So what you are saying is that we could argue this both ways???
Rasmussen is a non partisan poll...
So if the poll favors the Republicans it is skewed and if it is favoring the Democrats then it is right on the money?
Originally Posted by Wyldeman30
Nobody said that, Yogi.
However, Rasmussen Reports is most definitely NOT a nonpartisan polling house. They're hired by by major GOP candidates throughout the country, and Scott Rasmussen is on Fox more than Sarah Palin:
http://mediamatters.org/research/201011050013
Polls are polls. You can argue them any way you want. But at the end of the day, the spin on the poll -- the executive summary written by the pollster -- is what "news media" quotes. That's usually a two or three page "brochure" with a couple of pie charts.
What remains are pages and pages of raw numbers. You've got to look at them scientifically, though, studying the sample, demographics of the sample, when the poll was in the field, the wording of the instrument and the crosstabs if you REALLY want to get information you can use.