Americans consider the Obama administration’s response to the BP oil spill worse than the Bush administration’s handling of the disaster in New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina, according to an
ABC News/Washington Post poll released Monday.
A month and a half after the spill began, 69 percent in a new ABC News/Washington Post poll rate the federal response negatively. That compares with a 62 negative rating for the response to Katrina two weeks after the August 2005 hurricane.
Americans by more than 2-1 support pursuit of criminal charges in the nation's worst oil spill, with increasing numbers calling it a major environmental disaster, eight in 10 criticizing the way BP's handled it and the federal government's own response rated worse than it was in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
There's partisanship in views of the federal response, according to ABC, with Democrats less critical of the Democratic-led government. Nonetheless, even among Democrats 56 percent rate the federal response negatively. That rises to 74 percent of independents and 81 percent of Republicans.
By comparison, partisanship ran in precisely the opposite direction in views of the Katrina response under the Bush administration. In Katrina, just 41 percent of Republicans rated the response negatively, rising to 64 percent of independents and 79 percent of Democrats.
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