President-elect Donald Trump has filed a lawsuit against The Des Moines Register, its parent company Gannett and veteran pollster Ann Selzer over an election-eve survey that incorrectly showed Democrat Kamala Harris leading in Iowa by three points. The final election results revealed a stark contrast, with Trump ultimately outperforming the poll by 16 points.
The lawsuit accuses the Register—Iowa’s largest newspaper—and Selzer of “brazen election interference” and violating the Iowa Consumer Fraud Act, which prohibits deceptive practices in advertising or commerce. Trump argues the inaccurate poll misled voters and created a false narrative in the increasingly red state.
Trump says he plans to sue Ann Selzer and the newspaper in Iowa that published her poll showing Trump losing just days before the election pic.twitter.com/ujSmW3GTTM
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) December 16, 2024
CNN Business provides more information:
While the nontraditional claims are unlikely to succeed in court, Trump is using the lawsuit to wage a broadside against what he perceives as left-wing media, mainstream press coverage of elections and the role of pollsters during campaigns. Though he won the 2024 election, Trump alleges the news coverage of Selzer’s poll — published days before the election showing Kamala Harris with a surprising lead in Iowa that didn’t materialize in the vote — was intended to artificially help Democrats during the campaign.
Media experts warned the lawsuit could have a further chilling effect not just on news reporting, but also on political polling. Selzer didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment from CNN.
The case comes on the heels of Trump winning a $16 million payout from ABC News in a defamation case that he and the news organization settled this weekend. Trump and his allies also continue to rail against news outlets, threaten them, and pursue other court cases against large outlets and a book publisher.
The case reflects Trump’s anger at the final Des Moines Register/Mediacom Iowa Poll of the 2024 election season. It was conducted at the end of October by Selzer’s firm, called Selzer & Co., and was based on telephone interviews with 808 Iowa likely voters. The poll found Vice President Kamala Harris with 47% support and Trump with 44%, a shocking result since Trump was universally expected to win the state.
On Election Day, Trump won in Iowa, capturing 94 of the state’s 99 counties with a margin of 13.2 percentage points statewide, the largest for any presidential candidate there since 1972.
Claims of a Leak and Democrat Advantage
As reported by Semafor, Illinois Governor JB Pritzker and other prominent Democrats had access to the poll before its official release. Exuberant Democrats were already touting the survey results online, indicating a possible internal leak:
But roughly 45 minutes prior to the poll’s public release, a stray tweet predicted the poll’s findings. Its author said that Illinois Governor JB Pritzker, a Duke University alumnus, had mentioned the not-yet-released poll during a Duke Democrats meeting that day. (A spokesperson for Pritzker did not respond to an inquiry about the apparent leak.)
The Des Moines Register is legendarily careful with Selzer’s polls, which shape perceptions of crucial early caucuses in both parties, though it also now coordinates with Gannett flagship USA Today on high-profile national news.
Now, Gannett is investigating how Pritzker and possibly other political actors could have learned of the poll early, and is reviewing employees’ emails, one of the sources said.
A Gannett spokesperson declined to comment on “internal matters.”
Selzer’s Track Record in Iowa
The Nov. 2 poll came as a shock given Selzer’s reputation as one of the nation’s most respected pollsters. Her firm, Selzer & Co., has a longstanding record of accurately capturing Trump’s strength in Iowa, particularly in the 2016 and 2020 elections.
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Trump is allowing himself to get distracted and things like this do nothing for “America First”. There is no law that requires a pollster or the paper printing it to be accurate. You have to prove they knew it wasn’t and did it anyway. A bridge too far in my opinion…
Trump is sue happy, I am sure he is in for some sue against him very shortly.
and why not? they sure liked to file suits against him. not a word was said about that. so why start now that he is returning the favors? if you lie about trump, you best have deep pockets to back that alligator mouth. we have a saying here in the south, it goes like this, “DONT LET YOUR ALLIGATOR MOUTH OVERLOAD YOUR LITTLE BIRD ASS.”. OR dont bite off more than you can chew. either way it works for me.
trump is starting to show some moxy. he went after the station and talk show host who said over and over again that he was a convicted RAPIST. that man knew what he said was incorrect but he said it repeatedly to get viewers to believe it was true. now he is going after each and everyone of them who outright LIED knowing it was as they spoke. hope he gets them all, especially the women on the SPEW. they repeat lies daily, even though they know they are. just to spread hate and divisiveness. maye this will get the attention of these people to tell the truth or lose millions in the process. well see.
That may seem petty to some, but I am glad that he is doing it, and he will follow suit with any other entities who acted in the same manner.
I was very concerned throughout all of the ballot counting process, because we Kept hearing how Kamala was outpacing him in the majority of the swing states
they need to be held accountable .