A new poll (reported on Politico) suggests that just more than half of Nevada residents think U.S. Sen. Harry Reid is a weak leader. And that gives progressives pause, since they are calling on him to use his power to ensure whatever health care reform bill emerges from the Senate has a real public option in it.

Pardon us, fellow Nevadans, but we disagree. Reid is not a weak leader. If that’s true, what’s the use of urging him to do anything, if he’s allegedly to weak to get it done?

In fact, Reid excels at that part of legislative leadership that’s conducted behind closed doors, in Senate offices, in private, whispered conversations on the floor, in phone calls and e-mails and all the myriad ways that senators communicate. In that forum, Reid is extraordinarily effective at getting things done.

What voters may see as weakness is really plain, old-fashioned political fear. We suspect that, despite the obvious and numerous differences between Reid and former Senate leader Tom Daschle, Reid constantly worries about being portrayed as too liberal, out of step with his state and captive to liberal Democratic interests in Washington, D.C. And the debate over health-care has crystallized that fear.

We only wish that were true: If so, maybe a single-payer health care plan would have been included in the current debate.

But there’s some good news for Reid in that poll, too, as Glenn Thrush points out in his Politico post linked above: Voters seem equally divided about Reid’s place on the political spectrum. Nearly half (47 percent) say he’s too far left. (These people are obviously newcomers to Nevada, or those who are unaware what the definition of “left” actually is.) But another 41 percent say he’s not progressive enough.

And guess what? The poll (of Nevadans, recall) finds that 54 percent favor including a Medicare-for-everybody public option in the health care bill, with 39 percent opposed. Another question finds only 17 percent would be more likely to vote for Reid if he fails to get a public option in the plan, while 31 percent say they’re less likely to vote for him under that circumstance.

With his favorability ratings at 35 percent (and unfavorability at 54 percent), might it not be a good strategy to reach for the public option (more than half like it, and there’s a goodly segment who say they’re more likely to give Reid a shot if he gets it on) as a political life preserver? Remember, asking for help is a sign of strength, senator. And since the debate has now moved behind the closed doors of Reid’s office — where the senator’s true strength lies — there’s no better time for Reid to show Nevada and the country what he can do.