Healthcare

More Supermajority Support for the Public Option

A clear supermajority of Americans support a public insurance option, according to most polls. And Nate Silver breaks down support by congressional district:

-- The public option is estimated to have plurality support in 291 of the 435 Congressional Districts nationwide, or almost exactly two-thirds.
-- The public option is estimated to have plurality support in 235 of 257 Democratic-held districts.
-- The public option is estimated to have plurality support in 34 of 52 Blue Dog - held districts, and has overall popularity of 51 percent in these districts versus 39 percent opposed.

So the public option should breeze through the House with as many as 291 votes, right? Of course not. At least, not yet.

Anyway, to add to my on-going "this healthcare fight is almost more stressful than the campaign" sense of deja vu, here's Nate's map (blue equals support for the public option):

po_support_by_district.jpg

Note that Montana is totally blue. You know, Max Baucus' home state.