Interesting question that passed through my mind yesterday… Why was Rasmussen’s polling data consistently lower than everyone else’s on job approval for President Obama?
Then it hit me and sure enough, I was right.
Notice the A and LV next to the sample?
Rasmussen is polling more people than most others, but it’s not just the number of people they’re polling, it’s whom they’re polling that seems to be the deciding factor. Rasmussen is asking likely voters what they think, while others seem to be content with checking out Adults.
In fact, for the month of August, only three polls bothered to ask about voting status. Two for registered (Fox News and Marist) and one for likely (Rasmussen).
Does this explain everything? I don’t know for sure, but it does seem to be a good start toward explaining the statistical anomaly the polling data from Rasmussen appears to be.