Why does Rasmussen tend to show more favorably for Republicans than other polls?

[Swede]

snip

Raw polling data is pretty dirty. If you just call people up and see who answers the phone, you will tend to get too many women, too many old people, and too many white people. This is especially the case if you rely on a landline sample without a supplement of cellphone voters.

Pollsters try to correct for these deficiencies in a variety of ways. They may use household selection procedures (for instance, asking to speak with the person who has the next birthday). They may leave their poll in the field for several days, calling back when they do not contact their desired respondent. An increasing number may call cellphones in addition to landlines.

Rasmussen does not appear to do any of these things.

http://www.fivethirtyeight.com/2010/04/use-of-likely-voter-model-does-not.html

[Unvanguard]

1. Nate Silver is always worth reading. n/t

[liberal N proud]

2. That is like asking why FOX news is so partisan

[Captain Hilts]

4. No, not really. nt

[Captain Hilts]

3. It's the way you 'balance' your survey sample -Once you've done it one way, you don't want to change

because then you can't use your historic data the same way.

[robdogbucky]

5. Because

the owner is a RW fundie? He also grew up in a media business family.

Just a wild guess

Rasmussen is owned by Scott Rasmussen:

“...In 1995, Rasmussen founded a polling company called GrassRoots Research.<1> In 1999, after changing the name to Rasmussen Research, the company was bought by TownPagesNet.com for about $4.5 million in ordinary shares.<1> For a short time around the 2000 elections Scott Rasmussen wrote a column for conservative news website WorldNetDaily....

...Rasmussen's polls are notable for their use of automated public opinion polling, involving pre-recorded telephone inquiries. These types of polls have been shown to produce accurate results at low cost. But some have doubted their reliability. In 2004 Slate magazine said they “publicly doubted and privately derided Rasmussen” polls because of the methodology. However, after the election, they concluded that Rasmussen’s polls were the most accurate...

...As of 2009, Scott Rasmussen is the President of Rasmussen Reports. He describes himself as having "been an independent pollster for more than a decade" who "ike the company he started, <...> maintains his independence and has never been a campaign pollster or consultant for candidates seeking office". The Center for Public Integrity listed his firm as having been paid $95,500 by the Republican National Committee and $45,500 by the George W. Bush presidential campaign in 2003-4. He has had at least one article published by the Democratic Leadership Council, a group of centrist Democrats whose goal is to make the "Democratic party more moderate, rather than more liberal...”

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scott_Rasmussen



Count on it. This poll is always first to ‘spot’ a negative trend for Dems. Always. I would never be so bold as to use "maintains his independence" and "Rasmussen" in the same sentence.



Just my dos centavos

robdogbucky

[ThoughtCriminal]

6. Over sampling Republicans

Whether by bias or poor methodology.

[TexasObserver]

7. Because the GOP is the organ grinder and he's their monkey on a leash.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

8. "There are lies, Damned lies, and statistics." - Mark Twain