Poll: BP Oil Spill Response Rated Worse than Katrina

[RamboLiberal]

Source: ABC News

By more than a 2-to-1 margin, Americans support the pursuit of criminal charges in the nation's worst oil spill , with increasing numbers calling it a major environmental disaster. Eight in 10 criticize the way BP's handled it – and more people give the federal government's response a negative rating than did the response to Hurricane Katrina.

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.

BP's response to the spill draws even broader criticism – 81 percent rate it negatively. And 64 percent say the government should pursue criminal charges against BP and other companies involved in the spill, which has poured oil into the Gulf from a well 5,000 feet beneath the surface since an explosion and fire destroyed the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig April 20.

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Substantially fewer, by contrast, rate the federal government's response as "poor," 32 percent.

There's partisanship in views of the federal response, 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.



Read more: http://abcnews.go.com/PollingUnit/Media/poll-bp-oil-spill-rated-worse-katrina-criminal-charges/story?id=10846473

[Mari333]

1. people are sick and tired of the status quo

and vapid responses to multinational corporations getting away with murder.

[jdlh8894]

5. And what is the "status quo" @ this point in time? N/T

[villager]

6. "vapid responses to multinational corporations getting away with murder"

n/t

[Mari333]

8. thanks lol

[riskpeace]

18. Vapid responses would seem like an improvement to many Gulf Coast folks!

It took nearly 12 hours for BP to show up with workers to clean Pensacola Beach from the report of oil on the beach. Of course, this was more than 6 weeks into the crisis.

WTF BP?
Don't BP on my beach and tell me it's raining!

[SILVER__FOX52]

9. Corporate....

whores run this country. There's your status quo.

[Barack_America]

2. Gee, I wonder why that might be.

Perhaps we could start by looking at who was affected by each tragedy.

[DesertDiamond]

7. Bingo! You just took away that question that popped up in my mind...

Who was stuck in stadium after Katrina? And who owns beachfront property?

[Schema Thing]

3. it's official, people are idiots with short memories.

[ProSense]

4. It's Obama's Katrina

Oh brother.

"That compares with a 62 negative rating for the response to Katrina two weeks after the August 2005 hurricane."

The media are clowns. There was absolutely no barage of media criticism of Bush two weeks after the hurricane.

[LuvNewcastle]

10. Katrina and the oil spill don't

have anything in common with one another as far as I can see.

[RamboLiberal]

11. Only in the states involved

But other than that 2 very different kinds of disasters.

[DatManFromNawlins]

14. Other than large levels of Federal incompetence directly influencing the disaster

No, none at all.

[Moonwalk]

15. People see a commonality of it being--

--a disaster and seeing how the government responds to it. They choose to ignore the fact that the hurricane was a disaster that we (1) could see coming and could have prepared for, (2) was a disaster that only the government could respond to as there was no one else to respond to it.

While something like this oil eruption should have been predicted and precautions taken, it's not like we had a week to see it coming and prepare. Nor did we know that it had happened before in that part of the world (New Orleans had been hit by big storms before) and what was needed. And this rig is owned by a corporation that is supposed to deal with such situations (and be the experts in dealing with then). The government is not expected to be an expert in it and deal with it--although, as per Russia's current idea of a fund for such emergencies, it's possible the government might get involved now.

In fact, unlike cities which expect government to get involved with how they're preparing for emergencies, everyone gets angry when the government says they're going to "regulate" businesses, let along step in and nationalize them or interfere with their operations. In short, there was a lot that government could have done before and during Katrina to have made things better. But the citizens of the U.S. tied government's hands when it came to dealing with this because they voted into office people who favored corporations, etc.

I do believe that the response could have been better. Much better. But I also think that comparing it to Katrina is apples and oranges, a cheap way of Bush fans to say, "See! You were mean to Bush! You're president isn't handing the same sort of emergency any better!" :eyes: Like two wrongs make a right!

[LuvNewcastle]

17. That's right.

Republicans will sling shit at the President any chance they get. This is just an opportunity to trash Obama. They couldn't care less if this was a comparable disaster to Katrina.

