A recent CBS news report reminds us that disasters create political fallout as much as they wreck havoc on communities. After Hurricane Katrina and the issues with agencies playing the “blame game”, 24-hour cable news coverage of looting vandals, families on stranded on roof tops and a football stadium of despair, President Bush’s job approval dropped to 48%. Only 38% of Americans approved of how Bush handled Katrina and 32% of Americans had confidence in the President overall.
After Katrina, the Bush Administration never recovered above a 50% job approval rating. Weeks after Hurricane Katrina, a solid majority of Americans said the President and the government reacted too slowly. Months after the levees broke six in ten respondents reported they were angry and dissatisfied with the handling of Katrina. Two years later, less than half of Americans reported seeing any progress in rebuilding New Orleans.
Earlier this week, Hurricane Gustav threatened to roar into New Orleans, nearly following Katrina’s path, during the GOP convention. Gustav did not hit New Orleans dead on, but it still reminded Americans how Katrina was handled and how they felt about Bush on domestic issues.
Obama, continuing his effort to tie McCain to Bush, stayed on message and remind the public how upset they were in 2005. The McCain camp, after shortening the convention and streaming President Bush to the Republican crowd via satellite feed from a Disaster Response Center, has worked to minimize the attachment to Bush and Katrina. They also were able to benefit from the excitement of an unexpected VP candidate. Katrina dogged Republican candidates in the past election cycles but it does not appear that Gustav is playing as large a role in the current election cycle, either to help or hurt Republicans.
