The polling memo everyone is reading

Mar 12, 2010 — Washington Post

Ezra Klein

Or at least most House and Senate Democrats. The memo itself is from Joel Benenson, Barack Obama's pollster of choice, so as Jonathan Cohn notes, "you can consider this unofficial official word as it were." At the very least, it's what the White House wants congressional Democrats reading. And now you can read it, too (pdf).

The basic argument is that health-care reform is becoming more popular as the president takes control of the process, and Obama and the Democrats are still more popular than the Republicans on this issue. I'd interpret the data a bit differently: Health-care reform is becoming more popular as people are talking more about the bill and what it'll do than about how Democrats made a big mistake attempting health-care reform months before Scott Brown won a special election in Massachusetts.