm and recent spike in gas prices have triggered a major shift in public priorities. For the first time since the 9/11 terror attacks, a majority of Americans (56%) say it is more important for the president to focus on domestic policy than the war on terrorism. While most Americans are already feeling the pinch from higher gas prices, nearly half (46%) say they are very concerned the hurricane will send the nation into an economic recession.

The latest national survey by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press, conducted Sept. 6-7 among 1,000 Americans, finds that the hurricane has had a profound psychological impact on the public. Fully 58% of respondents say they have felt depressed because of what’s happened in areas affected by the storm. In recent years, this percentage is only surpassed by the 71% reporting depression in a survey taken just days the Sept. 11 attacks. But it is significantly greater than the percentage who reported feeling depressed in the opening days of the current war in Iraq.

Half of those polled (50%) say they have felt angry because of what happened in areas hard hit by the hurricane. But overall opinion on this measure obscures a substantial racial divide in reactions to the disaster ­ as many as 70% of African Americans say they have felt angry, compared with 46% of whites. Blacks are twice as likely as whites to know people directly affected by the hurricane and are generally much more critical of the government’s response to the crisis.

In addition, blacks and whites draw very different lessons from the tragedy. Seven-in-ten blacks (71%) say the disaster shows that racial inequality remains a major problem in the country; a majority of whites (56%) say this was not a particularly important lesson of the disaster. More striking, there is widespread agreement among blacks that the government’s response to the crisis would have been faster if most of the storm’s victims had been white; fully two-thirds of African Americans express that view. Whites, by an even wider margin (77%-17%), feel this would not have made a difference in the government’s response.

The survey finds that while the hurricane has drawn broad public attention, rising gas prices have attracted as much interest as reports on the storm’s impact. Roughly seven-in-ten are paying close attention to each story (71% gas prices, 70% hurricane’s impact). That represents the highest level of interest in gas prices in the two decades of Pew’s News Interest Index.

Americans give news organizations generally good marks for their coverage of Katrina. About two-thirds (65%) say the coverage has been excellent or good, compared with only a third who say it has been only fair or poor. Only 21% feel that there has been too much coverage of the disaster; most (62%) say the amount of coverage has been appropriate.

Post-Katrina Partisanship

The deep and enduring differences over Bush’s presidency are once again evident in attitudes toward government’s response to the disaster. Fully 85% of Democrats and 71% of independents think the president could have done more to get aid to hurricane victims flowing more quickly. Republicans, on balance, feel the president did all he could to get relief efforts going, but even among his own partisans 40% say he could have done more.

Similarly, Democrats are much more critical than Republicans of the federal government’s handling of the disaster. Roughly three-quarters of Democrats (76%) rate the federal government’s efforts in this area as only fair or poor. Most Republicans (63%) give the federal government positive marks for its response to the hurricane.

More than half of Democrats (56%) say they feel less confident in the government’s ability to handle a major terrorist attack as a result of this crisis. A 65% majority of Republicans say the government’s response to Katrina had no effect on their views on this issue.

There is greater partisan agreement over how state and local governments in Louisiana and Mississippi performed in dealing with the storm and its aftermath. Narrow majorities of Republicans, independents and Democrats believe governments in the affected areas did only a fair or poor job in responding to the disaster.

Beyond the government’s response to the hurricane, Republicans and Democrats also disagree about future policy priorities. By more than three-to-one, both Democrats and independents say Bush should now focus more on domestic policy rather than the war on terrorism. But Republicans are evenly divided over priorities, with as many saying it is more important for Bush to focus on the war on terror as believe he should focus on domestic matters.

Strikingly, there is even a partisan pattern in the emotional reactions to the hurricane and its impact. More than two-thirds of Democrats (68%) say they have felt depressed as a result of the storm, compared with just 45% of Republicans. However, comparable percentages of Republicans, Democrats and independents ­ and blacks and whites ­ report having made donations to help those affected by the hurricane. Overall, 56% of Americans say they have already made a donation to the relief efforts, while another 28% say they plan to do so.

And despite the reports of looting and other crimes in Katrina’s chaotic aftermath, most Americans say that in general they are more optimistic about human nature in the wake of the storm. Six-in-ten (59%) say events have made them more optimistic, while just 22% are more pessimistic about human nature.

A Man-Made Disaster?

A quarter of Americans say the severity of Hurricane Katrina is the result of global climate change, but many more (66%) say it is just the kind of severe weather event that happens from time to time. There is a partisan divide on this issue ­ Democrats (31%) and independents (29%) are more likely to see a link to global warming than are Republicans (16%).

