Veteran Iowa pollster J. Ann Selzer will retire from the Des Moines Register’s famed Iowa Poll.
“Over a year ago I advised the Register I would not renew when my 2024 contract expired with the latest election poll as I transition to other ventures and opportunities,” Selzer wrote in an op-ed published by the outlet Sunday.
“Would I have liked to make this announcement after a final poll aligned with Election Day results? Of course. It’s ironic that it’s just the opposite,” she continued.
Selzer’s last poll, released days before the 2024 President election shows Vice-President Kamala Harris ahead of Donald Trump by 3 points, 47%—44%, among likely voters in the Iowa.
But on election day, Trump soundly defeated Harris in the state by a 13 points, winning the actual vote 56-43%.
Selzer later called the poll a “big miss” and theorized that it may have “energize[d] and activate[d] Republican voters who thought they would likely coast to a victory.”
The poll will continue to operate even though Selzer is retiring.
The poll will “evolve as we find new ways to accurately capture public sentiment and the pulse of Iowans on state and national issues,” Kristin Roberts, chief content officer of Gannett Media, which owns the Register, told CNN.
“Our mission is to provide trusted news and content to our readers and the public,” Roberts added. “We did not deliver on that promise when we shared results of the last Des Moines Register Iowa Poll, which did not accurately capture the outcome of the presidential election.”
