National Poll Shows Majority of Country Thinks New Orleans Should Be Relocated; Survey Also Shows Strong Disapproval to Government Response to Hurricane Katrina

Business Wire, Sept 21, 2005

MIAMI -- Florida International University's Metropolitan Center, an urban think tank, released a poll today showing that the majority (50.7%) of the country thinks New Orleans should be rebuilt in a new location. In addition, respondents said the overall governmental response to Hurricane Katrina was inadequate by a more than a 2 to 1 margin.

The nationwide telephone poll of United States registered voters by partisan identification, ethnicity, gender and region was conducted from September 11-14, 2005. The poll was done jointly by the Metropolitan Center and the International Hurricane Research Center.

"The Metropolitan Center did studies after Hurricane Andrew and felt it was important to fund a Hurricane Katrina study since we are one of few institutions with real experience in this type of disaster," said Dario Moreno, Director of the Metropolitan Center.

Additional findings of the poll include:

--The public is split evenly over President Bush's response to the disaster

--The majority of the public are unwilling to pay higher taxes to rebuild New Orleans and the Gulf Coast.

--The public is split over whether the federal government's response was slow because it is "overextended" in other areas.

--Only 20 percent of voters believe the response was slow because most of the victims were African-American

--People overwhelmingly believe that the accuracy of the media coverage was at least satisfactory.

The Metropolitan Center at Florida International University, based in Miami, Florida, delivers information and expertise to decision makers, community leaders and citizens as they seek to forge solutions to urban problems. For more information on the Metropolitan Center, contact Dr. Dario Moreno at (305) 349-1253.

The International Hurricane Research Center (IHRC) at Florida International University is Florida's official hurricane research center for ten universities that comprise the state system. IHRC is also designated as the formal liaison for NOAA's Tropical Prediction Center and National Hurricane Center, located on the Florida International University campus in Miami. For more information on the International Hurricane Research Center, visit http://www.ihc.fiu.edu.