A plurality of American don’t just want to see the Senate rules slightly tweaked, they want to see the filibuster completely eliminated. A new United Technologies/National Journal found 49 percent of want the Senate to run as a majority chamber, like the Constitutional intended it to, while just 41 want the filibuster to remain. From the National Journal:

United Technologies/National Journal (11/30-12/2)
As you may known, the Senate operates under procedures that effectively require 60 votes, out of 100, for most legislation to pass. This allows a minority of as few as 41 senators to block a majority. Do you think this procedure should remain in place, or do you think it should be changed so that legislation is passed with a simple majority?
Should be changed 49%
Should remain 41%

What this means is that Senate Democrats have no excuse for not change the Senate rules at the beginning of next year. Completely scrapping the filibuster is relatively popular so there is no reason to believe only making the modest changes Sen. Harry Reid has put forward would result in a political backlash from the electorate. The only thing potentially stopping Senate Democrats from making the chamber slightly less dysfunction is their fellow Senate Democrats.

Senate Democrats have a very simple choice: Do they actually want to govern or not?