Chuck Todd just unleashed some details on the latest NBC/WSJ poll, particularly on the public option. The poll has been maligned in the past for offering different question language on the public option than most other polls, but if you compare apples to apples, the public option is nearing a high-water mark in public support.

The poll question that asks “Do you think it is important to give Americans a choice of a public option or private plans?” yields this result:

45% extremely important
27% quite important
8% not that important
15% not at all important

The public options on offer do not offer all Americans that choice, although Ron Wyden is trying to open the exchanges with his “Free Choice Act” to allow those who get coverage from an employer to select whatever plan they wish. But this basically shows 72% agreeing that such a choice is at least “quite important.”

On the other question NBC/WSJ asked, if people support a public option competing with private plans, it yields 48-42 support, which is the highest rating for the public option in that poll all year.

Now, Chuck Todd delivered the results, so like with his assertion that the White House told Harry Reid “don’t come crying to us when you need that last vote,” maybe he didn’t mean that literally either. But given that it’s a public poll, it’s probably more reliable.

And it shows that the public option is almost as popular as it has been since the beginning of this debate, suggesting that Harry Reid’s inclusion of it in the Senate bill was a wise move.

UPDATE: First Read has the details on the poll.

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