Health-Care Reform Survived August

The Kaiser Family Foundation's new poll suggests that August was health-care reform's nadir, not, as opponents hoped, the beginning of an irreversible downward trend. Attitudes rebounded significantly in September.

What's interesting about that poll is that the big drop in support -- as opposed to the rise in opposition -- actually came between June and July, rather than in August. Also interesting is that the September rebound included both an increase in support and a drop in opposition. A lot of those opponents were soft opponents. Persuadable opponents. This is going to give a lot of comfort to lawmakers considering whether to pass the bill. It's not on some ineluctable downward slide.

