I find issue-based polling notoriously suspect. We don’t have a media that informs the public enough on major issues to give a good impression on them, and there is a lot of contradictory information and simple misinformation out there in the ether. But given that so many of the supporters of the health care bill have spent time marginalizing detractors from the left, I think that Greg Sargent pulls out a notable statistic in today’s CBS poll:

The CBS poll finds that Obama’s approval rating on health care has dipped to 36%. But the poll also asked whether people think the reform proposal, in various ways, goes too far, is about right, or doesn’t go far enough:

In every one of those polled — covering Americans, controlling costs, and regulating insurance companies — more think the bill doesn’t go far enough.

While the plurality for those who think the bill doesn’t go far enough isn’t huge, it’s worth noting that those disappointed in the final bill are not limited to a small band on the online left.

But wait, there’s contradictory information! A separate poll in North Carolina finds Larry Kissell comfortably in front of his Republican rivals in a swing district. Public Policy Polling, which ran the poll, thinks that Kissell’s no vote on the health care bill is helping him:

Although Kissell has earned a lot of fire from the left for his health care vote most of his constituents are with him. 52% say they are opposed to the bill with 35% in support. Kissell’s no vote appears to have insulated him from some of the ill will toward national Democrats in the district. Despite winning it in 2008 Barack Obama’s approval rating now stands at a negative 47/50 there and Congressional Democrats get a 40/53 approval. Given that context Kissell is doing alright.

That’s not to say there’s no unhappiness with Kissell over his vote. His approval with Democrats is just 58%, well below Obama’s 76%. But Kissell stands at 28% with Republicans, considerably better than Obama’s 6%, and his 40/37 approval with independents is markedly better than Obama’s 35/62. Kissell’s votes that have rankled some of the party base have positioned him well for reelection overall, assuming he can get through the primary. We’ll have numbers on that tomorrow.

However, I don’t think you can say definitively that you can pinpoint how Kissell’s constituents feel about the health care bill. They may think it’s a corporate sellout of a bill and, hearing (perhaps for the first time) from the pollster that Kissell voted against it, support the stance. That goes for independents as surely as it goes for Democrats.

The point is that it’s completely unclear whether the White House can “run on the Senate bill,” as David Axelrod put it today.

Overselling it to a public that remains skeptical, particularly when the majority of them aren’t going to see any change until 2014 (unless insurance companies decide to raise rates astronomically in response to the bill’s passing, as they’ve been threatening throughout this process) won’t help in 2010, or in 2012.