Consensus remains among global public on the need to go “beyond
GDP”: http://t.co/0SwtKh2m6h As Hurricane Sandy slammed into the
eastern seaboard of North America, the US presidential contest
was entering its home stretch. The material damage caused cannot
be denied, but analysts have also occupied themselves with two
further questions: most immediately, how might Sandy affect the
election and, more widely, does the explanation for Sandy’s
unusual strength lie in climate change? Looking back at trends
in GlobeScan’s public opinion polling after Katrina provides us
with some interesting reflections on both of these questions. On
the immediate political implications, the proportion of
Americans who professed trust in the federal government
plummeted in the wake of the botched response to hurricane
Katrina, from 72 percent in 2004 to 59 percent in 2005. Though
this lower figure is still twelve points higher than that seen
in our most recent polling, and many other factors were in play
at the time, this does sugg