President Bush's response to Hurricane Rita won overwhelming approval in a USA TODAY/CNN/Gallup Poll, a marked contrast to his low marks on handling Hurricane Katrina.
Overall, 71% of those polled said they approve of Bush's response to Rita, which included presidential trips to the region before, during and after the storm. (Related item: Poll results)
Just 40% said they approved of the president's handling of Katrina, which was marred by a slow federal response after the storm. Except for a brief flyover in Air Force One, Bush made his first trip to the affected area five days after Katrina had passed.
The approval of his handling of Rita also affected his overall job-approval rating.
In the latest poll, that rating was 45%, up from 40% a week and a half ago. That was a low point he also hit shortly before Katrina, when bad news from Iraq intensified as he vacationed at his ranch in Texas.
Bush's disapproval dropped from 58% a week and a half ago, the worst of his presidency, to 50%.
That puts his approve-disapprove rating about where it was in early August, before Katrina and Rita. Bush, faced with public discontent over the war in Iraq and high gasoline prices, has been below 50% approval for about five months.
Bush was boosted in the latest poll by a public feeling that he did a better job responding to Hurricane Rita, which struck Texas and Louisiana Sept. 24, than he did with Katrina, which hit Louisiana, Alabama and Mississippi Aug. 29.
Analysts say Bush has been helped by less media focus on Iraq and more on the confirmation of John Roberts as Supreme Court chief justice. "Republicans have to be relieved. Given all the bad news this White House has faced, at least the president's hemorrhaging has stopped," says Stuart Rothenberg, publisher of the non-partisan Rothenberg Political Report.
The Sept. 26-28 poll of 1,007 adults has an error margin of +/-3 percentage points.
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