[Lagomorph]

32. They actually do have one thing in common...

NOLA, like the well, was damn near impossible to get to, for a few days after their related disasters.

[bluestateguy]

12. This is BP's mess only

and yes, their response is abominable.

[Coyote_Bandit]

16. No - it is a national catastrophe

with public costal waters and shore being fouled by a multinational corporation whose primary goal is maximizing shareholder return.

The administration could and should have been more proactive.

Weeks ago the administration could have permitted the placement of sand barriers and various booms to help protect marshes and shorelines. No reason for that delay.

The administration could have chosen to enforce the EPA order to cease use of toxic dispersants. They didn't. Didn't even try. Didn't even complain loudly about BP violating that order. Result? It is clear that BP is in charge of their response and the government is just another fucking impotent spectator utterly lacking in power to influence or direct BP in their response.

The government response to this catastrophe has been half-assed at best. And it has been an abysmal failure in protecting one of our nations greatest natural assets.

Once again this is the administration of lost opportunities. Color me unimpressed.

[primavera]

19. Hear, hear

BP's practices which brought us to this global catastrophe are substantively no different than those followed by Exxon, Mobil, Texaco, Shell, Chevron, etc., all of which have been endorsed by our state and federal elected "representatives," and implicitly by us as well every time we go fill up our gas guzzlers at one of their filling stations. Truly, this disaster reflects extremely poorly on everyone.

[Lagomorph]

37. I must disagree...

Everything they did was done with permits (or waivers) in hand.

The government looks rather foolish with their efforts. In 2004 an MMS investigation determined that BOPs usually don't work at those depths, yet permission was given to drill. That leaves the US on the hook for failure to take action on the BOP issue in the first place.

[HCE SuiGeneris]

13. That video is heartbreaking. Those poor animals...

:cry: :cry: :cry: :cry:

[judesedit]

20. Spare me. No comparison. Katrina was like 20 feet under water. Gulf oil spill 5,000 feet under

water. It is a major hole in the earth's mantle a mile under the ocean. And it happened because of the hand-holding between big oil corporations and our federal and state governments and their turning a blind eye, while hoarding the profits and lobbyist bribery money instead of using a small portion of it to ensure safety for the workers and the environment.

This is just another disaster previously created that Obama has to try to fix. Yeah. Overnight! Get real, people. This is a fucking hole in the earth gushing with thousands of pounds of pressure. Even on land, this would be no picnic to remedy.

And what makes me laugh is the fact that Obama puts a moratorium on oil drilling until safety measures are in place so this doesn't happen again...which, by the way...could happen at any minute. And people are complaining about it! They want the oil companies to be able to keep drilling unchecked. And if BP hadn't spread that dispersement whatever, the oil would probably be easier to round up.

Sorry, you can't have it both ways. Alot of people can't even be counted on to do their homework to find the truth, but Obama's supposed to fix Mother Earth's revenge. Yesterday!

Some Americans are living proof the "Dumbing Down of America" absolutely worked!

[Karenina]

25. This is VERY IMPORTANT. See how BP operates in Scotland.

Then ask yourself, "Why is THAT?" Why is the U.S. the red-headed stepchild?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xLu-Hp9--RU

[Nihil]

35. Not so much a "red-headed stepchild" as ...

... a red-headed prostitute who keeps getting beaten up by her pimps
yet thinks that this is the way that life should be ...

:shrug:

(Excellent work on posting those clips BTW)

[Karenina]

36. Thank you so much for that acknowledgement, Nihil.

I did my street protests 30 years ago, the internet has helped keep alive my spirit to be involved. That documentary had my eyes popping out of my head. Say WHAAAT?

So in the last hour I've seen scientists saying the "rough cut" made things worse, exactly as I feared it would...

