Last weekend's Wall Street Journal interview profiled pollster Scot Rasmussen.
Rasmussen has taken a lot of heat of late for allegedly favoring Republicans and predicting a an anti-Democrat landslide in the upcoming Congressional elections.
Until reading the article, I was completely unaware of Rasmussen's key role in creating ESPN.
His polling work has drawn attention and criticism because of his use of automated dialers. But what the interview makes clear is that the theoretical debates are really moot. For example Rasmussen points to those who complain that he polls likely voters, not all registered voters. But, Rasmussen notes, the latter are who decide elections.
The article ends with these revealing paragraphs,
"With success has come criticism. Mr. Rasmussen has been attacked for alleged bias towards Republicans. He rejects such complaints, noting that because he focuses on likely voters his survey sample often includes more Republicans. "The key is whether I've been accurate," he says, noting that he was bitterly attacked by Republicans in 2006 and 2008 for showing several longtime GOP senators in trouble early on. Many of them lost.
"If I root for anyone to win, it's for our polls," he laughs. "If a Republican is ahead by two point, I want the Republican by two. If a Democrat is ahead by two, I want the Democrat by two."
Rasmussen makes such sense that it causes you to pretty much forget other polling organizations and just concentrate on his predictions.
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