The new Washington Post-ABC News national poll completely confirms the McClatchy-Marist poll we featured yesterday: Americans are overwhelmingly opposed to cutting Medicare and Medicaid, and overwhelmingly in favor of raising tax rates on the wealthiest.

The new poll’s numbers: 78% oppose cutting Medicare, and 72% favor raising taxes on incomes over $250,000.

Steve Benen points out that when Republicans were arguing against reforming health care, one of their prime talking points was that unpopular policies should be rejected:

It was literally just last year when Republicans decided that opinion polls are the single most important factor policymakers should consider, especially when dealing with controversial changes to the status quo. For politicians to simply ignore overwhelming survey data was offensive and arrogant, undermining core American ideals like “consent of the governed.” By some accounts, Republicans seriously believed that Democrats and President Obama “perpetrated a breathtaking assault on the body politic by passing a law that did not have widespread public support.”

I don’t expect Republicans to simply scrap their unpopular budget agenda, but if their rhetoric from 13 months ago was sincere, shouldn’t they feel compelled to do just that?