The gulf was NOT in good shape BEFORE this disaster. Have you seen "Losing Louisiana?"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZQcPOQXc9vE

Call me Cassandra, as I have been so called on MANY ISSUES over MANY DECADES, but we're facing an extinction level event. Who and what survives depends entirely on stitching up an artery wound. I was already panicked about that with the incident in the Timor Sea last August. "Have they finally mortally wounded our Mother Earth? It took till NOVEMBER to cap it. To this day, reports on the impact of that blowout are NOT easy to find. An investigative report due in April has been delayed...

This effect is the result of SYSTEMIC causes as are also present in the water, food and financial pipelines.

[Nihil]

40. Thanks for the link - will watch that later. (n/t)

:toast:

[judesedit]

21. No way. No comparison. 20 feet under water to 5,000 feet under water

Get effing real, people.

[judesedit]

22. Yeah. By a bunch of republicans ready to screw the American people again

Wake up, people! No comparison. You could see exactly what was going on in Katrina and Bush couldn't stop eating cake. Finally, four days later he shows up. BP oil spill could not be seen except by access to BP's underwater camera, which they concealed as long as possible. And Obama was there the second day and since. He also has all of the best minds working on some solution to this geyser of oil spewing from the earth's interior. And has from day one.

[judesedit]

23. I GUESS OBAMA SHOULD BE ABLE TO STOP A VOLCANO FROM ERUPTING, TOO.

Such a crock of ignorant republican propaganda. They know they had a hand in it and are trying to shift blame again and cover the main issue...which is...their greed being the cause of it.

The republicans screw the American people again!

[Titanothere]

39. Actually no, he was there Day 12.

The similarities lie in the fact that both Bush and Obama knew there was an issue but didn't have any idea of the actual scope until it got out of hand, which isn't unexpected. I don't know why we expect presidents to be all powerful, I sure don't want them to be. It's Obama's Katrina because it's payback from all the people who think Bush didn't deserve all the criticism he got for Katrina. Now it's O's turn and whether he's guilty or not the oil's still flowing so now that the precedent's been set, he gets the blame.

[Grassy Knoll]

24. I have a better poll.....

How many Obama haters took this poll ?
I would guess 4 to 1 .

[ecstatic]

26. Thousands died from the fallout of Katrina... but let's not let facts

get in the way of racism.

[maxsolomon]

27. exactly - and no Americans can tell you how many

because the news media never counted Katrina. they gave us estimates of the dead from the indian ocean tsunami almost immediately. but how many who took this poll know 2000 died, and many from a pitiful federal and hateful local response?

[and-justice-for-all]

28. Oh for fucks sake...nt

[Prisoner_Number_Six]

29. I haven't seen any "government response" at all.

Other than words, that is... :shrug:

[ecstatic]

30. Then you're not paying attention nt

[lovuian]

31. Why are people mad?

Hmmm let me list some reasons
1. Oil drilling off Coast Line of their state
2.Foreign Corporations getting away with tapping our resources and paying NO TAXES
3. Destruction of wildlife fish and shores
4. Congress for only allowing a 75 million dollar cap of re compensation (for corporations)
5. Government paying for clean up of the mess
6. Obama allowing the drilling of off shore oil wells
7.Government Agencies complete and utter failure to protect the people of the United States who pay their pay checks
from the incompetence and greed of corporations
8. Fascism of our government
9. Bail out of Banks Insurance and Brokerage firms and yet no universal health care
10 Still in the Iraq and Afghanistan War
11. Plenty of people out of work and who would love to go down and get paid for government projects such as mass transportation
12. Department of Justice lack of prosecuting criminals
13. Rising health insurance premiums
14. And allowing the raid on Social Security of Americans

etc...etc...etc...
People are getting fed up
This is looking like a replay in History
And nobody trusts this government NOBODY

[JI7]

33. with Katrina there was warning and available resources to avoid what happened

with Obama it's shit like "why doesn't he show emotion" . with no discussion of what actually happened and what to do about it. and now you have the obama bashers demanding he end moratorium on drilling.

[Thor_MN]

34. Recency effect, try the poll again in 20 years.

[Earth_First]

38. This is NOT Obama's Katrina

A natural phenomenon did not create the BP disaster; private enterprise did.