Poll: Amid Health Care Struggle, Reid Suffering Among Independents

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-NV, speaks to the media about Pennsylvania Senator Arlen Specter's switch from Republican to Democrat on Capitol Hill in Washington on April 28, 2009. (UPI Photo/Roger L. Wollenberg)
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A new Research 2000 poll, commissioned by the Progressive Change Campaign Committee contains yet more bad news for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. The question: “Do you think Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid is a strong or weak leader?”

Overall, 55 percent of respondents nationwide said weak. 36 said strong. Nine percent said “not sure.” Reid does alright among Democrats–only 37 percent say he’s weak, with 58 percent saying he’s doing a good job. But he’s getting creamed among independents by almost the opposite numbers. Only 34 percent of independents say Reid is a strong leader, while 58 percent say “weak.”

Things are, if anything, worse for him in Nevada, where a majority of Democrats describe him as ineffective.

The news comes just as Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) and, by various accounts, the White House, has forced Reid’s hand on the public option and Medicare buy-in–two health care measures that are overwhelmingly popular in his caucus and with the Democratic base.

At a recent caucus meeting, President Barack Obama told Senate Democrats that Harry Reid has the toughest job in Washington. This is part of what he meant.

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