New WaPo Poll: Two-Thirds of Voters Say Pass Comprehensive Reform

Obama and Congressional leaders will head into the healthcare summit (which Cantor has agreed to) with some good polling backing them up for finishing the job, even without Republicans.

Americans spread the blame when it comes to the lack of cooperation in Washington, and, in a new Washington Post-ABC News poll, most want the two sides to keep working to pass comprehensive health-care reform.

Nearly six in 10 in the new poll say the Republicans aren't doing enough to forge compromise with President Obama on important issues; more than four in 10 see Obama as doing too little to get GOP support. Among independents, 56 percent see the Republicans in Congress as too unbending and 50 percent say so of the president; 28 percent of independents say both sides are doing too little to find agreement.

WaPo can call that "spreading the blame," but with 58 percent saying the Republicans are resisting compromise, the summit can provide much needed clarity on where the hold up remains. At the same time, healthcare reform can't fail--this summit can't be used as an attempt to shift the blame to the Republicans and set up a failure.

Too many people are counting on reform.

Look at that graph--63 percent want comprehensive reform to pass, and more Independents want to see it pass than Republicans want to see it fail. But a note of caution, while the blame is primarily falling on Republicans now, ultimately the blame will be shared if it fails, and the bulk of it would fall on Obama and the Dems, since they are in charge.