New Polling Shows Webb, Warner Under Pressure On HCR Votes

As more senators lend their names to a plan to use reconciliation to add a public option back into health care reform, a progressive group is targeting two centrist Democrats with polling that shows standing in the way of the reconciliation plan could cost them politically.

In a new Research 2000 poll conducted for the progressive coalition that has been trumpeting the reconciliation plan in recent days, both of Virginia's moderate Democratic senators -- Jim Webb and Mark Warner -- face an electorate that is upset with their performance on health care reform so far and wants to see a public option passed.

Webb, famously, waited less than 15 minutes after Sen. Scott Brown (R-MA) was elected Jan. 19 to tell his colleagues in the Senate to put the brakes on any plan to force health care reform through before Brown was seated. But the new polling shows that it might behoove Webb to get on board the new plan to go around the GOP opposition now that Brown has his seat.

The new Webb polling, obtained exclusively by TPMDC, shows that 52% of all Virginians disapprove of the job Webb has done on health care, while only 40% approve. The numbers are even worse for Webb among the key independent voting bloc -- just 37% approve of his job performance on health care, while 56% disapprove.

Warner is facing similar numbers. Fifty percent disapprove of his job on health care overall, while 41% approve. Among independents, the disapproval rating rises to 54%, while approval drops to 40%.

The poll was commissioned by the Progressive Change Campaign Coalition, Democracy For America and Credo Action. The groups have been urging senators to join the new reconciliation push. So far, neither Warner nor Webb has signed the letter supporting the use of reconciliation to pass the public option.

What do Virginians want from their Senators on health care reform? One answer seems to be a robust public option, according to the polling. Sixty-one percent of respondents to the poll said they favor a public option modeled on Medicare, while just 31% opposed it. Among independents, the group most moderate Democrats rely on come election time, the support for a public option holds -- 62% say they favor a robust public insurance plan, while 30% oppose it.

Support for the Senate bill passed already remains low in Virginia. Just 36% of Virginians say they like the bill. Only 31% of independents favor it.

For the coalition behind the poll, the numbers couldn't be any clearer.

"When 36% of Virginians support the Senate bill without a public option, and 61% support the public option, the smart strategy for Webb and Warner is obvious: Fight like hell for the public option," said Adam Green of the PCCC. "Own it, be a hero, make the public option the symbol of health care reform."