I would like to point something out. This is a permanent thread and so its validity ought to be questioned.
Let's dig into one poll question of 1000 likely voters:
On its site Rasmussen posts the answer to this question thusly:
Voters agree with the president that the country needs to “drain the swamp” of the political establishment, but they’re not optimistic he’ll get the job done because of resistance from most politicians.
Ok. Did their questions elicit this exact response? No. Not at all.
Here are the questions Rasmussen said it asked:
1* Do you agree or disagree with the following statement – “It’s time to drain the swamp in Washington, D.C.”?
Let me point out that this question did not mention Trump nor does it imply that the person answering it "agree(s) with the president". The part about agreeing with Trump is a rather obvious example of Rasmussen's obvious political opinion.
I need not say it but if I was asked if I thought it was time to drain the swamp in Washington D.C. I might reply yes. This in no way would mean that I agree with President Trump on his methods, and could, in fact, mean that I consider President Trump and his cronies as the very 'swap' to which I refer.
Rasmussen goes on to say
"but they’re not optimistic he’ll get the job done because of resistance from most politicians."How do they know this? Certainly not from the next question. It is:
2* Do most politicians in Washington, D.C. agree or disagree that it’s time to drain the swamp?
Nothing about resistance. If I answered "no" to this question does that mean that I would in any way be implying that it is "most politicians in Washington D.C." are the reason President Trump is failing to "drain the swamp"? Not at all. I very much might point to the fact that he has deliberately and very openly appointed people who are the very insiders and establishment hacks who comprise the so-called "swamp" to high public office. So again. Rasmussen is deliberately slanting the results of their poll to be more favorable to the President and the Republican Party.
Then in the same call Rasmussen asked:
3* When President Trump leaves office, will the swamp be bigger or smaller? Or will it remain about the same?
Does this question provide the evidence for this assertion of theirs?:
"they are not optimistic he will get the job done"Maybe and maybe not. A strong negative might do so. But then my answer, and the answer of the overwhelming majority of democrats might be: "....but he is not even trying to do that."
It is also important to realize that the results of these questions are NOT posted when you click on the link to the questions.
So really folks. This bias is not really open to debate. A look at the above CLEARLY shows that they are either forwarding a republican agenda, are deliberately misrepresenting results for some other reason, or are perhaps the worst pollsters in history. Arguments are made that they must be good because their predictions sometimes are correct. This is not true. Nor is it mutually exclusive that they present political bias and still make reasonably accurate predictions. One did not have to support the Big Deal to predict that Roosevelt was going to win reelection.
I think it is a good idea for us to be very careful about what we are reading when we look at polls. There are any number of organizations with personal axes to grind. Rasmussen is one of the least subtle of them. It borders on comical.