Daily Kos Elections Polling Wrap: Rasmussen raises eyebrows, but not how you'd expect.

On a day when virtually no new polling came in (thus, for the first time, there actually aren't any thoughts awaiting you just past the jump), leave it to the House of Ras to throw a curveball at us to close the week.

After their eye-popping, and yet somehow predictable, pro-Romney numbers in Iowa and Wisconsin over the past week, here come the Rassies with a Michigan poll.

A poll in which Barack Obama leads. Quite handily, in fact.

Go figure.

On to the (incredibly small set of) numbers:

PRESIDENTIAL GENERAL ELECTION TRIAL HEATS:

NATIONAL (Gallup Tracking): Romney d. Obama (46-45)

NATIONAL (Rasmussen Tracking): Romney d. Obama (47-45)

MICHIGAN (Rasmussen): Obama d. Romney (50-42)

Note: There was no downballot polling released today.

The Michigan numbers are particularly surprising, given that the two most recent polls in the state had the race essentially even, with an EPIC-MRA poll last week actually putting Romney in the lead (albeit very narrowly). President Obama easily carried Independent voters in the Ras poll (Obama +12), which seems a bit loftier than what we've seen even in most recent national polls. By way of contrast, our own Daily Kos/SEIU State of the Nation Poll this week showed the president up eight points among unaffiliated voters.

Too good to be true? It remains to be seen. I was a bit skeptical about that EPIC-MRA poll, as their numbers all cycle long have seemed to run more favorably to team Romney than their compatriots (when looking at contemporaneous polls, that is). Once again, whether to one extreme or another, a Rasmussen poll screams out for confirming or contradictory evidence.