— GOVERNMENT PREPARATION: Some 28 percent say the federal government was as prepared as it reasonably should have been to cope with a disaster of the magnitude caused by Hurricane Katrina. Those most likely to fault the government: women, 74 percent; non-whites, 83 percent; Northeasterners 77 percent; and Democrats, 86 percent.
— RELOCATED REFUGEES: Slightly more than half of Americans, 55 percent, say Katrina victims have been relocated at least temporarily to their city or community. Among that group, the biggest concern is the cost to local government of helping survivors and the living conditions in shelters in their area. Three in four had little or no concern that shelters will bring more crime to their areas or that hurricane victims will take jobs from locals. Women more concerned than men about living conditions and cost. Non-whites, 58 percent, were more concerned about shelters' living conditions than whites, 30 percent.
— RACE RELATIONS: Asked whether the slow government response to Katrina will improve or harm race relations, about a fifth of those polled said they think it will improve race relations and more than a third said it will harm them. Women, 41 percent, were more likely than men, 29 percent, to say the slow response will harm race relations. Surprisingly, there was no difference between the response of whites and blacks to this question. Democrats, Northeasterners and those who live in cities were most likely to think race relations would be harmed.
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