http://www.fivethirtyeight.com/2010/07/is-poll-scientific-if-it-excludes-more.htmlThey don't elect to do these things, however, because it's not in their business model. In other words ... because they're cheap. That's not meant to be an ad hominem: it's the only way to accurately describe the problem.
Maybe Rasmussen's polling will happen to produce the right results in spite of all this. Historically, in fact, it's been about average -- a little better than average, actually, on balance. In the long-run, though, I think it's going to get them into some trouble, particularly as some of these issues -- fewer and fewer Americans have landlines each year -- are continuing to get worse.
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But this discussion shouldn't be about the results that Rasmussen produces, either past, present or future. It should be about the state of the polling industry as a whole, an industry which is increasingly becoming a race to the bottom, and Rasmussen plays a big part in that.
