In case you hadn't noticed, American voters want health care reform. Now.

The latest evidence comes from a Diageo/Hotline poll earlier this month, which found that 62 percent of voters support or strongly support "the President enacting a major overhaul of the U.S. health care system." And support comes from across the board: more than one-third of Republicans, nearly two-thirds of independents, and 87 percent of Democrats favor it. And 94 percent of the health reform supporters want Congress to do it this year.

The over 65-year-olds were the least supportive (we would guess because they are afraid of changes to Medicare) but even in this group 56 percent support reform.

Looking at income levels, those earning $100,000 or more a year were the least supportive. Yet again, more than half (58 percent) of this group backed reform.

"President Obama and the Democrats start with strong public support for their desire to make major changes to health care in this country," commented Amy Walter, Editor-in-Chief of The Hotline. "Even so, those who are likely to be the happiest with the status quo—or at least most worried about change (those over 65 and those in the upper income bracket)—are probably the first to abandon reform once the details are revealed."

Of course, not everyone agrees on exactly what "health care reform" means. We've written before about public attitudes, and about how the public and the policy experts aren't always talking about (or at least emphasizing) the same thing.

The Hotline poll found that 49 percent of voters said "controlling the cost of health care" should be a bigger focus than "expanding coverage for Americans without health insurance" (35 percent). Republicans tended to emphasize cost; Democrats were more focused on coverage expansion. Older voters (who are all covered under Medicare from age 65) also emphasized cost over coverage.

One number that grabbed our attention: as we've noted, you can make a good case that taxing a portion of the health benefits people get through their jobs is both equitable (the tax is regressive and it treats people who get their health benefits through work differently than people who purchase it themselves—often at more cost for poorer coverage) and smart policy.

It's also a hard sell politically.

The poll found strong voter opposition to the idea of taxing health benefits—68 opposed (and most of them "strongly" opposed.) Only 26 supported taxing health benefits, while 68 percent of voters oppose, with 51percent strongly opposing taxing benefits.

In a separate poll for Health Care for America Now, Democratic pollster Celinda Lake found that 80 percent opposed a tax on benefits, compared with 63 percent support for limiting itemized deductions for high earners.

Vice President Joe Biden on NBC's "Meet the Press" noted that the White House remains unenthusiastic about such a tax change, although it hasn't ruled it out, depending on what the overall health bill looks like. "We think that is the wrong way to finance this legislation," Biden said,

Hat tip to Maggie Mahar at Health Beat for noticing this poll before we did...