Scott Rasmussen

Scott Rasmussen
Scott Rasmussen in February 2012
Born	Scott Rasmussen (1956-03-30) March 30, 1956 Eglin Air Force Base, Florida
Residence	Ocean Grove, New Jersey
Nationality	American
Alma mater	DePauw University Wake Forest University
Occupation	Political analyst
Known for	Rasmussen Reports
Spouse(s)	Laura Rasmussen
Parents	Bill Rasmussen

Scott W. Rasmussen (born March 30, 1956) is the founder and president of Rasmussen Reports. He is an American political analyst, New York Times bestselling author, speaker, and public opinion pollster. Rasmussen's political commentary is distributed through a daily email newsletter, an online video service, syndicated radio, a nationally syndicated weekly newspaper column, and a nationally syndicated television show called What America Thinks With Scott Rasmussen. Earlier in his professional life, Rasmussen co-founded the sports network ESPN.

Early life and career

Rasmussen was born on Eglin Air Force Base near Valparaiso, Florida to Bill and Lois Rasmussen. From an early age, Rasmussen was exposed to the broadcasting business through his father, Bill Rasmussen, who had worked for radio stations and was a communications director for the New England Whalers ice hockey team. With the help of his father, Rasmussen taped his first radio commercial at the age of seven. Rasmussen grew up spending summers in Ocean Grove, New Jersey with his grandparents. He got his first job at age 14 as an umbrella boy. He later served as an announcer for the New England Whalers of the World Hockey Association. During that time he was emcee for hockey legend Gordie Howe's 50th birthday celebration in 1978, which Rasmussen cites as a career highlight: "nothing in my professional career will ever equal the thrill...". In 1979, Scott and Bill Rasmussen founded ESPN, the cable sports network. Their stake in ESPN was bought out by Texaco in 1984. They went on to found the Enterprise Radio Network. Rasmussen and his father later had a falling out over what Rasmussen called unspecified "differences."

Speaking about his political views, Rasmussen said, "I was brought up loosely as a Republican, but at our family dinner table we talked about the important politics of the New York Giants and the New York Yankees. There was no political discussion in my life growing up. I became a Democrat after Richard Nixon and into the Jimmy Carter era and have been an Independent ever since. I spoke today about how the American people were skeptical about politicians—well, I’m more skeptical. I really do see the core issue as the political class versus mainstream voters. I think that is a much bigger gap than Republican, Democrat, conservative, or liberal."

Education

Rasmussen graduated from Minnechaug Regional High School in 1974 and was goaltender for the high school hockey team. He started college at the University of Connecticut, and took a class with pollster Everett Ladd. Rasmussen went on to earn a bachelor's degree in history at his father's alma mater, DePauw University in Greencastle, Indiana, graduating in 1986, and later an executive MBA from Wake Forest University.

Public opinion polling

Main article: Rasmussen Reports

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 "[l]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."

Political commentary

Rasmussen writes a weekly syndicated newspaper column through Creators Syndicate and gives daily syndicated news updates through WOR Radio Network. In September 2012, he launched a syndicated television show called What America Thinks with WCBS-TV as the New York station.

Rasmussen has appeared as a guest analyst on local and national broadcast news outlets across America and internationally, including the Fox News Channel, the BBC, CNN, Bloomberg, CNBC and NPR. In 2010 he made an appearance on Comedy Central's The Colbert Report. Rasmussen’s polls are frequently quoted by media sources and political figures and have received mentions on entertainment shows such as The Tonight Show. He is also regularly quoted in print and online publications, including USA Today, The Wall Street Journal and The Los Angeles Times.

Rasmussen is a professional speaker, traveling the country to discuss public opinion on politics, business and lifestyle issues. In February 2013, Rasmussen delivered an address entitled "Sweeping Change is Coming to America" at his alma mater, DePauw University, as part of the school's 175th Anniversary Distinguished Alumni Lecture Series.

