US Court Dismisses Trump's 'Election Poll Fraud' Lawsuit, Citing Protection of Free Speech

Lawsuit Against Des Moines Register and Selzer Pollster Dismissed
"Future Predictions Are Not Subject to Penalty"

U.S. President Donald Trump’s lawsuit against an Iowa local media outlet and polling experts, filed after unfavorable poll results about the 2024 presidential election were reported, has been dismissed by a local court.

On September 23 (local time), Judge Scott Beattie of the Polk County District Court in Iowa dismissed President Trump’s claim for damages filed against Iowa’s leading daily newspaper, the Des Moines Register, pollster J. Ann Selzer, and the polling agency.

U.S. President Donald Trump. Photo by AP Yonhap News

Previously, the Des Moines Register had reported just days before the November 2024 presidential election that former Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic candidate, was leading in Iowa with an approval rating of 47%, ahead of President Trump’s 44% within the margin of error. However, when the actual vote count revealed that President Trump won by more than 13 percentage points, his team argued that the poll report was a fake designed to mislead readers and interfere with the election, and thus filed a lawsuit alleging violations such as breaches of consumer fraud laws.

The court sided with the media outlet citing the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which guarantees the freedoms of speech and press. The First Amendment is a core section of the U.S. Constitution that strictly restricts the government or judiciary from enacting laws or rulings that infringe on the freedoms of religion, expression, press, or assembly of the people.

In the 64-page ruling, Judge Beattie stated that poll results and their media coverage constitute political expression that receives the highest level of constitutional protection. He determined that predictive or statistical estimates, which involve subjective weighting about future events, cannot be considered provable "false statements of fact," and therefore fraud charges do not apply.

The plaintiffs leading the lawsuit strongly objected to the ruling, stating their intention to appeal to the Iowa Supreme Court.

This dismissal comes amid ongoing legal and administrative confrontations between the Trump administration and the press. Recently, the Trump administration banned three media outlets—CNN, MSN Now, and Politico—from the White House, but District Judge Timothy Kelly of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia issued a temporary restraining order (TRO), immediately restoring their access, demonstrating continued judicial checks on the administration.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.