Voters Trust Governors on Hurricanes More Than FEMA and Biden: Poll

With recovery efforts underway following Hurricane Helene’s deadly assault on the Southeastern U.S., a recent poll by YouGov suggests that voters are generally happier with local responses than those of President Joe Biden and the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

YouGov’s poll, conducted among 1,604 adult citizens between October 6-7 found that while most Americans approved of how state governors have handled flooding caused by the disaster, opinions of the response by Biden and FEMA were more polarized.

Discussion around the disaster response quickly turned political. Former President Donald Trump took aim at the administration’s handling of the crisis, writing on September 30 that Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris had “left Americans to drown in North Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee, Alabama, and elsewhere in the South.”

The Harris campaign released a list of 99 Republicans who voted against FEMA funding in September. The vote was part of a $20 billion package. The bill passed both the House and Senate, however, 82 representatives and 18 senators voted against the bill, all of whom are Republicans.

FEMA has also recently come under fire, with some arguing that the agency’s funding is mismanaged.

The agency has been the target of a wave of disinformation. A page on its website called Rumor Response fact-checks stories being spread about the organization’s work.

According to YouGov’s poll, 55 percent of U.S. citizens approved of the governors’ (most of whom are Republican) responses to the hurricane. Twenty-eight percent were unsure, and 17 percent disapproved.

Sixty-five percent of Democrats and 59 percent of Republicans approved of how the governors of impacted states handled the response to Hurricane Helene.

Among six of the worst-hit states: the Carolinas, Florida, Virginia, Tennessee, and Georgia, only North Carolina has a Democratic governor.

As for FEMA, less than half (43 percent) of U.S. adult citizens said they approved of its response, while 33 percent disapproved, and 23 percent were unsure.

Democrats were more likely to approve of FEMA’s response—68 percent, compared with 29 percent of Republicans who said the same.

Biden’s response was perhaps the most polarizing. According to YouGov, 38 percent of U.S. adults consulted for the poll approved of the president’s response. Forty-four percent said they disapproved, and 18 percent were unsure.

On the other hand, 72 percent of Democrat respondents said they approved, versus 12 percent who disapproved.

Among Republicans, 12 percent approved of Biden’s response while 80 percent said they did not.

Newsweek has contacted FEMA and the White House for comment via email outside of standard working hours.

The poll was released shortly before Hurricane Milton was due to make landfall in Florida, which is still reeling from Helene, on Wednesday evening.

The National Hurricane Center (NHC) warned of a “life-threatening storm surge, damaging winds, and flooding rains” as Milton approached.

Millions of people were left without power after Milton crashed into Florida’s Gulf Coast as a Category 3 storm just after 8:30 p.m. on Wednesday. By Thursday morning, more than 2.9 million people were experiencing power outages, according to PowerOutage.us, a service that tracks disruptions.

Do you have a story we should be covering? Do you have any questions about Hurricane Helene or Hurricane Milton? Contact LiveNews@newsweek.com