Poll: Strong majority of Americans still ‘favor’ a public option.

On Tuesday night, reports trickled out that Senate Democrats had “reached a deal to replace the opt-out public option in the Senate health care bill with a network of nonprofit insurers administered by the Office of Personnel Management (OPM).” Thought the compromise is reportedly gaining support, a poll released today by the New York Times and CBS News serves as a reminder that the full-blown public option that has been abandoned by the Senate is still quite popular with the American public as 59 percent would favor a public option:

Last night, Rachel Maddow said that the stable popularity of the public option suggests that Americans may want the expansion of existing public programs. The numbers imply that “what people really like — and are attached to — is just the idea of having an option for health coverage that’s public,” she said.