Donald Trump sued prominent political analyst and pollster Ann Selzer, the Des Moines Register and its parent company Gannett Monday for “brazen election interference” and fraud after Selzer incorrectly predicted a swing-state win in Iowa for Vice President Kamala Harris just a day before the presidential election last month. Trump went on to win the state by 13 percentage points.
The suit was filed late Monday in Polk County, Iowa under the Iowa Consumer Fraud Act and related provisions — just hours after Trump had publicly threatened legal action against Selzer for her false prediction as accusations of election interference mounted over the weekend.
The suit claims that Selzer and the Register showed “favor of now-defeated former Democrat candidate Kamala Harris through use of a leaked and manipulated Des Moines Register/Mediacom Iowa Poll conducted by Selzer and S&C and published by DMR and Gannett in the Des Moines Register on Nov. 2, 2024.
“Contrary to reality and defying credulity, defendants’ Harris Poll was published three days before Election Day and purported to show Harris leading President Trump in Iowa by three points; President Trump ultimately won Iowa by over thirteen points,” the lawsuit states, according to Fox News, which reviewed the documents.
“While Selzer is not the only pollster to engage in this corrupt practice, she had a huge platform and following and, thus, a significant and impactful opportunity to deceive voters,” the lawsuit states. “As Selzer knows, this type of manipulation creates a narrative of inevitability for Democrat candidates, increases enthusiasm among Democrats, compels Republicans to divert campaign time and money to areas in which they are ahead, and deceives the public into believing that Democrat candidates are performing better than they really are.”
The suit additional states that polling in favor of Harris in Iowa were “not reality, it was election-interfering fiction.”
The move came just two days after ABC News and George Stephanopoulos apologized and paid $15 million toward President-elect Trump’s presidential foundation to settle a defamation lawsuit.
Earlier Monday, Trump threatened continued legal action against Selzer and her employer at a Florida press conference. He added that such actions will continue against media entities he’s long accused of bias.
Trump’s threats came after a weekend of mounting attention on Selzer and her Nov. 2 Iowa poll, with many accusing the pollster of election interference.
Addressing the accusations in an interview with PBS on Friday, Selzer said she was “mystified about what motivation anybody thinks I had and would act on in such a public poll.”
“I don’t understand it. And the allegations I take very seriously. They’re saying that this was election interference, which is a crime … The idea that I intentionally set up to deliver this response, when I’ve never done that before … I’ve had plenty of opportunities to do it. It’s not my ethic.”
