The final Des Moines Register/CNN poll was canceled ahead of its release on Saturday after a Pete Buttigieg supporter reported that the former South Bend mayor was left off the list on a polling call.
The poll, which is run by Ann Selzer, is considered among the most predictive in the state. The poll was expected to be released over the weekend before it was abruptly canceled over a single incident.
“Today, a respondent raised an issue with the way the survey was administered, which could have compromised the results of the poll. It appears a candidate’s name was omitted in at least one interview in which the respondent was asked to name their preferred candidate,” said Des Moines Register editor Carol Hunter. “While this appears to be isolated to one surveyor, that could not be confirmed with certainty. Therefore, out of an abundance of caution, the partners made the difficult decision not to move forward with releasing the poll.”
Poll canceled after Buttigieg raised concerns:
The poll was scrapped after the Buttigieg campaign raised concerns over the report.
"Our campaign received a report from a recipient of the Iowa Poll call, raising concerns that not every candidate was named by the interviewer when asked who they support," said Buttigieg communications director Lis Smith. "We shared this with the organizations behind the poll, who conducted an internal investigation and determined not to release it. We applaud CNN and the Des Moines Register for their integrity."
“There were concerns about what could be an isolated incident,” Selzer said in a statement. “Because of the stellar reputation of the poll, and the wish to always be thought of that way, the heart-wrenching decision was made not to release the poll. The decision was made with the highest integrity in mind.”
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Two sources told Politico that the interviewer may have left off Buttigieg’s name because they enlarged the font size on their monitor, potentially cutting off some candidates’ names.
"We are unable to know how many times this might have happened, because we don’t know how long that monitor was in that setting," one of the sources said. "Because we do not know for certain — and may not ever be able to know for certain — we don’t have confidence to release the poll."
