A new Thompson-Reuters survey on healthcare reform shows sustained public support for the public option.

Sixty percent of survey respondents said they believe a public option should be included in final healthcare reform legislation. Only about one in five, however, believes the cost, quality or value of care will improve in the next 12 months. Twenty-three percent said they expect access to care to improve.... Here are the key findings: 18 percent of survey respondents said they expect to spend less on healthcare a year from now.

21 percent believe the quality of care will improve in the next 12 months.

18 percent believe the value of care delivered will be better in a year.

23 percent believe it will be easier for people to receive the care they need a year from now.

60 percent of Americans believe a public option should be included in final healthcare legislation. There are sharp divisions, however, along party lines: 86 percent of Democrats support the public option versus 57 percent of Independents and 33 percent of Republicans.

Those 86 percent of Democrats, by the way, are the Democrats that may or may not decide to go to the polls next November on the basis of what happens with this legislation; that Democratic base that is currently less than enthusiastic about turning out to vote for more of the same. And the public option isn't going to be scaring off Independents.

This comes in a week where a lot of folk on the left seem ready to just give up already on the public option, including Ezra and Chris. They argue, in part, that it's been so watered down that at this point it's more trouble than it's worth and shouldn't stand in the way of other components. Digby, as usual has an excellent response specifically on the politics of that:

Ezra believes that if the votes aren't there for a decent public option then the horse trading should be around getting something good in return for giving up the public option rather than negotiating the terms of the public option. That would make sense if the public option were just another feature of the health care bill. But it is not. It is the central demand of the liberal base of the Democratic Party in this rube goldberg health care plan and has long since gone way beyond a policy to become a symbol. Perhaps that is wrong on policy grounds. People will argue about that forever. But that doesn't change the fact that it is no longer a matter of policy but rather a matter of political power. And to that extent it cannot be "bargained away" for something like better subsidies, even if it made sense. "Bargaining away" the Public Option is also the bargaining away of liberal influence and strength. Indeed, since the political establishment and the media have been declaring it dead for the past six months, the fact that it is still in the bill is a testament to liberal strength. And that is why Republicans and corporate centrists are so desperate to destroy anything that's called a "Public Option" no matter how many compromises are made to accomodate them. And it's why the liberals are so adamant about keeping it alive.... What's really kept this symbol of liberal power alive is public opinion, in my view, rather than an institutional belief in the serious intention among progressives to tank the bill. It's the people who have the liberals' back on this one and that actually scares politicians. They aren't scared that liberal pols are going to vote against health care reform. They're scared of voters.

As far as the Village is concerned, the public option is a symbol of "liberal" power and Digby is absolutely right to recognize that bargaining it away is bargaining away far more in future debates. But as far as the American public seems to be concerned the public option isn't a symbol and it isn't just a "liberal" idea. It's a smart, common-sense answer to the stranglehold the insurance companies have had on us for decades. The people want real choice, and they see a public option as a good way to provide it.