Lieberman's Health Care Role Hurt Him With Voters Back Home

Connecticut's independent Sen. Joseph Lieberman may have won a round with the Democratic leadership in getting what he wanted on health care reform legislation, but he has come out the loser when it comes to how the state's voters see him, according to a Public Policy Polling survey conducted Jan. 4-5.

Sixty-seven percent disapprove of the job Lieberman is doing while 25 percent approve and 8 percent are undecided.

Making it clear that this negative view of Lieberman is driven by the health care issue, 68 percent disapprove of his actions during the struggle to shape a passable bill while 19 percent approved and 13 percent were undecided.

Lieberman forced Democrats to drop a provision to create a public option for health insurance that would compete with private insurers as well as a proposal to expand Medicare by making it available to those over 55. He was able to do so because the leadership needed his vote to get to the magic number of 60 that would enable them to get the legislation to the Senate floor.

Voters in Connecticut say they support the health care legislation, though by a slim margin. Forty-seven percent back it, 43 percent oppose it and 10 percent are undecided. The margin of error is 4.3 points.

On his job approval rating, Lieberman does best among Republicans, but even they view him negatively overall. Eighty-one percent of Democrats disapprove of Lieberman's performance, as do 61 percent of independents. Forty-eight percent of Republicans disapprove, compared to 39 percent who approve.

As for the approval-disapproval numbers on Lieberman's actions regarding health care, the results for Democrats and independents are about the same as they are when it comes to their opinions on his overall job performance. But Republican disapproval of Lieberman on health care is higher than their disapproval of his performance overall, with 55 percent turning thumbs-down on his role in the health debate.

"Joe Lieberman isn't popular enough with the Democrats or the Republicans to receive their nomination for the Senate in 2012," said PPP's Dean Debnam. "And since the independents don't like him much these days either, it's hard to see how he'll be around for another term."