The White House and President George Bush responded to Hurricane Rita a lot more effectively than to Hurricane Katrina — and you can see it in the latest poll numbers:
WASHINGTON (CNN) — President Bush’s standing with the public improved over the previous week as he made a highly visible effort to manage the consequences of the second major hurricane to hit the Gulf Coast in a month, a new poll out Thursday found.
Bush’s job approval rating in the latest CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll climbed to 45 percent, and 71 percent said they approved of his handling of Hurricane Rita, which struck land Saturday near the Texas-Louisiana border.
By comparison, only 40 percent said they approved of his handling of Hurricane Katrina, which hit near the Louisiana-Mississippi line August 29.
The poll surveyed 1,007 adults between Monday and Wednesday, and had a margin of error of 5 percentage points.
A similar poll released last week found only 40 percent approved of Bush’s job performance, and 41 percent approved of his handling of Katrina.
An easing of public concern over gasoline prices also appeared to have contributed to the upward bump in Bush’s poll numbers.
This poll was conducted before news of House Majority Leader Tom DeLay’s indictment — and before John Roberts was confirmed as Supreme Court Justice in a vote that did garner a large number of Democrats. So, if you assume a few things (always dangerous and dumb to do but we’ll do it anyway): (1)The DeLay controversy and resulting polarization over the charges against him won’t help the White House. (2)Roberts seems to be acceptable and pleasing to many, minus an activist portion of the Democratic party. That could also help Bush with the numbers..which do count since they help determine his clout.
This suggests the lower poll numbers after Katrina may have been Bush hitting rock bottom and…as they say…he had nowhere to go (theoretically) but up.