Voters give White House a small boost on healthcare

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President Obama’s summit last week may not have found a bipartisan solution to healthcare overhaul, but it does seem to have increased support among the real audience – the voting public, according to the latest survey, released on Monday.

A telephone survey by Rasmussen Reports found that 44% of Americans said they favored Obama’s melded healthcare plan, up three points from a survey taken just before the summit and the highest level of support recorded since mid-November.

The small increase might be good news for the White House, but it is only a ray and is overshadowed by the 52% of U.S. voters who say they continue to oppose the plan. The Obama plan is based on the bill the Senate passed just before Christmas. The House passed a different version.

The narrowness of the increase and that a majority of voters still oppose the plan present a split decision for the Democrats and President Obama, who is expected to announce by midweek how he wants to proceed on the healthcare overhaul. It is expected that Democrats will move to reconciliation, a way to avoid having to gain a super majority of votes in the Senate to pass some form of overhaul.

Under reconciliation, a simple majority would be needed in each congressional chamber, already controlled by the Democrats.

Last week’s more-than-six-hour summit wasn’t expected to bring about a shared solution by Democrats and Republicans. Democrats and Republicans remain far apart in the starting approach and in philosophy, though there are some proposals, such as consumer issues, on which they agree.

The real audience, however, was the electorate, already skittish in this midterm year when anti-incumbency is at a crest.

Democrats overwhelmingly support the Obama plan, while Republicans even more sharply oppose it, according to Rasmussen. Support for the plan has gone up among both Democrats and those unaffiliated with a party since mid-January.

-- Michael Muskal
Twitter.com/LATimesmuskal