Small Grant for Exploratory Research: Americans Respond to Hurricane Katrina

目标和学术价值：这项研究考察了卡特里娜飓风灾难的政治后果。由于救灾和重建成本估计超过2000亿美元，只有强有力和持续的公众支持灾民和政府才能提供必要的政治资本，以确保恢复工作所需的资金。然而，飓风过后，美国人报告说，人们对政府的信任减少了，特别是对政府应对自然灾害和未来可能发生的恐怖主义的能力。关于政府为重建工作买单的最佳方式的争论也越来越多。归根结底，卡特里娜飓风的长期政治后果将在很大程度上取决于公众对这场灾难及其受害者的反应，目前公众的看法远远不一致。一些美国人继续信任政府，而另一些人则不信任。一些人希望看到国内外支出减少，而另一些人则希望推迟减税。一些人认为种族和阶级是新奥尔良人类和社会灾难的决定性因素，另一些人反对这种推理。调查人员特别关注美国人对种族的信念，认为这可能是了解公众对政府对灾难受害者的义务的反应以及政府在处理救援工作方面的表现的一个决定性因素。大量研究表明，对种族和种族不平等的根源的不同看法是美国人对政府社会福利政策、反贫困计划和一系列政府援助计划普遍存在分歧的有力来源。新闻媒体对卡特里娜飓风灾难的报道清楚地表明，贫穷的非裔美国人在最初留在新奥尔良的人中占主导地位。为了更全面地评估种族态度在制约政府应对卡特里娜飓风的救援工作中可能产生的分裂作用，研究人员将一个由美国国家科学基金会资助的正在进行的研究项目扩展到美国人的种族态度。具体地说，他们重新采访了包括在美国种族意见调查(AROS)中的受访者。这项调查最初是在2003年末和2004年初进行的全国电话抽样调查，由国家科学基金会(SES-030318800)资助。第一波采访是对1583人进行的。然后，他们在2004年初(2月至6月)尝试重新采访研究中的所有白人(N=1,229)，并获得了对868名非西班牙裔、非亚洲白人的完整采访。第二波采访完全集中在白人身上，以获得对他们的种族态度的非常详细的评估。这两次访谈详细了解了受访者的意识形态价值观、对政府的看法，以及最重要的是，他们对种族态度和信仰的一些衡量标准。在新的采访中，他们将把重点放在对卡特里娜飓风灾难的反应上：对受害者的态度，对政府绩效的评估，以及对帮助受害者和重建新奥尔良的政策的支持。与典型的横断面民意调查相比，研究设计使得对种族态度的政治影响的更微妙的探索成为可能。因此，研究人员可以很好地评估种族态度在解释美国对这场灾难的反应时所产生的公开和更微妙的政治影响。更广泛的影响：从更广泛的角度来看，这项研究将扩大政策制定者对公众如何应对灾害以及政府应对此类事件的努力的理解。这项研究还将提供证据，说明受害者的种族和阶层在多大程度上影响了公众对政府应对各种灾难的努力的支持。飓风受害者主要是穷人和黑人，任何负面反应都可能严重破坏重建新奥尔良和帮助当地居民的努力。飓风受害者的看法也可能影响人们对政府的信任在多大程度上受到新奥尔良救援工作的破坏。一些民意调查显示，人们对政府未来在飓风过后处理灾难的能力存在一些不信任。任何特定的灾难在多大程度上破坏了人们对政府的信心，也可能取决于对受影响公民的阶级和种族背景的看法。

Objectives and Intellectual Merit: This study examines the political consequences of the Hurricane Katrina disaster. With estimates of disaster relief and rebuilding costs mounting to over $200 billion, only strong and sustained public support for disaster victims and the government will provide the necessary political capital to ensure funds needed for the restoration effort. However, in the aftermath of the hurricane, Americans report diminished trust in government, especially in the ability of government to deal with natural disasters and possible future terrorism. And there is increasing debate about the best way for the government to pay for reconstruction efforts. Ultimately, Katrina's long-term political consequences will depend to a large degree on the underpinnings of public reactions to the disaster and its victims, views which are currently far from uniform. Some Americans continue to trust the government while others do not. Some wish to see foreign and domestic spending reduced while others want to postpone tax cuts. Some view race and class as defining factors in the human and social disaster in New Orleans, others reject such reasoning. The investigators focus specifically on Americans' beliefs about race as a possible defining factor in understanding public reactions to the government's obligation to disaster victims and its performance in handling relief efforts. A great deal of research has shown that divergent beliefs about race and the origins of racial inequities are a powerful source of division among Americans concerning government social welfare policy, anti-poverty programs, and an array of government assistance programs very generally. News media coverage of the Katrina disaster has made clear that poor, African-Americans dominated the ranks of those initially left behind in New Orleans. To more fully assess the possibly divisive role of racial attitudes in conditioning responses to government relief efforts in response to Katrina, the researchers extend an ongoing NSF-funded research project into Americans' racial attitudes. Specifically, they re-interview respondents included in the American Racial Opinion Survey (AROS). The survey is based on a national telephone sample conducted initially in late 2003 and early 2004, funded by the National Science Foundation (SES-030318800). The first wave of the interview was conducted with 1,583 individuals. They then attempted re-interviews with all whites in the study (N=1,229) in early 2004 (February till June), and obtained completed interviews with 868 non-Hispanic, non-Asian whites. The second wave interview focused exclusively on whites in order to obtain very detailed assessment of their racial attitudes. The two interviews provide a detailed understanding of the respondents' ideological values, views of government, and, most importantly, a number of measures of their racial attitudes and beliefs. In the new interviews they will focus on responses to the Katrina disaster: attitudes toward the victims, assessments of the government's performance, and support for policies to assist the victims and rebuild New Orleans. The research design makes possible a more subtle exploration of the political effects of racial attitudes than in the typical cross-sectional public opinion survey. As a consequence, the researchers are well positioned to assess both overt and more subtle political effects of racial attitudes in accounting for American responses to the disaster. Broader Impact: From a broader perspective, this research will extend policy makers' understanding of how the public responds to disasters and government efforts to deal with such events. The study will also provide evidence on the extent to which victims' race and class shapes public support for government efforts to respond to various kinds of disasters. Efforts to rebuild New Orleans and assist its residents may be seriously undermined by any negative reactions to the hurricane's predominantly poor and black victims. Views of the hurricane's victims may also affect the degree to which trust in government has been undermined by the relief effort in New Orleans. A number of polls have reported some mistrust in government's future ability to handle disasters in the aftermath of the hurricane. The extent to which any given disaster undermines faith in government may also depend on perceptions of the class and racial background of affected citizens.