Democratic message fail: Just 26% know breaking filibuster requires 60 votes

Via Jonathan Chait, oh my god:

Asked how many GOP senators voted for the chamber's health care bill on Dec. 24, only 32% know that the measure received no support from Republican members. About as many answer incorrectly, saying that five (13%), 10 (8%) or 20 (8%) GOP senators voted for the bill. About four-in-ten (39%) do not know or decline to answer.

A smaller percentage (26%) knows that 60 votes are needed to break a filibuster in the Senate. About as many (25%) mistakenly say that a simple majority of 51 votes can break a filibuster.

In a sense, it's not surprising that most people don't realize that it takes 60 votes to end a filibuster in the Senate. After all, aren't we taught since childhood that when it comes to voting and passing legislation, democracy means majority rule?

One aspect of the explanation for this is that people don't follow politics too closely. But there's another piece of the puzzle: Democrats have failed to make the abuse of the filibuster an issue.

With President Obama's criticism of Senate Republicans during the State of the Union, there's signs of that changing -- but to get the message out there, Democrats need to hammer on it over and over and over again. The abuse of the filibuster is an outrage, and it should be denounced as such.

As the Pew poll illustrates, Democrats cannot afford to be quiet about this.