Donald Trump has hit out at polls released over the weekend which show his presidential rival Kamala Harris outperforming him in Iowa.
Iowa has not been considered a “swing state” in this election, having been won by Trump in the last two presidential votes. But latest projections by Des Moines Register showed Harris to be leading by 3 percentage points – shocking the US political world just hours before election day.
Were Harris to win in a state such as Iowa, she would become the overwhelming favourite in the seven swing states and with it the election more generally.
However, the Trump campaign has moved quickly to blast the polls, alleging the suggestion of Harris’ lead is aiming to “diminish voter enthusiasm.”
In a memo released on Sunday, the Trump campaign said: “On Saturday, top Democrats appear to have received early access to an absurd outlier poll of Iowa conducted by the Des Moines Register.
“Not to be outdone, the New York Times arrived right on cue with another set of polling data being used to drive a voter suppression narrative against President Trump’s supporters.
“Some in the media are choosing to amplify a mad dash to dampen and diminish voter enthusiasm. It has not worked. Our voters are like President Trump: they fight.”
The Trump campaign made no such comments in June, when the same poll assessed Trump to have a huge 18-point lead over Joe Biden, nor in September, when it predicted a 4-point lead over Harris.
Ann Selzer, president of Pollster Selzer & Company, the firm that conducted one of the Iowa polls, told Newsweek: “These are the kinds of comments seen for virtually any poll, including mine. The Des Moines Register includes a methodology statement with each story they publish. It’s the same methodology used to show Trump winning Iowa in the final polls in 2016 and 2020.”
Ms Selzer’s polls are well known for their accuracy in predicting outcomes and margins of victory in US elections.
David Axelrod, a former top aide to Barack Obama said: “This is a stunning poll. But Ann Selzer has as stellar a record as any pollster of forecasting election outcomes in her state.
“Women are powering this surge. Portents for the country?”
Democrats have reacted with caution to the poll, burnt by experience of overconfidence in previous elections which ultimately ended in defeat.
Christopher Hale, a former Democrat congressional candidate in Tennessee said: “Celebrate the Selzer poll for 90 seconds and get back to work. We have an election to win.”
