Good points on robopolling by Kos. The secondary advantage of automated outfits like SUSA or Rasmussen is that they can poll so many more races. Back in the day, that may not have mattered much, there wasn't a whole lot of demand for minute attention to tiny support swings in second tier races. Now, with the rise of instant, inexpensive content delivery, blogging, online magazines, and all the other ways political junkies slake their thirst, SUSA's 50-state polls and Rasmussen's constant battleground dispatches have a huge and interested market. Even laying aside claims of increased effectiveness, that makes them a smarter business proposition than traditional polling outfits, as their ability to survey lower tiers is now a hot commodity among content-thirsty bloggers.
