Via Greg Sargent, a new healthcare ad nails the point I've been trying to make:
To recap, here's a pollgasm:
73% of voters want everyone to have a choice of private health insurance or a public health insurance plan while only 15% want everyone to have private insurance. [...]
What's more, the preference for a choice of a public or private plan appeals to everyone -- Republicans (63%), Democrats (77%) and Independents (79%).
Washington DC—A new poll released today by Consumers Union, the non-profit publisher of Consumer Reports magazine, shows that 66 percent of Americans support having the option of a public health insurance plan as part of health care reform.
...about two-thirds (67%) of U.S. residents "strongly" or "somewhat" favor establishing a public health insurance option "similar to Medicare," with about 80% of Democrats, 60% of independents and 49% of Republicans in favor of such a plan.