Iowa judge dismisses Trump’s 2024 poll lawsuit on First Amendment grounds

Trump’s Iowa poll lawsuit ends in court

Iowa District Court Judge Scott J. Beattie dismissed the lawsuit brought by President Donald J. Trump against pollster J. Ann Selzer, her company, and newspaper defendants in Iowa.

The court granted dismissal motions from Selzer and her firm, plus the Des Moines Register and its corporate parent, ending the entire trial court case in Polk County.

Poll and election result

The final Iowa Poll before the 2024 election showed then-Vice President Kamala Harris leading Trump among likely Iowa voters by 47% to 44% during the campaign’s closing stretch.

Trump later carried Iowa by about 13 percentage points, leaving a large difference between the poll estimate and the presidential election result in Iowa’s final certified vote totals.

Claims in the petition

Trump alleged in court that the poll created a false narrative favoring Harris during the campaign’s closing days and violated the Iowa Consumer Fraud Act through misleading practices.

The state petition also asserted fraudulent misrepresentation and negligent misrepresentation, giving Judge Beattie three separate legal claims to evaluate under constitutional protections and Iowa law in the case.

How the case returned to Iowa

The litigation included President Trump, United States Representative Mariannette Miller-Meeks, and former Iowa State Senator Bradley Zaun as plaintiffs who filed the state court petition together in Iowa.

Trump originally sued in state court, the case moved to federal court, and the plaintiffs later filed the petition that Judge Beattie ultimately dismissed in Polk County court.

Defendants and corporate name

The defendants included J. Ann Selzer, Selzer & Company, Des Moines Register and Tribune Company, and Gannett Co., Inc., later renamed USA TODAY Co., Inc., in the Iowa case.

The court caption continued using Gannett Co., Inc., although the company had adopted the USA TODAY Co., Inc. corporate name before Judge Beattie issued the written dismissal ruling.

First Amendment reasoning

Judge Beattie found the Iowa Poll and reporting about it were protected political speech under the First Amendment and did not qualify as commercial speech in this case.

He concluded the petition did not allege the elements needed to place that protected expression within the constitutional fraud exception recognized by existing law in this Iowa dispute.

Fun fact: Donald Trump became the first person in U.S. history to be elected president without having previously served in government or the military.

Why polling uncertainty mattered

The ruling explained that a poll estimates an uncertain future event using a sample, methodology, and reported margin of error rather than promising an election outcome in advance.

Judge Beattie found the survey was not a provably false factual statement merely because its estimate differed sharply from the result voters ultimately produced in certified election returns.

Little-known fact: Donald Trump received the 2,327th star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for his work as producer of NBC’s ‘The Apprentice.’

Consumer fraud claim failed

The court found the Consumer Fraud Act claim lacked a prohibited act tied to consumer merchandise, an ascertainable loss, and reliance by the plaintiffs under the Iowa statute.

The court also found no sufficient connection between the alleged deception and an advertisement, sale, or lease of consumer merchandise covered by Iowa law in this specific dispute.

Fraud claim lacked reliance

The fraudulent misrepresentation count failed because the petition alleged no representation made to induce a plaintiff to act and no action taken in reliance on the published poll.

The court also found the claimed election-related injuries were not losses that Iowa fraud law compensates under the legal theory the plaintiffs presented in their state court petition.

Negligence claim lacked duty

The negligent misrepresentation claim failed because the court found no legal duty running from a pollster or newspaper to the candidate plaintiffs in the Iowa state lawsuit before it.

Judge Beattie also found the defendants were not supplying information to these plaintiffs within the type of advisory relationship required for that claim under Iowa negligent misrepresentation law.

Dismissal carried additional orders

The court dismissed all three counts with prejudice, making the ruling an adjudication on the merits rather than allowing the same claims to be simply refiled in court.

It also denied the plaintiffs’ request to block future polls and rejected the request from Selzer and Selzer & Company for an order to show cause under Iowa rules.

Selzer and her legal group respond

The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression represented Selzer and welcomed the dismissal as a victory for First Amendment protections covering political polling and publication.

Selzer said polling is a social science rather than clairvoyance and that no responsible pollster can guarantee an election outcome. She also said she was grateful that the ruling reaffirmed the freedom to pursue and publish information without political interference.

Want to stay ahead of the news? Check out why Kentucky’s coal forecast shows limited change from Trump’s energy policies.

Trump’s appeal moves to Iowa appellate review

President Trump filed a notice of appeal challenging the dismissal order and other adverse rulings, moving the dispute from the Iowa trial court into appellate review in Iowa.

Iowa appeals are filed with the Iowa Supreme Court, which may retain a case or transfer it to the Iowa Court of Appeals under established state appellate procedure.

Want to read more about the latest developments? Check out how a North Dakota solar project could add battery storage and a data center near Fargo.

What stands out more, the First Amendment protection for political polling or the court’s reasons for dismissing Trump’s Iowa lawsuit? Share your thoughts.

This slideshow was made with AI assistance and human editing.

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