A federal district court in Iowa ruled in favor of pollster Ann Selzer and the Des Moines Register on Tuesday, dismissing a lawsuit brought by a West Des Moines resident who sued the paper over a 2024 presidential poll that showed Kamala Harris poised to defeat President Donald Trump.
Published just days before the November 2024 presidential election, Selzer’s poll predicted Harris would beat Trump in the Hawkeye State by 3 points. Harris subsequently lost, with Trump taking the state by 13 points on Election Day.
West Des Moines resident Dennis Donnelly filed a class-action lawsuit against the paper and pollster, saying the Des Moines Register published the “dictionary definition of fake news” by running the poll. U.S. District Judge Rebecca Goodgame Ebinger, appointed by former President Barack Obama, dismissed the lawsuit Tuesday.
“I am pleased to see this lawsuit has been dismissed. The First Amendment’s protection for free speech and a free press held strong. I know that I did nothing wrong, and I am glad the court also concluded that there was never a valid legal claim,” Selzer said in a statement.
Donnelly’s claims against the poll’s publishers included fraudulent misrepresentation, consumer fraud, professional malpractice, and interference with the right to vote.
“The Des Moines Register here failed in its promise to our client and all of its other subscribers to deliver fair and accurate news,” Donnelly’s attorney, Daniel Suhr, told a local Iowa news outlet in January.
Ebinger wrote in the order that Donnelly “failed to sufficiently plead his claims” and granted the defendants’ motions to dismiss the case with prejudice.
Attorney for the defendants and Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression chief counsel Bob Corn-Revere said the ruling marked “a good day for freedom of speech.”
COURT HANDS TRUMP LEGAL WIN IN ELECTION INTERFERENCE CASE OVER 2024 ANN SELZER IOWA POLL
“This decision shows where petty politics ends and the rule of law begins. The court’s strongly worded opinion confirms that a legal claim cannot be concocted with political slogans and partisan hyperbole, and that there is no hiding from the First Amendment,” Corn-Revere said in a statement.
A federal appeals court ruled in favor of President Donald Trump in a similar case regarding the poll in October, as the case was transferred to the Iowa state court.