polling company . for the nuclear reactor safety study see rasmussen report . rasmussen reports founded 2003 2003 founder scott rasmussen headquarters asbury park new jersey united states products opinion polling news owner noson lawen partners majority investor 1 website www.rasmussenreports.com rasmussen reports is an american polling company founded in 2003 . 2 the company engages in the collection publication and distribution of public opinion polling information . rasmussen reports conducts nightly tracking at national and state levels of elections politics current events consumer confidence business topics and the president s job approval ratings . contents 1 history 2 business model 3 polling topics 3.1 political sentiment 3.1.1 presidential approval tracking 3.1.2 generic congressional ballot 3.1.3 right direction or wrong track 3.1.4 healthcare reform 3.1.5 political class mainstream index 3.1.6 other 3.2 elections 3.2.1 presidential 3.2.1.1 2000 3.2.1.2 2004 3.2.1.3 2008 3.2.1.4 2012 3.2.2 congressional and gubernatorial 3.3 business 4 use 5 evaluations of accuracy and performance 5.1 favorable 5.2 criticism 5.2.1 nate silver 5.2.2 other 6 references 7 external links history edit rasmussen reports was founded in 2003 by scott rasmussen who served as the company s president from its founding until july 2013 when he left to found the digital media company styrk . 1 3 4 5 6 7 8 rasmussen founded his first polling company in 1994 . 9 that company rasmussen research was bought by townpagesnet.com for about 4.5 million in ordinary shares in 1999 . 10 starting in 1999 rasmussen s poll was called portrait of america . 11 in 2003 rasmussen founded rasmussen reports based in asbury park new jersey . in august 2009 the washington post reported that rasmussen reports had received a major growth capital investment . 12 new jersey business magazine reported that the company increased the size of its staff later that year . 13 business model edit rasmussen reports engages in the collection publication and distribution of public opinion polling information tracking the political world current events consumer confidence business topics and the president s job approval ratings . 2 not in citation given rasmussen reports also conducts nightly national tracking polls and scheduled state surveys . the company provides commentary and political analysis through a daily email newsletter . in september 2012 rasmussen reports and telco productions launched a nationally syndicated television show called what america thinks with scott rasmussen . 14 15 rasmussen reports polls make use of automated public opinion polling involving pre recorded telephone inquiries . 16 these types of polls are believed to produce results at low cost although some traditional pollsters are skeptical of this methodology and prefer traditional operator assisted polling techniques . 17 rasmussen s automated survey calls are conducted by pulse opinion research a firm that licensed methodology developed by scott rasmussen . 18 rasmussen reports generates revenue by selling advertising and subscriptions . 19 polling topics edit political sentiment edit presidential approval tracking edit rasmussen reports conducts a daily presidential tracking poll which measures the president s job approval rating . 20 21 rasmussen reports notes that it is important to remember that the rasmussen reports job approval ratings are based upon a sample of likely voters . some other firms base their approval ratings on samples of all adults . obama s numbers are almost always several points higher in a poll of adults rather than likely voters . that s because some of the president s most enthusiastic supporters such as young adults are less likely to turn out to vote . 20 22 newsweek also notes that polls of all adults produce results that are more favorable to democrats than do polls of likely voters . since scott rasmussen s departure from the polling firm in july 2013 rasmussen reports polls have consistently ranked as the most favorable poll in president obama s favorability rating . 23 mark blumenthal of pollster.com notes that rasmussen s obama job approval ratings do tend to be lower than most other polls but they are not the lowest . 24 in march 2009 a rasmussen reports poll was the first to show president barack obama s approval rating falling . writing in the wall street journal scott rasmussen along with president clinton s pollster douglas schoen said polling data show that mr. obama s approval rating is dropping and is below where george w. bush was in an analogous period in 2001 . rasmussen reports data shows that mr. obama s net presidential approval rating which is calculated by subtracting the number who strongly disapprove from the number who strongly approve is just six his lowest rating to date . 25 generic congressional ballot edit each week rasmussen reports updates a generic congressional ballot poll . the poll tracks what percentage of likely voters would vote for the republican in their district s congressional race if the election were held today and what percentage of likely voters would choose the democrat instead . 26 27 in 2009 rasmussen reports produced the first poll that showed democrats trailing on the generic congressional ballot for the 2010 midterm elections . 28 right direction or wrong track edit rasmussen reports conducts a weekly tracking poll that asks voters whether they think the country is heading in the right direction or is on the wrong track . 29 30 healthcare reform edit since 2009 rasmussen reports has tracked attitudes about health care reform legislation on a weekly basis . since the patient protection and affordable care act became law in march 2010 rasmussen reports has consistently measured double digit support for repeal of the law . across 100 polls taken from march 2010 to july 2012 likely voters have favored repeal by an average margin of 16 percentage points . 