House Minority Leader John Boehner, a little over a week ago:
I’m still trying to find the first American to talk to who’s in favor of the public option, other than a member of Congress or the administration. I’ve not talked to one, and I get to a lot of places and I’ve not had anyone come up to me — I know I’m inviting it — and lobby for the public option.
Kind of an odd things for Boehner to say, given that nationally, 59 percent of Americans support the public option. Surely, at least one of his constituencies supports the public option, even if it's an R+14 district (McCain won it 60-38).
So we polled it.
Research 2000 for Daily Kos. 10/5-7. Likely voters. MoE 4% (No trend lines)
Do you favor or oppose creating a government-administered health insurance option that anyone can purchase to compete with private insurance plans?
Favor 37
Oppose 54
That's 37 percent of Boehner's constituents that apparently don't exist for the congressman, including 43 percent of independents. Of course, 80 percent of Republicans in the district oppose the public option, but 13 percent of them support it -- more bipartisanship than you'll see in DC.
Still, Boehner doesn't even pretend to acknowledge their existence. In his bubble world, the only people who matter are corporate lobbyists, Rush Limbaugh, and teabaggers. Now that willful blindness might be popular among his constituents (they approve of his efforts to kill health care reform by a 52-31 margin), but it doesn't put him or his party any nearer to the American mainstream.