Iowa Judge Tosses Trump Suit Against Des Moines Register and Pollster

An Iowa district judge on Wednesday dismissed a lawsuit brought by Donald Trump against The Des Moines Register and its former pollster, J. Ann Selzer, rejecting the claim that a pre-election poll and the newspaper's coverage of it amounted to consumer fraud under state law.

Judge Scott J. Beattie ruled in favour of Selzer and the Register, who had argued that the suit was an attack on free speech. In his written decision, the judge said the case sought to push Iowa's statutory and common law past their existing limits by treating speech that carries the strongest constitutional protection as a basis for liability. He concluded that the protection at issue was too substantial and the reach of the claim too broad, and dismissed the case.

Trump filed the suit in December 2024 against Selzer, the newspaper and its parent company, Gannett Co., alleging that inaccurate poll results were published fraudulently to harm him and benefit Democrats. He contended that coverage of polls does not qualify as protected speech. Republican U.S. Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks and former Iowa state Sen. Brad Zaun joined the action.

The poll, conducted by Selzer's firm in the final days of October 2024 and released shortly before Election Day, showed then-Vice President Kamala Harris with 47% support among likely Iowa voters against 44% for Trump. Trump went on to win 56% of the nearly two million votes cast in Iowa.

The plaintiffs alleged that the poll coverage damaged their reputations and cost them valuable campaign time, funds and resources in the closing days of the race. Selzer and the Register, along with Gannett, argued in separate filings that courts have never treated polls, or news coverage of them, as commercial speech even when sold for profit. They said the coverage was constitutionally protected political speech regardless of how accurately it captured the race, and disputed the fraud claim on the grounds that the poll and its coverage were not tied to any transaction between the companies and the plaintiffs.

Selzer's defence was taken up by the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression. The defendants had sought to move the case to federal court, but after a year of proceedings the first hearing was held this year in state court.

The ruling adds to a series of legal actions Trump and his team have filed against media organisations, accusing them of bias and testing the boundaries of First Amendment protections for the press. Some of those cases have ended in settlements.