My working theory is that Rasmussen only does real polls at election time so that they can do phony polls the rest of the time. Elections, after all, are the true fact-checker of polls. A polling company that continually underperforms as a predictor of election outcomes will quickly lose all credibility. But polling about stuff that people never vote on can be published without fear of contradiction. I think Rasmussen’s polling on the president’s popularity is basically made-up. I’ve stopped giving any credence to their polls on anything but elections. But, this made me laugh:
For nearly one-out-of-three voters (32%), Jimmy Carter is the living ex-president who has done the best job since leaving the White House, according to a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey.
Kind of a no-brainer, although Bill Clinton is doing some valuable work, too.