Scott Rasmussen - Public Opinion Polling

Public Opinion Polling

Rasmussen first became known for his public opinion polling work. In the 1990s, he volunteered as a pollster for friends who were attempting to impose congressional term limits. In 1995, he founded a polling company called GrassRoots Research. In 1999, after changing the name to Rasmussen Research, the company was bought by TownPagesNet.com for about $4.5 million in ordinary shares.

According to his official biography, Rasmussen "has been an independent public opinion pollster since 1994."

Rasmussen is the president of Rasmussen Reports, LLC (a separate company that he founded in 2003). Rasmussen Reports generates a daily cycle of news reports based on original survey results. The results track the political world, current events, consumer confidence and business topics. The company is one of only two firms providing daily tracking updates of the president’s job approval ratings and consumer confidence. The company conducts an ongoing series of national tracking polls on a nightly basis and regular state surveys.

Rasmussen's polls are notable for their use of automated public opinion polling, involving pre-recorded telephone inquiries. These types of polls have been shown to produce accurate results at low cost, but some have doubted their reliability.

The Washington Post referred to Rasmussen as "a driving force in American politics" and "an articulate and frequent guest on Fox News and other outlets, where his nominally nonpartisan data is often cited to support Republican talking points." In the Wall Street Journal, conservative columnist John Fund called him "America’s insurgent pollster”.

Law professor Susan Estrich has said, “If you really want to know what people in America think, you can't find a smarter guy to ask than Scott Rasmussen."

Rasmussen has described himself as "an independent pollster" who "ike the company he started, maintains his independence and has never been a campaign pollster or consultant for candidates seeking office." Speaking about the use of his polling data by Republicans, in 2009 Rasmussen said, “Republicans right now are citing our polls more than Democrats because it’s in their interest to do so. I would not consider myself a political conservative — that implies an alignment with Washington politics that I don’t think I have.”

In March 2012, progressive media watchdog group Media Matters for America criticized Scott Rasmussen for portraying himself as an independent pollster while headlining two Republican fundraising events. Rasmussen was a keynote speaker at the Twin Falls Lincoln Day Celebration in Twin Falls, Idaho, and the Lincoln Day fundraiser for the Manatee County Republican Party of Florida. A spokesperson for Rasmussen said, "Scott's speeches are scheduled through Premiere Speakers Bureau and not Rasmussen Reports. When he is brought in for an event, the purpose of the meeting is up to the host. Scott is merely hired to speak."