MO GOP: Please Define "Unpopular"

A batch of dated MOGOP press releases appeared in my RSS reader last night, so I'm a little slow on this -- but the headline in this press release from last week has me scratching my head: "On This Week, McCaskill promises unpopular public option."

What are they talking about?  While support for specific proposals in Congress is somewhat lower -- the idea of a public option to compete with private insurance companies is undeniably popular.  In fact, it's actually growing more popular with time. Here's a chart of data from Washington Post-ABC News polling over the last few months.

Even at its low point in August, having a public option was supported by a 52-46 margin. And the WaPo/ABC numbers aren't unusual. On October 27, the Wall Street Journal reported that only 22% of respondents in a recent WSJ/NBC poll said it was not important to create a health plan that would complete with private industry.

Not exactly an "unpopular" idea.