CBS News Poll Shows African Americans Still Dissatisfied With Post-Hurricane Katrina Efforts Six Months Later

CBS News Poll Shows African Americans Still Dissatisfied With Post-Hurricane Katrina Efforts Six Months Later

CBS News, BET.com Report Results and Analysis from Survey of More Than 1,000 Adults

WASHINGTON, Feb. 27 /PRNewswire/ -- Six months after the massive destruction dealt by Hurricane Katrina on New Orleans and the Gulf Coast region, a CBS News Poll and analysis by BET.com finds African Americans overwhelmingly dissatisfied with the efforts to rebuild in the storm's aftermath. The CBS News Survey unit conducted the poll of 1,018 adults, including 207 African Americans. Margin of error for the poll is plus or minus seven points.

Among the more eye-opening findings by CBS News is the pessimistic outlook that African Americans have for city of New Orleans. Survey results showed that 38 percent of African Americans believe much of that historic city will never be rebuilt compared to 26 percent of White respondents. On the topic of whether citizens displaced by the storm will ever return home, 33 percent of African-American respondents believe that White evacuees will return to New Orleans before the African Americans who were also forced to flee.

African Americans surveyed were particularly critical of the way that President George W. Bush and his administration responded to the desperate needs of Hurricane Katrina victims. Only seven percent of African-American respondents approved of President Bush's handling of the disaster, while 9 in 10 disapproved. Conversely, 36 percent of White respondents support the response by the Bush Administration.

"While the overall scope and findings of the poll are not a complete surprise, especially the divisions along racial lines, it's eye-opening that the negative opinions still hold so true six months after the hurricane," said BET News Senior Political Producer Pamela Gentry. "There have been a number of attempts, including the current Mardi Gras celebration in New Orleans, to further jumpstart the recovery. But the results of this poll indicate a long, long road still lies ahead."

BET News is also reporting the following reactions by noted African-American leaders to the poll's findings:

"If you ask Black people in New Orleans, I believe the number of people
who want to return would be higher. People want to come home; there is
much greater interest from people who are from New Orleans to return.
They want to have a better set of opportunities. They want don't want to
come home to just anything. We just have to set the path for them to come
home." -- Congressman Williams Jefferson (D-Louisiana)

"It's troubling that race and economic status still determines when aide
arrives in a time of crisis. This Bush Administration clearly dropped the
ball in the in dealing with Hurricane Katrina whether intentionally or
not." -- Congressman Bennie Thompson (D-Mississippi)

"There are no surprises in this poll. President Bush, from the very
beginning, was unprepared for the storm and unwilling to address those
victims or survivors of the storm. When the water was high, he had an
incompetent person in charge. While he went to ground zero in New York,
he never went to ground zero in New Orleans." -- Civil Rights Leader Rev
Jesse Jackson

EDITORS' NOTE: Complete results of the CBS News Poll and BET.com analysis can be found at:

http://www.bet.com/Assets/BET/Published/application/msword/98f5b140-17e5- b52b-7c53-703f3b0a6bb4-bet-cbs%20poll%20.doc

About BET.com

BET.com launched in February 2000 with $35 million in initial funding when then parent company BET Holdings partnered with Microsoft, Liberty Digital, News Corporation, and InterActive Corp (formerly USA Interactive) to create the most powerful African-American presence on the Internet. Averaging over 3 million registered users and millions of visitors per month, BET.com has received numerous accolades for its content and community applications including awards from the National Association of Black Journalists, Scripps-Howard Media, Interactive Design magazine and Black Enterprise. BET Interactive is a division of Viacom (NYSE:VIA)(NYSE:and)(NYSE:VIA.B) subsidiary BET Networks, the nation's leading television network providing quality entertainment, music, news and public affairs programming for the African-American audience.

Source: BET (Black Entertainment Television)

CONTACT: Michael Lewellen of BET (Black Entertainment Television),
+1-202-608-2003, michael.lewellen@bet.net

Web site: http://www.bet.com/

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