Michael Barone has noted the attacks on pollster Scott Rasmussen, whose numbers for President Obama’s approval differ from some other polls. The simplest way to explain the discrepancy is that the other polls have been surveying samples of American adults, whereas Rasmussen samples likely voters instead.
The controversy calls to mind MoveOn.org’s attempt to delegitimize the venerable Gallup organization in 2004, after one of its polls, a bit of an outlier, showed George W. Bush on course to win the 2004 election easily. As a way of venting frustration, they went so far as to waste $68,000 running this ad in The New York Times alleging a poll conspiracy. The ad even attacked the founder of Gallup for being a Christian.
