Low favorables: Dems rip Rasmussen [designed to undermine Democratic politicians and the party’s...]

Low favorables: Dems rip Rasmussen By: Alex Isenstadt January 2, 2010 05:53 PM EST

Democrats are turning their fire on Scott Rasmussen, the prolific independent pollster whose surveys on elections, President Obama’s popularity and a host of other issues are surfacing in the media with increasing frequency.

The pointed attacks reflect a hardening conventional wisdom among prominent liberal bloggers and many Democrats that Rasmussen Reports polls are, at best, the result of a flawed polling model and, at worst, designed to undermine Democratic politicians and the party’s national agenda.

On progressive-oriented websites, anti-Rasmussen sentiment is an article of faith. “Rasmussen Caught With Their Thumb on the Scale,” blared the Daily Kos this summer. “Rasmussen Reports, You Decide,” the blog Swing State Project recently headlined in a play on the Fox News motto.

“I don’t think there are Republican polling firms that get as good a result as Rasmussen does,” said Eric Boehlert, a senior fellow with Media Matters, a progressive research center. “His data looks like it all comes out of the RNC [Republican National Committee].”

“Whether intended or not, Rasmussen polls have been used by conservative voices as talking points, and when that happens on one side it inevitably produces a reaction from the other,” explained Mark Blumenthal, a polling analyst and the editor and publisher of Pollster.com. “Rasmussen produces a lot of data that appear to produce narratives conservatives are promoting, and that causes a reaction.”

Pollsters can put a very heavy thumb on the scale if they want to. Whether or not Rasmussen does lean right is relatively unimportant given that his daily questions don't change wording, nor does his methodology vary. For that reason, at least the trends in his daily tracking poll can be taken as fact.

Obama is bleeding support more rapidly than any newly elected occupant of the White House in history, whether he went from plus 25 to minus 18 ... or (allowing a 5% tilt due to alleged bias) plus 30 to minus 13. Any partisan bias is trivial compared to the undisputed and catastrophic 43% swing from "strongly approve" to "strongly disapprove".

Another interesting point is the strength of support and of opposition. Support is 24% "strongly approve" out of 46% at least somewhat supporting Obama, for a 52% enthusiasm rate among supporters. Opposition shows 42% "strongly disapprove" out of 53% at least somewhat disapproving of Obama, for a 79% enthusiasm rate among opponents. This enthusiasm gap is striking for reasons that should be obvious as we go into the 2010 off-year election, which is traditionally a time when predominantly the enthusiastic voters participate.

So long as the opposition remains motivated and supporters remain indifferent, we have the potential for the biggest electoral route in history. Critical points are:

(1) The election must be fair for our votes to count, so conservatives must be on site as observers to suppress the fraud that ACORN and other Obama supporters depend upon.

(2) Patriotic Americans who believe in the Constitution must not become complacent. All liberals in Washington are broadly despised, but we must remain motiated and go to the polls in November. We cannot be lulled into dropping our guard like the victim of an abusive spouse after the abuser apologizes - we must remain on guard against last minute lies, tricks, and other elements of democrat politics as usual.

(3) We need good, well-funded candidates. Freepers who are willing to serve need to start organizing for the elections NOW, and those who can contribute financially need to identify individual candidates and support those candidates. I am giving rather generously to multiple candidates who both have at least some chance of winning and have demonstrated integrity that leads me to believe they will preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States against the liberal/socialist assault we are now facing.

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