GALLUP NEWS SERVICE
PRINCETON, NJ -- Six months after Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans, normalcy is practically non-existent in the lives of city residents, the majority of whom are still grappling with housing problems and shortfalls in medical care and basic city services. Most residents want to remain in the city, but express some anxiety about the future. Two-thirds of residents say they are very worried about the prospect of another major hurricane causing flooding similar to what occurred last year.
White and black residents share similar perspectives about when their lives will return to normal, and they are equally committed to staying in New Orleans. However, only one-third of blacks, compared with two-thirds of whites, are currently back in the homes they were living in before Katrina. Also, many more blacks than whites report having difficulty with achieving home repairs, finding a good job, and obtaining public services.
Young adults, who mirror older residents in their racial composition, also seem especially harmed by the experience. Those aged 18-29 are less likely than middle-aged and senior residents to be living in their pre-Katrina housing, and are accordingly more pessimistic about the chances of their life returning to normal.
These findings are from a special CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll of people currently living in New Orleans, conducted Feb. 18-26. Gallup contacted respondents on landline telephones and cellular telephones, given that many areas of New Orleans are still without working landline service.
"Normalcy" At Least Three Years Away for Most
Nearly all New Orleans' residents (94%) tell Gallup that things have not completely returned to the "normal" they knew prior to Hurricane Katrina, and most expect it will be years before such normalcy returns.
When forecasting the timeline for improvement, only 4 in 10 residents (41%) are optimistic their lives will be back to normal within the next three years, including a lucky 4% who say things have already returned to normal. The majority -- 57% -- say it will take three or more years to return to normal, including 31% of residents who think this will never happen.
The biggest problems residents face relate to their housing. Sixty-three percent say the availability of housing is a "very" or "somewhat" serious problem confronting their own household. Sixty-nine percent say the ability to repair their home is a serious problem. Close to half of respondents describe each of these as very serious problems for their household.
A majority of residents also rates access to medical care and basic services such as sewage, garbage collection, and public transportation as serious problems.
There is some good news in the fact that a majority of residents say finding a good job, and the availability of electricity and clean drinking water at home, are not serious problems for them personally. However, these are still problems for a substantial minority of residents.
Many long for the social scene found in abundance in the old New Orleans. Close to half say the availability of restaurants and bars (presumably the lack thereof) presents a serious problem for them.
The poll results show a large racial gap on most of these items, with blacks more likely than whites to rate each as very or somewhat serious.
Concern about New Orleans suffering similar damage from another hurricane is pervasive. Two-thirds of residents say they are very worried about the potential of a similar storm, and another 21% are somewhat worried. This concern dwarfs fears about crime and personal safety. Overall, 44% say they fear for their personal safety when going outside at night, the same number who worry about having their home burglarized. Twenty percent of residents worry about their personal safety when going outside during the day.
Majority of Young Adults Still Uprooted
Only 44% of adults aged 18-29 report that they are living in the same home or residence they lived in before Katrina; 56% are not. This contrasts the finding that a majority of 30- to 49-year-olds (53%), 50- to 64-year-olds (58%), and most of those aged 65 and older (76%) are back in their own homes.
The dislocation among young adults is probably a function of the fact that most of this population rented, rather than owned a home, prior to Katrina. A Gallup survey of Katrina survivors last fall found that only 36% of 18- to 29-year-old residents had owned their own home; 55% were renters. By contrast, the vast majority of older residents were homeowners.
Still, it appears that the disruption in housing may have resulted in greater pessimism among young adults about their own future. Forty percent of 18- to 29-year-olds say their lives will never be back to normal, compared with only 30% of middle-aged residents and 20% of seniors.
Committed to Staying
Despite all of the difficulties and fears faced by the people of New Orleans, most of the current residents want to remain. Overall, 78% of residents, including equal percentages of whites and blacks, say they would personally like to stay in New Orleans; only 20% want to move away.
Not everyone is convinced they will succeed in staying. Just 52% say they will definitely stay, while 25% say they would like to stay but may be forced by circumstances to leave.
Survey Methods
Results are based on telephone interviews with 804 adults, aged 18 and older, who are currently living in the city of New Orleans, conducted Feb. 18-26, 2006. For results based on the total sample of current New Orleans residents, one can say with 95% confidence that the maximum margin of sampling error is ±4 percentage points.
Respondents were contacted on landline telephones and cellular telephones. The sample was weighted to adjust for the respondents' probability of being included in the sample based on the number of working telephone lines they have and the number of people who use each of those lines.
In addition to sampling error, question wording and practical difficulties in conducting surveys can introduce error or bias into the findings of public opinion polls.
