BP Well Plugged, Public Attention Fading?

BP appears to have plugged its leak without nuclear weapons. So perhaps we can relax a little... until the methane tsunamis hit and we re-enact The Road.

WaPo's Chris Cillizza says we're already checking out on the BP oil spill issue, citing Gallup numbers that show a brief spike in concern about "natural disaster response/relief" fading even before yesterday's good plug news. I'm still trying to figure out how a question about natural disasters validly measures public attention to manmade messes like BP's rig explosion.

Cillizza also points to polling data showing greater disapproval than approval of President Obama's and the federal government's handling of the BP oil spill. I'm still waiting for someone, anyone, to offer a consistent explanation of just what practical steps they expect the federal government to take that it hasn't already... short of nationalizing BP, putting it in receivership, or some other such big-government plan affirms my good-old liberal socialism.

That WaPo-ABC poll finds majority support (56–39) for the six-month ban on new offshore oil drilling. Those numbers flip and then some (38–60) among Gulf Coast residents. Mong both groups, more people want to maintain current levels or decrease the amount of offshore drilling than want to increase it.

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A diversion on health care: the Gallup poll finds the percentage of Americans who consider health care the nation's most important problem has dropped from 23% in February to 7% now. If you want to talk about a campaign issue losing steam, there you go.