Almost 28 months after Katrina, a majority of Americans are still interested in supporting the recovery of New Orleans, at least according to a new UNO poll released today.  

These results show that the American people are quite generous and still care about the City of New Orleans. Almost 52% of respondents believe that the federal government has provided too little aid to New Orleans and 55.5% are either somewhat or extremely willing to support more federal spending for the recovery.  

The poll was taken between November 29 and December 4. It has a margin of error rate of 3.6%.  

The people interviewed also had concerns about how the federal and charitable aid was being spent with 62.2% believing that it had not been spent well.  

So, despite the problems in how the aid has been spent in the past 28 months, people still want New Orleans to receive more funding to make a full recovery.  

The poll shows that people across this nation have a special place in their hearts for New Orleans. Many people have ties to this area or have visited the city, or at the very least they know that New Orleans is a very unique place worth saving.  

The poll results also show that there are still many misconceptions about New Orleans with one-fourth believing that parts of the city remain under water and one-third believing that the French Quarter was heavily damaged by Katrina.  

However, respondents accurately depicted New Orleans as an area suffering from crime and corruption and was not especially business friendly.  

Overall, this poll shows that the nation does not suffer from Katrina fatigue and wants to see the recovery mission completed in New Orleans. It is up to local and state leaders to change the image of this city, utilize federal funds more wisely and work to eventually change the negative impressions that people continue to have about New Orleans.    

Jeff Crouere is a native of New Orleans, LA and he is the host of a Louisiana based program, “Ringside Politics,” which airs at 8:30 p.m. Fri. and 10:00 p.m. Sun. on WLAE-TV 32, a PBS station, and 8 a.m. till Noon weekdays on WGSO 990 AM in New Orleans and the Northshore. For more information, visit his web site at www.ringsidepolitics.com. E-mail him at jeff@ringsidepolitics.com.