Weigel

A Republican sends on this section of the CBS/NYT poll. Voters are asked whether they support, basically, the Blunt-Rubio amendment that every Republican candidate backs and every Democratic strategist thinks he can spin into gold.

That's not what conventional wisdom was telling us! Voters say they don't want to mandate "the full cost" of birth control coverage for employees of any company, which is a clever way of asking it; what would the answer be if the insurers merely offered copays? A follow-up question suggests that voters really do think there's a rights issue here.

That's only 37 percent who agree with the Republican defense of their position -- that it's a slippery slope, First Amendment issue -- and 51 percent who generally disagree with mandates. A muddle. I'm not sure which party wins this won, but the Democratic stance is probably easier to finesse.