The heat of August is finally cooling, and after  President Obama's national address on health care reform last week, opposition to health reform is "easing," reports The Washington Post. According to the latest Washington Post-ABC News Poll, Obama hasn't made huge gains in public opinion, but the numbers have stopped falling or started slowly increasing. In addition, if large numbers of Americans are skeptical about the president's ability to fix health care. they have far less confidence that Republicans can do it. And while half view Obama as trying to reach out to Republicans, nearly two-thirds don't see Republicans returning the favor.  

In August 50 percent opposed the current ideas for health reforms and 45 percent were in favor, while this month, 48 percent oppose reform and 46 percent are in favor. According to this snapshot of public opinion, Obama's handling of the health care issue is an even split -- 48 percent approve, 48 percent disapprove, again an improvement over August numbers.

The public plan option remains controversial. Approximately 55 percent of people support a public plan, but if the plan were thrown out of the health care package as a whole, about 50 percent would still support reform. (Yes we know this is hard to figure out -- based on this data, more people support the public plan than support reform as a whole.) The poll found that if the public option were made available only to those who can't get private coverage, support for the public plan jumps to 76 percent in favor.

Democrats are very positive about health reform, with 88 percent in support. Many Democrats are also loyal to the public option, but 81 percent would still support reform if it were dropped. Independents are divided on reform without a public option, 45 percent opposed and 45 percent in favor. With a public option, they are more likely to oppose reform, by a margin of 52 to 40 percent.

The Post reports that the number of Americans identifying as independents has reached a high of 43 percent, and a third of them doubt either party is capable of fixing the U.S. health care system. About half of Americans blame both sides for the negative tone of the debate, while 31 percent blame the Republicans and 17 percent blame the Democrats. 

More than seven in 10 Americans, including majorities across party lines, say they think Obama and congressional Democrats should adjust the health-care legislation to appeal to some Republican lawmakers. Half credit the Democrats with making a good-faith effort to do so already, while most, 62 percent, say the GOP is not returning the favor.

With all the shouting and misinformation about health reform, it's understandable that Americans are worried and a little disappointed in the level of dialogue in Washington. But they often get less worried when they hear the truth about reform proposals.