Scott Rasmussen, President of Rasmussen Reports, a widely respected polling company. For years, Rasmussen polling has helped legislators, business leaders, and the general public gain a sense of the country’s opinions on any number of important issues.
Recently, Scott teamed up with pollster Doug Schoen on a new book, entitled, “Mad as Hell: How the Tea Party Movement is Fundamentally Transforming our Two-Party System” which delves in to what the tea party movement is, what it believes, and the impact it will have on our nation. Before a book event here at The Heritage Foundation, Scott sat down with us for a short interview.
We discussed the values of the tea party movement, the early and persistent underestimating of the movement by many who didn’t recognize its broad appeal, and Obamacare’s consistent unpopularity among the American people.
Brandon, why do you continue to cite a Republican pollster's frequently biased polls? On health care repeal, not one poll other than Rasmussen's have shown a majority or evenplurality support for such.
No other pollster is as controversial. Rasmussen is only "widely respected" by the right. Basically, he's the Fox News of polling (i.e. claims he's unbiased, but frequently shown to have a Republican lean) – ironically, Fox News and other conservative publications cite his polls as the gospel even when all other polls are conflicting.
Basically, Rasmussen is another symptom of epistemic closure on the right – those on the right only hearing what they want to hear.
Resonse to LA: Rasmussen teams with Doug Schoen, a Democrat pollster. I suppose you find no difficulty with the recent Kaiser Family Foundation poll that found only 26% favor repeal of Obamacare. But then Kaiser is a little skewed to the left isn't it? It polled a substantially higher percentage of Democrats than are represented by the population.
The bigger picture: It is clear that Americans don't like Obamacare and for good reason. First, they watched as this leftist administration spent a year force-feeding the legislation to its own party while ignoring the economic condition of the country. Then it pronounces that this law will add 30 million beneficiaries with no adverse economic impact. Finally, it asks Medicare participants to believe that the law will improve Medicare services while simultaneously reducing Medicare expenditures by a half -trillion dollars in the ensuing years. Participants, who have been paying into the Medicare system since 1965 don't see the logic, but they can see that they are an easy mark for a Marxist regime.
LAlaw, I don't know anybody who wants to hear obamacare isn't what it claims to be? I don't know anybody that feels they deserve to be lied to with government manipulation of a false need that only government provides, complete with collusion and corruption. Using the term "reform" to take-over an area of personal responsibility.
The bias news media and bias pollsters are the ones that give you what you want to hear and see. Out of all news media the only one I know to be unbiased is Fox and their affiliates.
Honesty, common sense, logic, all productive measures for a well governed society. What this administration is doing is the opposite for the illusionary need of more government.