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In March of 2008 Scott Rasmussen explains how everything ever is good for John McCain
A lot of my conservative readers insist that my disregard for Rasmussen simply comes from the fact that they have consistently polled President Obama lower than other polling outfits. I concede that I feel that Rasmussen’s voter poll seems to me to be way off of what’s actually out there but my bigger concern/gripe with Rasmussen is that they poll not to accurately weigh opinion, but to be included in news stories. Simply, Rasmussen polls on things before the public has had any time to consider them, in order for news stories to be written saying “a poll from Rasmussen says”. For instance, Rasmussen has a poll saying Lou Dobbs would get 14% of the vote in 2012 and would pull conservative votes and give Obama the win in a three-way race between Obama, Palin, and Dobbs.
This is ridiculous.
You can’t seriously poll on that. Of the three, the only somewhat-firm candidate is the President. I could poll asking if Obama would outpoll Jesus or Superman (disclosure: I’m an Obama backer but Superman would have my vote) and the poll would be just as valid. Rasmussen is all about getting Fox and bloggers to take them seriously, but their polls are Zogby-league noise.
Rasmussen had the most accurate poll prior to the 2008 election, along with Pew, so you can’t dismiss them (http://blogs.chron.com/txpotomac/2008/11/the_list_which_presidential_po.html). I actually like the fact they poll quick, it provides a baseline for further polls, so you can evaluate how a candidate has progressed since before they were well known or had thrown their had into the ring.
Scott was recently on Lou’s radio show. He does polls to get bookings
Rasmussen is more accurate than average, at least at predicting election results. They were one of the most accurate in 2008, and also one of the most accurate in 2009.
Dismissing Rasmussen polls is just sour grapes.