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Politics : Just the Facts, Ma'am: A Compendium of Liberal Fiction -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Sully- who wrote (75823)	12/7/2009 3:09:42 PM
From: Sully-	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 90947

Note to Pelosi: Does the public even understand the 'public option'? By: Mark Hemingway Commentary Staff Writer beltway-confidential 12/04/09 5:57 PM EST At the Speaker of the House's blog, Pelosi is trumpeting yet another poll which "shows a majority of Americans – with support across party lines – want a public health insurance option as a component of any final health reform legislation." So how it is that poll after poll shows that a majority of Americans disapprove of Democratic health reform plans, but a majority somehow supports the most liberal and controversial element of the plan? The likely answer is that the public has no idea what the so-called "public option" is. I wrote about this back in September, but I guess at it needs to be repeated for Madam Speaker's benefit: <<< The problem is that these polls ask the wrong thing. The relevant question is not, “Do you support the ‘public option’?” but rather, “What is the ‘public option’?” After months of fruitless White House and Democratic campaigning, a polling firm has finally done a rudimentary test of what the public knows about the health-reform debate. Penn, Schoen and Berland Associates released a poll last week that ought to undermine any confidence Democrats might have about enjoying a “mandate” for health reform. The survey of a thousand adults found that, given a choice of three plausible-sounding definitions, only 37 percent of the public could correctly identify what the “public option” is. “That’s nearly the equivalent probability that one would expect if everyone were just guessing,” according to the poll (a random pick between three options, of course, gives a 33 percent chance of success). The Penn poll is not without its problems — for one thing, it’s an Internet poll, which isn’t nearly as reliable as a traditional poll. But even Nate Silver, a decidedly liberal-leaning pollster, observes that “this should serve as something of a reality check for people on both sides of the public option debate.” Silver further notes that ignorance on the topic is widespread; it persists regardless of party affiliation. >>> washingtonexaminer.com