Reform Is a Drag for Obama

President Obama and Democrats may want to rethink ramming a health care reform package through without any Republicans signing on.

A new poll shows that not only is support for Obama's health plan deteriorating, his overall approval rating and the public's confidence in him also is slipping.

The president's approval rating is 57 percent, down 12 points from April, the Washington Post-ABC News poll shows. Less than half of Americans are confident the president will make the right decisions for the country, the poll found.

There are some striking trends showing little support for the current proposals for health care reform. For one, a majority of seniors now strongly oppose the plan, the poll found. In June, seniors were evenly split. The AARP, the nation's biggest organization representing seniors, is pushing for health care reform but hasn't specifically endorsed Obama's plan.

The president campaigned hard this week, trying to garner support for reform from his liberal base, reaching out to religious leaders and even taking questions on a conservative radio talk show yesterday. But, at the same time, the political rhetoric is heating up. On the Michael Smerconish show Thursday, the president blasted the GOP.

"Early on a decision was made by the Republican leadership that said, 'Look, let's not give them a victory, and maybe we can have a replay of 1993-94, when Clinton came in. He failed on health care, and then we won in the midterm elections, and we got the majority,'" Obama said.

The sharp tone is a risk for the president. The poll was taken before this week's back-and-forth between Democrats and Republicans. But earlier negative publicity appears to have a bearing on Americans' opinions.

Only 19 percent of those polled say they think the quality of their health care will improve or their costs will come down. Half of the people surveyed said they oppose the plan supported by Obama and the Democrats. Forty-five percent support them.

Seems like Democrats are going to have to come up with a new campaign to sell voters, particularly the seniors.