Poll: Bush handled Katrina better than Obama dealt with oil spill

LOS ANGELES — Former President George W. Bush showed more leadership in dealing with the disaster caused by Hurricane Katrina than President Barack Obama has shown in handling the oil calamity in the Gulf of Mexico, according to a poll of Louisianans released Friday.

Obama, who will make his 10th trip to the Gulf when he travels to New Orleans on Sunday, will seek to reassure residents that he remains committed to rebuilding a region still feeling the effects from Katrina's deadly landfall and flooding. Obama will also reassert his administration's commitment to the cleanup from the BP oil well leak, the nation's worst oil environmental disaster.

But a poll of Louisianans by Public Policy Polling shows those reassurances may be met with skepticism. Just 32 percent give Obama good marks for his actions in the aftermath of the spill, while 61 percent disapprove.

By contrast, those polled said that Bush's leadership on Katrina was better than Obama's on the spill. A majority, 54 percent, said that Bush did the better job of helping Louisiana through the hurricane crisis compared with the 33 percent who chose Obama, PPP said on Friday.

That 21-point spread was more than when PPP asked the same question in June and found Bush ahead by 15 points.

Some of the results reflect Louisiana's conservative Republican tilt. PPP also notes that many of those hurt the worst during the Katrina period have yet to return to their homes, so their opinions aren't included in the poll. The survey of 403 likely Louisiana voters was conducted Aug. 21-22 and has a margin of error of 4.9 percentage points.

Five years ago, Katrina struck the Gulf and the levees protecting New Orleans failed. More than 1,600 people died and images of poor residents clinging to floating rooftops while desperately calling for aid haunted the Bush administration. Bush's praise of his administration's rescue and rebuilding efforts became a national punch line as the disaster unwound.

Obama is scheduled to speak at Xavier University, a university flooded during Katrina. At a briefing this week, the White House said Obama would "recommit the nation to the Gulf region and to all those still working to rebuild lives and communities."