Black-White Perspectives on Katrina

African Americans across the country have had stronger reactions to the disaster in New Orleans and the Gulf Coast than have whites. Blacks make harsher judgments of the federal government’s response to the crisis, perceive the plight of disaster victims in a different light, and feel more emotionally connected to what’s happened.

More than eight-in-ten blacks (85%) say Bush could have done more to get relief efforts going quickly, compared with 63% of whites. Blacks are also considerably more critical of the federal government’s performance in general ­ 77% say the federal government’s response was only fair or poor, compared with 55% of whites. While both of these attitudes are also strongly related to partisanship, these racial differences remain even when party affiliation is taken into account.

The disaster has had a far more significant personal impact on blacks than whites. African Americans are nearly twice as likely as whites (43% vs. 22%) to say they have a close friend or relative who was directly affected. African Americans are also much more likely than whites to report feeling depressed and angry because of what’s happened in areas affected by the hurricane.

Blacks also hold more sympathetic attitudes toward the people who became stranded by the flooding in New Orleans. An overwhelming majority (77%) say most of those who stayed behind did so because they didn’t have a way to leave the city, not because they wanted to stay (16%). Most whites agree, but by a slimmer 58% to32% margin. Most blacks (57%) also think people who took things from homes and businesses in New Orleans were mostly ordinary people trying to survive during an emergency. Just 38% of whites see it that way, while as many (37%) say most who took things were criminals taking advantage of the situation.

Iraq Overshadowed

Seven-in-ten Americans say they have paid very close attention to news of the hurricane’s impact, somewhat fewer than very closely followed reports on the 9/11 terrorist attacks (74%). But another major news story has attracted as much public interest; as gas prices have shot up so has public attention to news reports on the topic (71% very closely).

The public’s attentiveness to these two stories has overshadowed interest in other major events ­ notably the war in Iraq and the nomination of John Roberts as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. Only about a third say they paid very close attention to the situation in Iraq, despite high levels of American, and especially Iraqi, casualties in recent weeks. This marks the lowest level of public attention to news from Iraq since the start of the war.

Just 18% have paid very close attention to Roberts’ nomination as chief justice of the United States, and the lack of public interest shows in people’s evaluations of the nominee. By a 35% to 19% margin, more say they believe Roberts should be confirmed than say he should not, but nearly half (46%) volunteer no opinion on the matter. Similarly, while 20% say they are concerned that Roberts is too conservative, 39% are not concerned about his ideology and more than a third (36%) have no opinion on the question. Even among Democrats, more are uncertain on both of these questions than express opposition to or concern about Roberts’ confirmation.

Main Source of Disaster News

Television, and cable news channels in particular, are the main sources of news for most Americans during a crisis, and that was again the case for Hurricane Katrina. As occurred after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, and during the start of the war in Iraq, the proportion of Americans who cited cable news channels as a main source of news grew dramatically.

In this instance, CNN made the greatest gains. In June, 18% of Americans cited CNN as a source of most of their news about national and international issues. Following Katrina, 31% say CNN is a main source of news. The Fox News Channel and MSNBC also saw sizable, though smaller, audience gains from Katrina.

Television’s larger audience came at the expense of newspapers, the internet and radio. While still a primary source of information for many Americans on the disaster, all three are cited less frequently in this situation than under normal circumstances.

Disaster Coverage Rated Favorably

Overall, two-thirds give news organizations excellent (28%) or good (37%) ratings for their coverage of the impact of Katrina. This is considerably more favorable than the public’s ratings a year ago for press coverage of the presidential election campaign. Current evaluations of coverage are in line with views of other major recent events, though considerably lower than the overwhelmingly positive media ratings following 9/11 (56% excellent, 33% good).

All in all, most (62%) say the amount of coverage given to Katrina’s aftermath is appropriate, while less than a quarter (21%) say there has been too much. There is a considerable partisan divide on this, however ­ Republicans are more likely than Democrats to say there has been too much coverage of the impact of Katrina (27% vs. 15% of Democrats).

Different Sources, Divergent Views

Previous Pew surveys have shown the Fox News audience to be highly supportive of the president. This remains the case today, with Fox viewers reacting far more favorably to the president’s handling of the disaster than those who cite other outlets as their major source of news on the hurricane.

In addition, a plurality of Fox News viewers (42%) say that people who took things from businesses and homes in New Orleans were mostly criminals taking advantage of the situation. The balance of opinion among those who rely on other outlets ­ CNN, network news, newspapers and the internet ­ is that people who stole were mostly ordinary people trying to survive in an emergency.