Happy Liberals

by digby

It looks like Rahm may have been right, at least for now. Greg Sargent reports:

[T]he internals of the new CNN poll contain a striking finding: Support for the Senate bill is up among Democratic voters. What’s more, Obama’s support has increased among liberals.

The poll finds that support overall for the Senate health care bill has jumped six points, to 42%, since early December. That’s a sizable jump, though overall 56% oppose it.

But here’s the interesting part: The poll also found that approval of the Senate bill has jumped 10 points among Dems in the same time period — a time period during which the Medicare buy-in was dropped. That’s a faster rise than overall. What’s more, it has jumped by the same number among young voters — who are presumably more liberal.

On top of that, the poll also says that Obama’s overall approval among liberals has gone up, to 81%.

Other polls, like this one, show a very different result, so it’s hard to know if that means anythying.

But nonetheless, I would guess that this CNN poll will be cited everywhere as validation of the village conventional wisdom that you can’t go wrong by punching a hippie. And the acceptance of the defeat of the public option and new abortion restrictions will likewise be interpreted as a sign that the progressive activists represent nobody but themselves.

I’m not surprised that liberals would “support the bill” in any case. Like the progressives in the congress they want health care reform, especially if it includes a huge expansion for the poor. The closer that comes to fruition, the more they come to terms with the bill as an imperfect improvement.

How that translates into enthusiasm and turn-out next November remains to be seen.

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