Books

While his writing is mostly known for its analysis and commentary on public opinion, often based on his firm's polling data, Rasmussen's 2010 book In Search of Self-Governance seems written from a personal viewpoint, including quotations like “Americans don’t want to be governed from the left, the right, or the center. They want to govern themselves." Rather than citing polling data, Rasmussen makes a case that America's "historic commitment to self-governance is under assault by a governing clique revolving around Washington, D.C. and Wall Street" and argues that "unfortunately, even after more than 200 years of success, there is an urgent need to defend this most basic of American values."

In 2010, Rasmussen co-authored a book on the Tea Party movement with pollster Douglas Schoen, Mad as Hell: How the Tea Party Movement is Fundamentally Remaking Our Two-Party System, published by HarperCollins. The bailouts of big banks in 2008-9 by the Bush and Obama administrations triggered the Tea Party’s rise, said Rasmussen in September 2010. He added that the movement's anger centers on two issues, "They think federal spending, deficits and taxes are too high, and they think no one in Washington is listening to them, and that latter point is really, really important." In the book, Rasmussen and Schoen argue for a three step proposal that they call "the last hope" for politician to regain trust.

Rasmussen's 2012 book, "The People's Money: How Voters Will Balance the Budget and Eliminate the Federal Debt," argues that "America's Political Class Wants to govern like it's 1775, a time when kings were kings and consent of the governed didn't matter." Through polling data, he searches to demonstrate that the federal government today does not have the consent of the governed. The book reached number 17 on the New York Times Bestseller List in March 2012.

Columns

Rasmussen is the author of a weekly syndicated newspaper column through Creators Syndicate. Rasmussen's columns incorporate public opinion polling data and public policy issues. Columns have warned against the "new elites" who are using the revolving door between Washington and Wall Street, and supported ending crony capitalism by "busting up the big banks."

Rasmussen and Schoen have collaborated on several opinion editorials, including One Nation Under Revolt, Why Obama Can't Move the Health Care Numbers, The Last Hope for Democrats and Republicans to Regain Trust, and Obama Is Losing Independent Voters. They also noted the decline in the president's approval ratings in Obama's Poll Numbers Are Falling to Earth.

Rasmussen has independently authored several Wall Street Journal columns, including a piece on how Obama won the White House by campaigning like Ronald Reagan and an overview of the healthcare reform debate.

His work has appeared in USA Today, The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times, The Boston Globe, Investor's Business Daily, the Christian Science Monitor and other major publications.

Rasmussen was a weekly columnist for conservative news web site World Net Daily in 2000 and 2001. In some of these columns, as well as in a 2001 book titled "A Better Deal! Social Security Choice" and a presentation at the Cato Institute, Rasmussen advocated privatization of the Social Security program. Social Security reform had already been the topic of an article that he published in the Wall Street Journal in 1990.

Rasmussen wrote Mikhail Gingrich for The New Democrat.

Radio

In April 2012, WOR Radio Network began syndicating three different one-minute daily news updates by Rasmussen.

Television

In September 2012, Rasmussen began hosting a nationally syndicated television program called What America Thinks With Scott Rasmussen. On the show, Rasmussen has interviewed Scott Walker, governor of Wisconsin. An episode of the show, titled What New Hampshire Thinks, won a 2012 Granite Mike Award from the New Hampshire Association of Broadcasters.

Personal life

Rasmussen lives in Ocean Grove, New Jersey with his wife Laura. In 2010, the Rasmussen's home was completely destroyed by a fire.

Bibliography

• Rasmussen, Scott (1985). Solving the Budget Crisis: Hope for America's Future. Pub Marketing Group. ISBN 0934347018. 
• Rasmussen, Scott (2001). A Better Deal: Social Security Choice. Rasmussen Reports. ISBN 0971233004. 
• Rasmussen, Scott; Schoen, Doug (2010). Mad As Hell: How the Tea Party Movement Is Fundamentally Remaking Our Two-Party System. Harper. ISBN 0061995231. 
• Rasmussen, Scott (2010). In Search of Self-Governance. CreateSpace. ISBN 1449593542. 
• Rasmussen, Scott (2012). The People's Money: How Voters Will Balance the Budget and Eliminate the Federal Debt. Threshold Editions. ISBN 1451666101.