I just decided to answer my own question, spurred on by Markos' diary on Rasmussen polls earlier today.
It seems that Rasmussen polls have seen a sudden uptick in frequency. We also know that Rasmussen polls have consistently drawn different conclusions that suggest bias in favor of right-wing candidates and causes while suggesting weakness among Democrats (especially President Obama).
All this leads me to ask, who is behind the polling?
Scott Rasmussen is a businessman, just like Rupert Murdoch. He may or may not care about politics or public opinion, though I'm sure he considers both to be personal hobbies. At the end of the day, just like Markos, Scott Rasmussen is trying to feed his family and keep his business running.
The Daily Kos/R2K polls are obviously commissioned by Democrats, but it's pretty obvious to anyone watching that they're not being spun. Dkos posts polls that make Dems look bad or weak, as often as they it posts polls that contradict Rasmussen.
I took an opportunity to download the Rasmussen media advertising kit. (It's available for download as a PDF file, if you're interested.)
Here's what I found (sorry, no pics available at this time, b/c I'm not really interested in that level of detail - maybe a commenter can post photo/JPGs):
Scott Rasmussen is specifically appealing to lobbyists, political insiders, and K Street types.
His front page says the following: "More than two-thirds of our visitors influence outcomes in the corridors of business or the halls of government." In other words, Scott Rasmussen is appealing to business leaders, decision-makers, and policy-makers. To use Tom Stanley's term, he is Marketing to the Affluent.
This is smart business. If you can sell to the wealthy (who have money and power), you can have relatively few clients and make a lot of money and powerful friends. I once had a life coach tell me he wanted to "influence the influencers". That's what Rasmussen is doing.
Michael Barone, Larry Kudlow, and Daily Kos feature prominently in the Rasmussen advertising.
Rasmussen uses quotes from Markos, Kudlow, and Barone as "taglines" to draw in potential customers. The quote from Kos is: "Rasmussen Reports is a key player in the political debate." Ha-ha-ha... hope they don't read Markos' post from today! That might not sell too well.
Rasmussen sells access.
Primarily, that is the sale they're making to potential sponsors. Who do they promise access to?
Benefits: Reach top decision makers in business, government, media.
There you go. Don't bother with those poor shmoes. Go direct to the top and let it filter down from there. Sounds a lot like the Republican Party's approach to politics.
Appeal to narcissism as a sales strategy.
Rasmussen defines his audience this way: Educated, informed, well-heeled.
Yes, if you look at our polls you won't need to find out how the little people think by asking them. You can just read our polls and go on feeling informed and educated - and well-heeled. (Apparently, nice shoes are really important to Rasmussen's audience.)
Rasmussen's business model multiplies his value per customer by using a "divide and conquer" strategy that hits local media multiple times instead of using national media.
According to the Rasmussen media kit, "Rasmussen has an exclusive content sharing arrangement with Fox News which has Scott appearing on local air to provide independent viewson state elections. In turn the appearances generate strong web trafficfrom prominent buyer markets like New York, Chicago, LA, Dallas, Philadelphia, Washington, Denver, Atlanta, Boston, and Detroit."
Yup, there you go.
And in following with GOP strategy, if you can make yourself invisible and run your PR campaign in multiple, seemingly-anonymous, but strategically interwoven ways, you can make it appear as though multiple independent sources are reaching the same conclusion. This is why you get so-called "Pro-life, pro-family" groups like the American Family Association and the Family Research Council posting "news stories" attacking comprehensive healthcare reform. Forget the fact that families would benefit tremendously from more affordable healthcare. Forget the fact that 45,000 people die each year from lack of access to health insurance. The pro-lifers spin reality until they are screaming about a "Government Takeover of Healthcare" even though the pro-life groups have been calling for a huge government invasion of women's medical privacy for about 35 years.
Scott Rasmussen may not be overtly working as an arm of the Republican Party, but it's clear that his business model, tactics, audience, and advertising appeals to the same demographic that the Republican Party appeals to.