NYT calls out Rasmussen for conservative bias in Wisconsin poll

[sasha031]

The New York Times accused Rasmussen Reports of lacing a recent survey on the Wisconsin protests with conservative bias, elevating longstanding critiques about the polling firm's credibility.

The survey, released Monday, asked four questions about the Wisconsin clash over Republican Gov. Scott Walker's budget plan, which would strip the collective bargaining rights of public employees and force them to pay more for benefits. It found that 48 percent of "likely voters" agreed with Walker, while 38 percent supported his opponents.
Nate Silver of the Times' FiveThirtyEight blog is a trusted polling expert who came to fame after correctly predicting the outcomes of 49 of 50 states in the 2008 election. In a Monday evening posting, he took issue with the manner in which several of Rasmussen's questions were asked, decreeing that they were designed to engender a pro-Walker bias.

Two of the questions, Silver wrote, misrepresented the nature of the opposition in a "blatant" attempt to diminish sympathy for them before asking the respondent whose side they were on. The penultimate question was "a talking point posed as a question," he declared.


http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/02/22/nyt-calls-out-rasmussen-for-conservative-bias-in-wisconsin-poll/

[center rising]

1. Rasmussen has always skewed right.

I always notice that their polls are at least 5 points off from every other poll.

[provis99]

2. Republicans don't believe Rasmussen, either.

Republican politicians want accurate polls, too, which Rasmussen doesn't give. Rasmussen isn't a polling firm, it's a pathetically incompetent propaganda instrument.