Netroots Send Stern Message on Public Plan Option in New Poll

The progressive netroots send a strong message on health care reform in the annual Netroots Nation straw poll, placing the issue as the top strategic priority, and settling for nothing less than directing the federal government to provide the option of a public health insurance plan.

"Passing comprehensive health care reform" was the runaway winner out of 11 choices for the netroots top political objective, chosen by 60% of respondents. ("Green energy policies" was a distant second at 22%.)

And when participants were asked if they could support health care legislation without a public plan option, only 26% said they could. 53% said their support was contingent on including a public option.

That refusal to budge on the widely popular yet hotly contested provision contrasts with the support for the House clean energy and climate protection bill, which features a litany of compromises with the coal industry, power companies and agribusiness. A plurality of 46% expressed support for "the House compromise on the energy bill" while only 27% opposed it "because it creates too many loopholes for fossil fuel interests."

With the netroots displaying a willingness to be pragmatic, the insistence on a public plan option cannot be easily dismissed as knee-jerk ideological rigidity. An understanding of the substantive importance of the public plan, a political judgment that sees no reason to drop a popular proposal or a belief that a public plan option already represents pragmatic compromise better explains the netroots stance.

The poll was conducted by Democracy Corps in conjunction with Greenberg Quinlan Rosner and Campaign for America’s Future.

Views expressed on this page are those of the authors and not necessarily those of Campaign for America's Future or Institute for America's Future