Extreme gaps on extreme weather

Insights into the New America brought to you by Clifford Young and Bernard Mendez.

It’s been 20 years since Hurricane Katrina struck down on the U.S. Gulf Coast in August 2005.

To explore the legacy of Hurricane Katrina, Ipsos partnered with USA Today to ask Americans where they stand on the legacy of the Hurricane and disaster preparedness as a whole.

Below are five charts on where Americans stand on the legacy of the Hurricane, where Americans stand on the future of disaster preparedness, and where Americans diverge on disaster preparedness and extreme weather.

1. Katrina lives on. The vast majority of Americans, even the ones that weren’t adults at the time of Katrina, are at least somewhat familiar with the Hurricane.
2. What did Katrina teach us? Most feel Katrina revealed major problems in the U.S.’ handling of large-scale disasters, particularly in coastal areas. However, Americans diverge when it comes to the intersection of natural disasters and race or economic status.
3. Gaps in trust. Most Americans want their government to play a major role helping citizens after natural disasters. But 20 years after Katrina, fewer Americans trust their government to actually do so, with an especially large partisan gap on trust in the federal government. Another partisan point of contention that appears in the data: how big of a role the federal government should play in the aftermath of natural disasters.
4. FEMA cuts. A majority of Americans value FEMA’s assistance before and after natural disasters. Few think FEMA's budget should be cut. Partisanship influences attitudes here, but the overall sentiment holds.
5. Extreme gaps on perceptions of extreme weather. Climate change and extreme weather has long been a partisan point of contention, and this persists to this day. This affects Republicans’ and Democrats’ perceptions of the frequency and intensity of natural disasters.

Twenty years later, Hurricane Katrina lives on. It remains something in the back of Americans’ minds, even for those that weren’t around to see it.

But there are signs that Americans' opinions on disaster preparedness, especially at the national level, are fracturing. Heading into Hurricane season, will this manifest into how Americans feel about the government’s response to hurricanes? We will see.