A note on Rasmussen polls.

[Renew Deal]

I was listening to Hannity hate radio during my walk to Penn station today. He interviewed Rasmussen. Rasmussen was clearly pro-Bush. Hannity was talking about polls coming out. He said that Rasmussen is smarter than to put out a really negative poll on Bush. Rasmussen didn't challenge it. I think this tells a lot.

[DODI]

1. That makes me feel better

I was watching CSPAN today and this woman was going on about the Rasmussen Poll and it did seem rather positive for Shrub which worried me. Now I don't feel so bad. Sorry you had to listen to Hannity. Thank you.

[monchie]

2. Three points on Rasmussen Polls

First, I run an IRC political chat channel, and during the 2000 election, righties were constantly touting Rasmussen polls. Prior to the 2000 election, I'd never even heard of Rasmussen, but it was easy to see why the wingnuts loved their polls. All through that election period, if, say, all the other polls had Shrub up anywhere from 2 to 9 points, Rasmussen would have him up 17. This was the general pattern: wildly skewed toward Shrub.

Second, if I'd designed a polling methodology like Rasmussen's back in college, I would've gotten an "F." (Our prof always said, "Look at the methodology before you look at the results.") They use automated phone calls with no human intervention, a method so likely to skew the results into utter meaninglessness that no respectable polling organization uses it.

Third, the day after Election Day 2000, Rasmussen seemed to disappear from the political arena. I hadn't heard anything else about them till today.