Apparently Rasmussen Reports has been doing some polling by phone here in Wisconsin (obviously not shocking, given that it's an election year), and while some of the polling is pretty straightforward, asking about the possible matchups in the U.S. Senate race, and the possible matchups in the gubernatorial race, as well as asking opinions on health care reform and the Arizona anti-immigration law, some of the poll is downright strange. For instance, at one point during the poll, it asks, "could a group of people selected at random from the phone book do a better job addressing the nation's problems than the current Congress," giving the respondent the option of choosing yes or no as a response, and the followup question asks the respondent to indicate whether they agree or disagree with the statement that the "United States of America is the last, best hope of mankind."
Listen for yourself HERE.
I don't presume to be an expert on the methods behind how political polling is conducted, but the two statements I highlighted seem more than a little odd to have been included in a political poll conducted by Rasmussen. I'd expect the two statements I highlighted to be included in a poll by a second-rate pollster with an agenda, but not from a pollster with the reputation of Rasmussen (even if Rasmussen is inherently biased towards conservatives). To be honest, I half expected to hear a question asking if the respondent believed President Obama was really born in the United States.
Since Rasmussen's taken a turn towards the bizarre with this most recent poll, I've come up with a few statements the folks at Rasmussen should start asking folks to respond to in future polling:
- Do you think MacGruber could do a better job as a lawmaker than the current members of Congress?
- Do you believe that Iron Man is the last, best hope of mankind?
- Do you agree or disagree that UFO's are using brain control waves to influence members of Congress?
Feel free to add your own odd questions you'd like to see the folks at Rasmussen include the next time they do some polling here in Wisconsin.