Which Public Option?

by digby

Here’s an interesting analysis of where the public stands on the public option per the recent Quinnipiac poll from November 9-16. John Sides looked drilled down into the data to see how people felt about the various permutations that are being floated by the Senate:

The graph shows that supporters of the public option are relatively evenly divided between supporting a pure public option and supporting a public option with either a trigger or opt-out provision. Opponents of the public option are evenly divided about the opt-out, but tend to oppose the trigger.

Thus, about one-third of the sample supports the “pure” public option. A slightly smaller group, roughly 30%, supports a “qualified” public option that features either an opt-out provision or a trigger. About 20% of the public oppose the option, but would support it with an opt-out provision. Thirteen percent oppose it but would support it with a trigger. Finally, there is a “diehard” group of public option opponents, who are about 20-25% of the population.

There is grist for both supporters and opponents of the public option in these findings. Supporters could take heart that about 75-80% of the sample supports some sort of public option — at least given how these various proposals are described by Quinnipiac. Opponents could take heart that only about a third of respondents supports the pure public option.

It’s almost impossible to see why the Senate wouldn’t want to at least pass the public option with the opt-out with those numbers. Maybe they truly are afraid of teabag hysteria, but it seems way overblown to me. The 25% of hard core public option haters are hard core health reform haters. it’s pointless to worry about them.

Of course, these results probably don’t reflect the views of insurance company CEOs which is a far more important constituency than mere voters. If you weigh the numbers the way the Four Corporatists of the Apocalypse do, it’s 95% against any kind of public option.

Sides notes that the hypothetical “median voter” and the hypothetical “median Senator” both support the public option. It seems worth noting in that case, that not one Republican Senator can be described as “median.” I think that says something don’t you?

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