31 political class mainstream index edit rasmussen reports tracks the gap between what it labels mainstream voters and the political class . 32 according to the wall street journal to figure out where people are he rasmussen asks three questions whose judgment do you trust more that of the american people or america s political leaders has the federal government become its own special interest group do government and big business often work together in ways that hurt consumers and investors those who identify with the government on two or more questions are defined as the political class . other edit the company also provides regular updates on topics including global warming and energy issues housing the war on terror the mood of america congress and the supreme court importance of issues partisan trust and trends in public opinion . in 2007 tony snow white house press secretary for president george w. bush attacked a rasmussen poll that showed only 19 % of americans believed the iraq war troop surge of 2007 was a success . 33 david weigel wrote that where rasmussen reports really distinguishes itself and the reason it s so often cited by conservatives is in its issue polling . before the stimulus debate began rasmussen asked voters whether they d favor stimulus plans that consisted entirely of tax cuts or entirely of spending . tax cuts won every time and republicans began citing this when they argued for a tax cut only stimulus package . 34 in may 2012 a rasmussen reports poll found that a solid majority of voters nationwide favor legalizing and regulating marijuana similar to the way alcohol and tobacco cigarettes are currently regulated . of those polled 56 % favored legalizing and regulating marijuana while 36 % were opposed to legalizing and regulating the drug . 35 in july 2012 a rasmussen reports poll found that over two thirds of americans would fire every member of congress . 36 in january 2013 a rasmussen reports poll found record low levels of support for the tea party movement . of those polled 30 % held a favorable view of the tea party 49 % held an unfavorable view and only 8 % identified as a part of the group . 37 elections edit presidential edit 2000 edit in the 2000 presidential election scott rasmussen polled under the name portrait of america a predecessor to rasmussen reports . 11 the portrait of america prediction for the 2000 presidential election was off by 4.5 % 38 compared to the average 1.1 % margin of error most other national polls gave at the time . 39 2004 edit in the 2004 presidential election rasmussen ... beat most of their human competitors in the battleground states often by large margins according to slate magazine . 40 rasmussen projected the 2004 presidential results within one percentage point of the actual vote totals earned by both george w. bush and john kerry . 41 in 2004 slate said they publicly doubted and privately derided rasmussen polls because of the methodology . however after the election they concluded that rasmussen s polls were the most accurate . 40 2008 edit according to politico rasmussen s final poll of the 2008 general election showing obama defeating arizona sen. john mccain 52 percent to 46 percent closely mirrored the election s outcome . 42 in reference to the 2008 presidential election a talking points memo article said rasmussen s final polls had obama ahead 52 % 46 % which was nearly identical to obama s final margin of 53 % 46 % and made him one of the most accurate pollsters out there . 43 an analysis by costas panagopolous in 2009 ranked 23 survey research organizations on the accuracy of their final national pre election polls based upon obama s 7.2 % margin of victory ; the analysis determined that rasmussen reports was tied for 9th most accurate . democracy corps foxnews opinion dynamic cnn opinion research and ipsos mcclatchy all predicted an accurate seven point spread . rasmussen reports polls predicted the correct winner in 46 states . its final polls of florida indiana and north carolina all showed leads for mccain . obama went on to win all three of these states . rasmussen s poll of ohio on 2 november 2008 showed a tied race there . obama went on to win the state by 4 percentage points . 44 45 2012 edit the final 2012 electoral college projection by rasmussen reports showed 237 safe electoral votes for barack obama 206 safe electoral votes for mitt romney and eight toss up states with a total of 95 electoral votes . 46 47 48 the final rasmussen reports daily tracking poll showed mitt romney with 49 percent national support and president obama with 48 percent national support . 49 obama won the election by close to 4 percentage points . the final rasmussen reports pre election polls showed obama winning nevada and new hampshire tying romney in ohio and wisconsin and losing in the other five swing states including north carolina . obama won in the swing states of ohio wisconsin colorado florida iowa and virginia while romney took north carolina . 50 a fordham university study by dr. costas panagopoulos compared pre election polling with the results from election day . the study ranked rasmussen reports 24th out of 28 polls in accuracy one slot above gallup . 51 an analysis by nate silver on fivethirtyeight ranked rasmussen 20th out of 23 pollsters for accuracy in the 2012 elections with an average error of 4.2 points . 52 after the election james rainey of the los angeles times wrote that some conservative media outlets used the rasmussen polling to prop up a narrative in the final days of the campaign that romney had momentum and a good chance of winning the white house . 53 on november 7 scott rasmussen told slate s david weigel in general the projections were pretty good . the two differences i noted were share of white vote falling to 72 percent . that s what the obama campaign to their credit said all along . we showed it just over 73 percent . also youth