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Kellyanne Discusses President Obama's Falling Polling Number on CNN's Lou Dobbs TonightSeptember 3, 2009 (7:00pm) Read more on CNN's Lou Dobbs Tonight website. Topics: HealthCare Speech; Town Hall Violence; Recession far from over; Health Carein Russia; Michael Jackson's Burial; California Kidnapper LISA SYLVESTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Suzanne. Tonight President Obama'shuge health care gamble -- can a primetime speech to Congress convincea growing number of skeptics?Well, the polls show President Obama, as Louise said, that he is quickly losing support for his health care plan. The president, he will deliver a major speech next week to try and save the plan. But is it too late to change public opinion? That is the topic of tonight's "Faceoff." Geoffrey Garin is a Democratic pollster and president of the Peter D. Hart Research Institute. He says the president still has time to gain support for his plan. Kellyanne Conway is a Republican pollster. She is also the president and CEO of The Polling Company and she believes support for the president's plan will continue to slip. First let's go to the numbers. Let's take a look. We have a graphic that we can share with our viewers on the support for President Obama's health care plan.Take a look at these numbers. 48 percent now say they favor his plan compared to 51 percent who oppose it, and that is down from June. So, let me go to you first, Geoffrey. Is the president -- is this a problem for the president? GEOFFREY GARIN, DEMOCRATIC POLLSTER: Well, look, you'd rather go up than down. But the truth is that the ship has not sailed off the end of the earth here. It's a 3-point drop. And we're at, you know,intermission going into the next act of the drama. When you talk about the president's plan, the truth is that the president has been out there expressing his principles but there's really not a specific plan to go out and sell and defend. I think once that happens the dynamics change and we'll have a much clearer discussion about what is in it and what isn't in it. And Barack Obama will be a very effective communicator in those circumstances. SYLVESTER: Kellyanne, it appears that Democrats lost some ground over the August recess. I'll ask the same question. Is this a problem? Do you agree with what Geoff said? KELLYANNE CONWAY, REPUBLICAN POLLSTER: It's a problem for the president because so much of his generic approval rating was tied up in his personality and the presumed ability to lead, and he's lost ground -- actually, so many of his negatives have increased. Looking at a generic approval rating or even approval for something called health care reform is one thing but recognizing how much ground he's lost, particularly among seniors and independents in two short months. You can really tag it at least as to when the CBO -- Mr. Elmendorf for the CBO came out and said not only is this not a cost-cutting measure as the president has promised, but it will cost about $900 billion to $1 trillion over the next 10 years. That was a big blow, I think, from which they've never recovered. And CNN's own polling, too, I found quite remarkable this week that 25 percent of Americans say go ahead and pass health care reform with few changes, 28 percent pass it with major changes, but on the other side of the ledger, 20 percent said give upon health care altogether and 25 percent said start from scratch. I can't remember a time when I've seen a public policy issue like that. SYLVESTER: Yes. OK, Geoff, we've got the numbers that we can put up on our screen again for our vi |