U.S. President-elect Donald Trump Sues Polling Firm, Newspaper, and Parent Company for Consumer Fraud
Donald Trump has filed a lawsuit against Ann Selzer, her polling firm, The Des Moines Register, and the newspaper’s parent company Gannett, accusing them of consumer fraud. The suit was filed in Polk County, Iowa, on Monday night and alleges “brazen election interference” over a November 2 poll that showed Kamala Harris up 3 percentage points in Iowa.
Trump’s lawyers claim that the poll was “election-interfering fiction” and that Selzer’s company, The Des Moines Register, and the newspaper’s parent company, Gannett, engaged in deceptive advertising and misrepresented the results. The lawsuit alleges that this had a significant impact on the outcome of the election, ultimately won by Trump by double digits.
Trump stated that he is bringing the suit due to his “obligation to” hold the accused accountable and to prove that the poll was intentionally misleading. He specifically mentioned that Selzer’s company had a good track record of accurate polling, but this one was an exception.
The lawsuit also goes on to attack Selzer’s reputation as a standard-bearing pollster, accusing her of attempting to influence political races in favor of Democrats. The suit claims that millions of Americans, including Iowans who contributed to Trump’s campaign, were deceived by the doctored poll and that the “polling ‘miss’ was not an astonishing coincidence – it was intentional.”
