Donald Trump has filed a lawsuit against Iowa pollster J. Ann Selzer and The Des Moines Register newspaper for reporting ahead of the 2024 election that showed Vice President Kamala Harris up by three points just days before voting began—with the president-elect calling it a “false narrative of inevitability” after winning the Hawkeye State by 13 points.
Trump’s suit states, “Contrary to reality and defying credulity, Defendants’ Harris Poll published three days before Election Day and purported to show Harris leading President Trump in Iowa.” Iowa state court in Polk County received the filing on Monday night.
Before the shocking sixteen-point polling miss, Selzer boldly claimed, “It’s hard for anybody to say they saw this coming… Harris has clearly leaped into a leading position,” the complaint states.
“However, as Selzer well knew, there was a perfectly good reason nobody’saw this coming’: because a three-point lead for Harris in deep-red Iowa was not reality; it was election-interfering fiction.”
The suit is Trump’s latest attempt to go after the media in court, following repeated threats and lawsuits filed against the press in recent months and years. While he acknowledges that Selzer was incorrect in her poll prediction, legal experts say his complaint lacks true evidence of any wrongdoing.
“I don’t expect this lawsuit to go anywhere,” said Rick Hasen, an election law expert and UCLA School of Law professor, in a blog post on Monday night.
Joel Simon, director of the CUNY Journalism Protection Initiative, told CNN that even if the suit fails, it will be financially burdensome for Selzer, the Des Moines Register, and its parent company, Gannett, which is also named in the complaint.
“I would also be concerned about the arbitrary, petty, and vindictive nature of these legal actions that president-elect Trump is pursuing,” Simon explained.
“The chances of legal success are slim because in the United States, reporting done in good faith is protected under the ‘actual malice’ standard.” However, for a smaller or less-resourced news organization, mounting a legal defense can be difficult.
Trump’s complaint accuses Selzer and the Des Moines Register of working with “cohorts in the Democratic Party” who “hoped that the Harris Poll would create a false narrative of inevitability for Harris in the final week of the 2024 Presidential Election.”
Instead, “the November 5 election was a monumental victory” for the president-elect, the lawsuit claims.
“Selzer, after over 35 years in the industry, retired in disgrace from polling less than two weeks after this embarrassing rout,” Trump’s complaint reads, referring to her retirement announcement in mid-November. Selzer stated that her decision predates the poll in question.
In response to Trump’s suit, the Des Moines Register and Gannett released a statement in which Selzer “acknowledged” that the “pre-election poll did not reflect the ultimate margin” of victory. They also released their full data and details, along with a technical explanation from Selzer.
“We stand by our reporting on the matter and believe this lawsuit is without merit,” said Gannett spokesperson Lark-Marie Anton.
