538's Walk of Shame continues. [View all]
One of these polls is not like the others
One of these pollsters does not belong
https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/biden-approval-rating/
538's eccentric decision to include, and continue to include a rogue pollster, Rasmussen Reports in its aggregates, is beyond a joke, it is a locus of shame.
Rasmussen has a infamous reputation for manipulating numbers, presumably within the Margin of Error, for partisan purposes. As 538 themselves have said, after being extreme outliers in favor of the GOP during general elections, their polls 'magically' fall into line with reputable pollsters on election eve.
The most charitable thing one can say about Rasmussen is that they have a heavy methodological and sampling bias in favor of the GOP. A less charitable conclusion would be, they gleefully cook the books for prominence on RW media, to butress funding.
538's pretensions to adjusting Rasmussen's numbers are a fig leaf in a storm. No amount of stat-'splaining can lend a decent sheen to preposterous results. Rasmussen have reported Biden +0 (49/49) twice now. In Bill Clinton's words - one way or another, 'that takes a lot of brass'.
But the problem is not whether particular results are subject to ridicule, it is the ongoing corruption. 538 presents its adjusted weighted average of polls as an indication of how the president's approval is tracking over time. But arbitrarily playing around with the numbers, within the MoE, fatally compromises a times series - And that is what Rasmussen Reports does. They do it during General Elections, and they are doing it now.
Today, Rasmussen's numbers suggest that the American Rescue Plan was unpopular with voters, damaging the president's approval.
Biden - Job approval
March 10-14 +6 (52/46)
March 11-15 +4 (51/47)
March 15-17 +4 (51/47)
March 17-21 +0 (49/49)
Horseshit.
It's time for 538 to bite the bullet. Rasmussen Reports do not belong in any survey of respectable pollsters, let alone in an aggregate featured on the front page, every day.
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