WaPo Poll Shows Support For Public Option INCREASED from 52 to 55% - Who Gets Credit?

[TomCADem]

On tonight's Ed Show, Big Ed cited a new poll showing that support for the public option INCREASED from 52 percent to 55 percent from August to September. The question is who gets the most credit?

I know there is a certain segment of astroturf "liberals" who will continue to insist that President Obama does not really support health care reform or a public option, and spam a series of purported liberal articles asserting that President Obama has not shown adequate leadership. Yet, here we are with support for the public option GROWING, and the President continuing to promote health care reform and the public option.

My impression is that most Democrats and liberals recognize that we do have an ally in the President who is trying to get the best bill he can out of Congress. While some folks insist that the President should be throwing down ultimatums, I personally think that the President's willingness to try to engage with Republicans is starting to pay off in that over 60% of Americans now believe that Republicans are not negotiating with the President in good faith. Now, if the President simply issued ultimatums, how would those numbers look regarding who is at fault for the partisan atmosphere in Congress?

If you disagree with the public option, then that is a fair criticism, but the argument that the President does not support a public option simply does not hold water, and it never has. The President has given over 100 interviews, which is far more than the 37 given by Dubya and the 41 or so by Bill Clinton at a similar juncture.

If you disagree with the public option fine, but to suggest that the President is lying about his support for this option makes one no better than Joe Wilson.

Edit: Here is a cite to some of the polling references from WaPo:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/polls/postpoll_091309.html?sid=ST2009091400007

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22. Would you support or oppose having the government create a new health insurance plan to compete with private health insurance plans? Do you feel that way strongly or somewhat?

-------- Support -------- --------- Oppose -------- No
NET Strongly Somewhat NET Somewhat Strongly opinion
9/12/09 55 33 22 42 11 31 3
8/17/09 52 33 19 46 11 35 2
6/21/09 62 NA NA 33 NA NA 5

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[Clio the Leo]

1. Me?

Wishful thinking ..... but I didn't think it would hurt to ask.

[TomCADem]

2. Okay, President Obama and You...

:)

[Hello_Kitty]

3. You beat me to it.

I attribute it to my hard work brawling with wingnuts on facebook when I should be working. :patriot:

[Clio the Leo]

4. I was typing fast!!!!! NT

[TomCADem]

5. Well, Here Is Erza Klein's Breakdown

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/ezra-klein/2009/09/the_tea_party_vs_the_polls.html?hpid=topnews

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Let's start with the public option. A solid 55 percent of the country supports "having the government create a new health insurance plan to compete with private health insurance plans." That supports jumps to 76 percent if the option is reserved for those unable to get health insurance now. But for all that, when asked if they would favor health-care reform if the government option was dropped from the package, support jumps to 50 percent. In other words, the America people strongly favor the public option, but prefer health-care reform without it.

Or take Republicans. Asked whether the Democrats should change health-care reform to attract Republican support, 71 percent support the effort to reach across the aisle. But asked whether Republicans are "making a good faith effort to cooperate with Obama and the Democrats on health care reform," 62 percent say they're not. And when asked whether Obama and the Democrats are making a good-faith effort to reach out to the Republicans, 50 percent say they are. To sum up, Americans believe the Democrats should rewrite the bill to attract the support of Republicans, even as they believe Republicans have not been negotiating in good faith, and Democrats have been.

What you saw at the Tea Party this weekend was a lot of certainty about health-care reform. "No" polled at 100 percent. The American people, however, evince no such clarity. They're confused about health-care reform, and particularly about the process. They'd be comforted by some level of consensus in Washington, even though they realize one party desires nothing of the sort. I imagine that it would be hard for a congressman to know exactly what to think of these numbers.

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[Clio the Leo]

6. That was my favorite part of that poll....

"But asked whether Republicans are "making a good faith effort to cooperate with Obama and the Democrats on health care reform," 62 percent say they're not."

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

7. Probably shared between President Obama and various town hall pinheads.