They aren’t run by the newspapers, they are hired by the newspapers. And if they do a bad job, they don’t get hired the next time. Fox has fired a few pollsters over the last decade because of bad results. They dropped Rasmussen after 2010. They now have 2 of the most reputable outfits in all of polling working for them.
And Rasmussen did indeed do great in 2008 but he wasn’t the most accurate. He had Obama +6 and Obama won +7.3. He was actually tied for 7th best. He was the most consistent in the entire month of October but there is no way to know if his polls were right or wrong all that month. The last poll before the election is how you can best judge accuracy.
These pollsters did as well as Rasmussen: George Washington University and Pew Research, both showing Obama +6, same as Rasmussen. Rasmussen, GWU and Pew were off by 1.3 points.
And these outfits did BETTER than Rasmussen: NBC News, Fox News, CNN/OR and Ipsos/McClatchy, IBD/TIPP, Gallup (traditional):
Not sure how you can look at the last polls done by each outfit shown in that link and say Rasmussen was the best.
Oh my gosh! We’re doomed!
I guess Rats +11 is what we’re looking at for this election, because by golly that’s what CNN has, and they are the experts!
Would you like to buy some ocean front property in New Jersey?