Ras Trax 2/18, Rasmussen polls the obvious

Today's Rasmussen daily tracker continues Scotty's furtive slide away from his 1/28/11 poll showing Obama losing to a generic Republican by six points. In fact, Obama now leads by eight points in Rasmussen's whimsical polling.

In a potential Election 2012 matchup, the president posts a 49% to 41% lead over Romney.  If Santorum is the Republican nominee, the president leads 48% to 40%.

That's a lead that is outside of the MoE. How does Rasmussen's "likely voter" survey show the President's approval? Let's see: 

Overall, 50% of voters say they at least somewhat approve of the president's job performance. Forty-nine percent (49%) at least somewhat disapprove. 

Of that 49% who disapprove, 40% is "strong disapproval". If this is a "likely voter" sample, why does "strong approval" matter? Obama clearly attracts 21% of likely voters over his 28% "strong approval" rating. Are Rasmussen's "likely voters" likely to vote or aren't they? 

Meanwhile, we continue to see the two Republican front-runners stuck with nothing more than Rasmussen's partisan angry base of 40% "strong disapproval" for Obama. Apparently, 9% of the "likely voters" in the country dislike Obama, but not enough to actually vote for one of the Republican candidates. That really says something about Rasmussen's narrative, doesn't it?

Once again, we see the Republican candidates stuck with numbers that are only 5 or 6% higher than Rasmussen's Party self-identification for Republicans. Meanwhile, Obama draws 15% more likely voters than the percentage that identify as Democrats in Rasmussen-land. 

But Rasmussen tells us that 46% of likely voters consider the Democratic Party agenda to be "extreme". It's very odd that the Republican candidates can't seem to pick up at least that 46%, isn't it? How could such an "extreme" candidate as Obama get 50% job approval if 46% consider him to be "extreme"? Something isn't adding up in Scotty's narrative machine.

In State polling, Rasmussen bravely sticks his neck out and tells the world that California just might go for Obama after all:

President Obama leads both Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum by more than 20 points in California, as nearly six-out-of-10 voters approve of the way he's handling his job.

 That's a big surprise, isn't it? I'm starting to think that Utah might go Republican, too. Of course, I'll hold off judgement until Rasmussen polls that State. Of all the States to poll, why CA?