Was Kanye West Right?

Here are the full results of the poll and a chart showing Bush's approval rating over time.

CNN reports: "A majority of Americans surveyed in a CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll released Monday said they disapproved of President Bush's handling of the response to Hurricane Katrina.

"Conducted September 8-11, the poll said 54 percent of respondents expressed disapproval of Bush's handling of the crisis, compared to 43 percent who said they approved."

CNN also reports: "White and black Americans view Hurricane Katrina's aftermath in starkly different ways, with more blacks viewing race a factor in problems with the federal response, according to a CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll released Monday."

Susan Page and Maria Puente write in USA Today: "There is a lot that Americans agree about in the wake of Hurricane Katrina: that government agencies initially stumbled but are doing better now, for one, and that more money and attention should be paid to addressing the issue of poverty.

"But a USA TODAY/CNN/Gallup Poll taken Thursday through Sunday finds a stark racial divide on other issues, including attitudes toward the hurricane's victims, the performance of President Bush and the reasons the government's early response was so wanting. . . .

"Overall, the president's job-approval rating is 46%, essentially the same as the 45% rating in the Gallup Poll 10 days earlier."

Or Is It More a Poverty Issue?

Ronald Brownstein writes in the Los Angeles Times: "The vivid images of poor residents, most of them African American, stranded across New Orleans in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina have generated more discussion in the nation's capital about poverty than any event in years. . . .

"[M]any analysts believe that the stark pictures of families trapped amid the rising waters have made the persistence of poverty tangible to many Americans in a way unmatched by years of government reports. On the day New Orleans flooded, in fact, the Census Bureau released an annual report showing that the number of Americans in poverty rose for the fourth consecutive year."

Bush To Speak

The White House announced this morning that Bush will address the nation from Louisiana on Thursday at 9 p.m. ET. "The president will talk to the American people about the recovery and the way forward on the longer-term rebuilding," spokesman Scott McClellan said.

Bush is also taking a few questions today after meeting with Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, though that comes after my early deadline today.

It's unlikely, however, that Bush will forthrightly confront a lot of the tougher questions facing him in either forum.