Reform Opposition Is High but Easing

More Support if Public Option Dropped
By Jon Cohen and Dan Balz
Washington Post Staff Writers
Monday, September 14, 2009

President Obama continues to face significant public resistance to his drive to initiate far-reaching changes to the country's health-care system, with widespread skepticism about central tenets of his plan, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll.

But after a summer of angry debate and protests, opposition to the effort has eased somewhat, and there appears to be potential for further softening among critics if Congress abandons the idea of a government-sponsored health insurance option, a proposal that has become a flash point in the debate. The gap in passion, which had shown greater intensity among opponents of the plan, has also begun to close, with supporters increasingly energized and more now seeing reform as possible without people being forced to give up their current coverage.

Obama continued his stepped-up effort to sell his health-care plan, appearing Sunday on CBS's "60 Minutes." He said that he wants a package that would deliver effective change and noted that he will bear the consequences of any public backlash against the result. "I'm the one who's going to be held responsible," he said. "I have every incentive to get this right."

Earlier, Sen. Olympia J. Snow (R-Maine), who has been seeking a bipartisan compromise, urged the president to abandon the so-called public option. "It's universally opposed by all Republicans in the Senate," she said on CBS's "Face the Nation." "And therefore, there's no way to pass a plan that includes the public option."

(More here.)