Mayor Ray Nagin’s approval rating continues to plunge, though the New Orleans City Council received good support from those responding to a survey by the University of New Orleans.

The survey was conducted in June with phone calls made to 300 respondents in Orleans and Jefferson Parishes. The margin for error was plus or minus 5.7 points.

According to the survey, only 31 percent of the respondents feel favorably about Nagin.

While fairly low across the board, Nagin shows up particularly poorly among white voters. Forty-nine percent of African-American respondents approved of the job Nagin was doing; that’s down from 61 percent from the last survey in October 2006. Meanwhile only 11 percent of white voters felt Nagin was doing a good job.

Mayor's Office finds positives in the numbers

The Mayor's Office released a statement late Tuesday afternoon saying that the increasing percentage of respondents who feel satisfied with the quality of life in the city is a more telling indicator of the job Nagin is doing than the numbers that cite him specifically.

"Although the methodology of the UNO poll released today raises questions with its small sample size and its large margin of error, there are some overarching positive trends that can be extracted that are in line with the Mayor’s State of the City Address and other points he has made repeatedly," said the release. "Most New Orleanians are optimistic about the future; more people are positive about our cleaner city, police protection, and the availability of housing; and far fewer people are worried about the future or expect to move away from New Orleans. These are the greatest measures of the Mayor’s leadership."

Fifty-eight percent of New Orleans respondents said they were satisfied with the quality of life in New Orleans, about the same percentage as a survey done prior to Katrina. Meanwhile, the percentage of New Orleans residents considered somewhat or very likely to leave the area in the next two years has declined from a combined 32 percent in October 2006 to 22 percent in the latest survey.

Broussard sees a rise in approval numbers

In Jefferson Parish, President Aaron Broussard’s job performance met the approval of 61 percent of those who responded.

Jefferson Parish residents are also pretty satisfied with life in the parish. The UNO survey showed 92 percent as saying they had overall satisfaction with life in Jefferson. Only 16 percent of Jefferson residents said they were somewhat or very likely to leave the area in the next two years. That is down from 32 percent in the last survey in 2006.

N.O. City Council gets high approval rating

The New Orleans City Council came in with an approval rating of 70 percent overall. The council had a 70 percent overall approval rating. Seventy-five percent of blacks surveyed approved or strongly approved of the council; 66 percent of whites.

"The overarching theme, I think, that comes out of this particular study is a return to normalcy, to an extent, at least among the attitudes and perceptions of residents of Orleans and Jefferson Parish," said Robert Sims, the director of the survey. Crime is seen as the biggest problem by residents of both areas: 34 percent in New Orleans, 36 percent in Jefferson. In New Orleans, "lack of leadership" came in second in the "biggest problem" category at 10 percent. In Jefferson, it was flooding and drainage with 19 percent.

The survey indicates high approval for U.S. Attorney Jim Letten, who led a federally backed crackdown on corruption in the storm's aftermath. Seventy percent of New Orleans residents and 59 percent of Jefferson residents said they were familiar with Letten's name. Of those who knew his name in New Orleans, his overall approval rating was 91 percent. In Jefferson, it was 89 percent.

Sixty-one percent of New Orleans residents surveyed believe the area will become a better place to live over the next five years, compared to 55 percent of Jefferson Parish residents.

Written with AP contributions...