‘Dictionary definition of fake news’: Pollster whose numbers were stunningly wrong gets sued again
Already, President-elect Donald Trump has sued an Iowa pollster for alleged “election interference” for claiming that he trailed Kamala Harris in Iowa by three points just two days before the November election.
He actually won by 13 points.
It was pollster Ann Selzer and the Des Moines Register that claimed her “results” showed Harris easily winning in Iowa.
Trump sued and columnist Wayne Root suggested it might be the beginning of something big.
“It’s HUGE. It’s the biggest news of the year. It may be the biggest news of the decade (since Trump came down that escalator at Trump Tower in 2015). Here’s why…,” he wrote. “First, this lawsuit is so significant because it shows Trump and the GOP will no longer accept rigged and stolen elections. This fake poll in Iowa was clearly a brazen attempt at fraud and election interference. Democrats were trying to steal 2024 by using a fake poll to gaslight voters. Democrats have used fake news and propaganda to steal elections for far too long.”
Now a report at the Federalist reveals Selzer and company are being named in another legal action, over the same issue.
The report said it now is the Center for American Rights that filed a lawsuit similar to Trump’s in Polk County District Court in Iowa, charging the “misleading polling results deceived consumers, distorted public perception, and undermined confidence in the electoral process.”
It was filed on behalf of Des Moines Register subscriber Dennis Donnelly and seeks class action certification on behalf of all subscribers to the newspaper.
CAR President Daniel Suhr told the Federalist his public interest law firm’s lawsuit expands on President-elect Trump’s claims “to include damages for subscribers misled by the recklessly published polling.”
He charged making an honest mistake is not the same as being intentionally misleading.
“We need to put an end to the idea that there are no victims when news organizations engage in these things,” he told the Federalist. “Our client pays good money to buy a product and the product that the Des Moines Register promises is the news, fair and accurate news. The company didn’t deliver on that promise.”
A statement from CAR said the newspaper “delivered the dictionary definition of fake news.”
“The poll wasn’t just wrong – it was flat-out, epically, recklessly wrong. In doing so, they defrauded every subscriber who paid for trustworthy reporting.”
Nick Kleinfeld, legal counsel for the paper, said the claim was frivolous.
“This is the latest in disturbing attempts to pervert consumer protection laws to suppress political speech protected by the First Amendment,” he claimed.
He denied that the poll results were “fraudulent or misleading.”
The Federalist explained, “Many members of the fawning corporate media have described Selzer’s work as the ‘gold standard’ of polling. She’s lauded for her accuracy in predicting winners in the first-in-the-nation caucus state. A real Nostradamus of political polling, her fans might tell you.”
Selzer announced shortly after the poll that she was not renewing her contract to perform the work for the newspaper.
And this week, the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression said it will represent Selzer in the case by Trump.
Suhr explained that the First Amendment is no shield against “wrong and reckless” reporting to influence an election.
Selzer had claimed at the time, “She [Harris] has clearly leaped into the leading position.”
The Federalist noted, “She – Harris – clearly had not.”
Trump recently concluded a huge win against corporate media, when ABC announced it would pay $15 million to Trump’s presidential library fund because of anchor George Stephanopoulos repeated false assertions that Trump was found liable for rape.
‘Brazen’: Trump sues over ‘election interference,’ and it could be beginning of something big