So what do the polls say about Tax Cuts for the Rich?

The following is from a NBC/WSJ Poll. I got the emphasis from Greg Sargent's blog, so all credit to him:

Congress will soon decide whether to keep in place the existing tax cuts enacted during President Bush's time in office, or allow them to expire. Which one of the following options would be your preference for what they should do?

Eliminate all the tax cuts permanently: 10

Eliminate the tax cuts for those earning more than $250,000 per year, but keep them for those earning less than that: 39

Keep in place all the tax cuts for everyone for another year to three years: 23

Keep in place the tax cuts for everyone permanently: 23

As it happens, far and away the largest group, 39 percent, favors the Dem proposal of extending only the middle class cuts and letting the high end ones expire.

Now, this is not entirely conclusive. Another way to look at these numbers is to note that 46 percent favor either a temporary or permanent extension of all the cuts. The counter to that, though, is that more -- 49 percent -- favor the options that would eliminate the tax cuts on the wealthy.

But all that parsing aside, the simple fact is that when the public is offered the full range of options currently being considered, the Dem position has significantly more public support than any other one. The "compromise" being discussed is supported by less than a fourth. So why is there even a debate underway among Dems over how proceed?