This is no surprise.

A majority of Americans say the federal government should guarantee
health insurance to every American, especially children, and are
willing to pay higher taxes to do it, according to the latest New York
Times/CBS News poll.

And the taxes issue is also important, as the front-page story in The New York Times shows:

Nearly 8 in 10 said they thought it was more important to provide
universal access to health insurance than to extend the tax cuts of
recent years; 18 percent said the tax cuts were more important.

“I wouldn’t want to pay a lot of taxes, but if it was spread out and
everyone paid their fair share, it would be fine,” said Don Galvan, 50,
a computer programmer from Ringwood, N.J., who considers himself an
independent. “Everybody should have some kind of medical coverage, in
case they or their children get sick. Especially children.

Health care is one of those areas like the war that makes you want to scratch your head when you watch the behavior of the Democratic Party–a majority of people support a national health care plan, and a majority of people want the troops out of Iraq, but the Democrats can’t seem to get it together to have a coherent, aggressive policy.