Thumb On The Approval Rating?

Nate Silver partially defends Rasmussen:

What Rasmussen has had is a "house effect". So far in the 2010 cycle, their polling has consistently and predictably shown better results for Republican candidates than other polling firms have. But such house effects can emerge from legitimate differences of opinion about how to model the electorate. And ultimately, these differences of opinion will be tested -- based on what happens next November. If Rasmussen's opinion turns out to be wildly inaccurate, that will impeach their credibility, and believe me, we will point that out. Likewise, if they turn out to be right when most other pollsters are wrong, we will point that out too.

But the problem with mixing them in with all the others is that their pool of likely voters matches no one else's. And when we are told that a big majority wants to torture the undie-bomber, we have to realize that what that really means is that a lot of older, whiter, evangelicals want to torture the undie-bomber, which, at this point, is, sadly, not news.