The Carsey Institute at the University of New Hampshire studies the economically vulnerable in our society. One of their recent surveys caught my eye. As part of their Community and the Environment in Rural America (CERA) project, they surveyed residents of counties in Louisiana and Florida affected by the BP spill. There was considerable agreement between the residents of the two states on most trusted source of information about the spill (scientists, environmentalists) and least trusted sources (BP, blogs/websites). Likewise, in terms of response to the spill, BP and the federal government were held in contempt by survey respondents. However, one striking difference in perceptions concerned trust in local and state officials.
Respondents from Florida were much more likely to think their local and state governments were doing a poor or fair job responding to the spill, while Louisianans generally thought their local and state governments were doing a good or excellent job.
The study authors suggested that difference might have been do to Louisiana officials having more expertise in handling large crises thanks to their experiences during Katrina. Let me offer a much more cynical interpretation. Louisiana officials are better at disaster capitalism and corruption. Louisiana is home to the "spillionaires."