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J. Ann Selzer, the pollster who incorrectly called the historically conservative state of Iowa for Vice President Kamala Harris before it was actually won by President-elect Donald Trump in the 2024 election, has finally broken her silence after Trump called for an investigation into her last month.
“I’m not here to break any news. If you were hoping that I had landed on exactly why things went wrong, I have not. It does sort of awaken me in the middle of the night and I think, well maybe I should check this, this is something that would be very odd if it were to happen. But we’ve explored everything. The Des Moines Register in an unprecedented move for transparency has put online our cross tabs, our waiting system and my analysis and that I’ve not needed to update because it was pretty complete. We don’t know. Do I wish I knew? Yes, I wish I knew,” Selzer said during a discussion at the Iowa Press last week.
Trump bashed Selzer and her final Des Moines Register/Mediacom Iowa poll released on November 1, which indicated that he would lose to Harris by as much as three points in Iowa, a typically conservative state he managed to win by 13 points during the 2024 presidential election on November 5.
"A totally Fake poll that caused great distrust and uncertainty at a very critical time. 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!" Trump wrote on his Truth Social account on November 17, along with a Des Moines Register article about Selzer's retirement.
It's unclear what type of investigation Trump was calling for, however, when asked by USA TODAY if he was hinting at a criminal investigation spokesman Steven Cheung reportedly responded "President Trump was very clear in his Truth Social post," adding that 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.”
Selzer claimed that she planned to retire more than a year prior to her announcement as she plans to pursue "other ventures and opportunities."
“Would I have liked to make this announcement after a final poll aligned with Election Day results? Of course,” Selzer wrote of her final poll released on November 1. “It’s ironic that it’s just the opposite.”