President-elect Donald Trump tore into retiring pollster J. Ann Selzer and called for an investigation into her prediction that Kamala Harris would win Iowa.
Trump used his social-media platform Truth Social to launch his attack on Selzer, hours after the veteran polling “expert” announced her retirement and said was moving on to “other ventures and opportunities.”
“A totally Fake poll that caused great distrust and uncertainty at a very critical time,” Trump posted.
“She knew exactly what she was doing. Thank you to the GREAT PEOPLE OF IOWA for giving me such a record breaking vote, despite possible ELECTION FRAUD by Ann Selzer and the now discredited “newspaper” for which she works. An investigation is fully called for!”
Selzer’s final poll indicated that Trump would lose to Harris by as much as three points in Iowa, but instead he went on to win the state by a massive margin of 13 points.
Her prediction featured on the front page of the Des Moines Register, for which she has conducted polling for 40 years.
It’s unclear at this point whether Trump believes Selzer should be formally investigated, but the implication is clearly the Selzer and the paper were engaged in attempted voter suppression with the poll.
Steven Cheung, Trump’s incoming director of communications, said 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.”
As part of her retirement announcement in the Des Moines Register, Selzer said she was disappointed the final result didn’t align with her prediction, but added that she found “nothing to illuminate the miss.” She said respondents could have lied or changed their preferences.