President-elect Donald Trump has called for an investigation into veteran Iowa pollster J. Ann Selzer’s final pre-election survey, as new allegations emerge about the poll being leaked before publication.
The Des Moines Register/Mediacom Iowa poll, released November 2, showed Vice President Kamala Harris leading Trump by three points in Iowa. Trump ultimately won the state by 13 points, 56% to 42.7%, prompting fierce criticism of the widely respected pollster.
“A totally Fake poll that caused great distrust and uncertainty at a very critical time. She knew exactly what she was doing,” Trump wrote on Truth Social, calling for “an investigation” into what he termed “possible ELECTION FRAUD.”
Meanwhile, Gannett, the Register’s parent company, has reportedly launched its own investigation after the poll’s results appeared on social media platform X before official publication. A user named “IllinoisLib” posted that “Selzer is about to drop Kamala +3,” claiming Illinois Governor JB Pritzker revealed the information at a Duke Democrats meeting. Gannett is reviewing employee emails to determine how political actors might have accessed the results early.
Selzer, 68, announced her retirement from political polling the same day as Trump’s criticism, though she maintained the decision had been planned for over a year. In a 19-page review of the polling miss, she wrote, “I’ll continue to be puzzled by the biggest miss of my career.”
The veteran pollster suggested her own poll might have inadvertently helped Trump. “The findings from this last poll could actually energize and activate Republican voters who thought they would likely coast to victory. Maybe that’s what happened,” she wrote in the Des Moines Register.
Trump’s team amplified the criticism, with incoming communications director Steven Cheung claiming Selzer “beclowned herself during the last days of the campaign in a seemingly blatant attempt to misinform the public for the benefit of Kamala Harris.”
Des Moines Register executive editor Carol Hunter acknowledged the controversy, writing that “no likely single culprit has emerged to explain the wide disparity” between the poll and election results.
When asked if Trump was calling for a criminal investigation, his spokesperson responded only that “President Trump was very clear in his Truth Social post,” though survey errors typically don’t violate criminal statutes.
Selzer defended her integrity in her farewell op-ed: “My integrity means a lot to me. To those who have questioned it, there are likely no words to dissuade.”