Although ... the way the 1st question was phrased, I myself would have been part of the 57% saying that I'm now "at about the same level of preparedness after Katrina as before" -- because my big trigger event was 9/11/01 and not Hurricane Katrina. (I didn't really change my PSK or BOB as a result of seeing the aftermath of this season's hurricanes ... though I did double-check expiration dates & so forth about 4 months ahead of schedule, just to reassure myself.)

So some of the folks in that alarmingly high 57% figure might actually be pretty prepared for emergencies & whatnot -- they simply might have started preparing for "what if" earlier than this summer.

Okay, so I'm an optimist -- well, as far as one can be an optimist and still "prepare for the worst".