As Elrod pointed out, a post-showdown poll on healthcare shows that 49% percent of the public supported passage of the bill.
One day earlier, CNN released a poll showing that the public (pre-showdown) disapproved of Obama’s record on healthcare by a margin of 58-40. It was also the first CNN poll that showed a majority of the public (51%) disapproving of Obama’s overall performance as president.
But what is driving the disapproval? Could it be that Obama is not liberal enough? Matt Yglesias points to some related results from CNN which show that 13% of the public disapproved of the bill (before it passed) because it was “not liberal enough”. Add that to the 39% who supported the bill, and you have a majority that prefers the new status quo to any Republican effort to overturn Obama’s victory.
Yet CNN also reported that 56% of respondents think the bill gets government too involved in healthcare, while 70% think the bill will drive the deficit higher (contrary to what Democrats have promised.)
It would nice if the tea leaves were easier to read.