Jindal may or may not be right about the ultimate fate of Democrats' broader plans, but, not to beat a dead horse, the polling doesn't say Americans oppose Democratic reforms. At best, we can say it's a mixed picture. Of the most recent, reliable, non-partisan major polls--a Sept. 12 Washington Post/ABC survey, an Economist/YouGov survey released Sept. 15, and a Sept. 25 NY Times/CBS poll--only the first shows Americans opposed to Democratic plans (48 percent to 52 percent); the other two show Americans in favor, though NY Times/CBS found that 46 percent say they don't know enough to decide.
A more crucial statistic for Jindal and his party, however, is that Americans think Obama has better ideas on health care than Republicans in Congress: the NY Times/CBS poll showed Obama beating congressional Republicans 52-27 on that question, which probably means the Democratic Party's "Party of No" attack on the GOP is sticking. The thesis of Jindal's op-ed is that Republicans should "join the battle of ideas" and offer some pragmatic solutions that Democrats could vote for (but not a thousand-page bill of their own--something Democrats have been hammering them for choosing not to produce). If Democratic health care reform fails, it could be a pyrrhic victory for the GOP, without anything to boost its own standing and credibility on the issue--and that's a scenario Jindal seems, politically at least, to be in tune with.
UPDATE: Mickey Kaus busts me up for missing two Economist/YouGov polls that came out since the Sept. 15 one, both of which report Americans opposing health care reform 51-49. But I still stand by the original claim. Those figures are well within the polls' margins of error, which are +/- 4/7 percentage points and +/- 5 percentage points. So, despite Kaus being right, I'd still say it's a mixed bag.
This article available online at:
http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2009/10/bobby-jindal-declares-health-care-debate-over/27802/
