Some commentators on the right have been pointing to an interesting number that has been coming from the Rasmussen daily tracking poll, which Rasmussen bills as the “Presidential Approval Index,” which Scott Rasmussen only began bringing out in late 2008. The key questions then are: What is this number, and is it a valid measurement of real popularity? In an interview today with TPM, Rasmussen defended the index’s validity against some harsh criticism, saying that intensity of opinion — the true figure measured by his index — does indeed matter.
This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://talkingpointsmemo.com/?p=140079