Trump calls for probe of famed Iowa pollster J. Ann Selzer after she quits role

WASHINGTON ? President-elect Donald Trump on Sunday called for the investigation of an Iowa pollster over a bombshell pre-election survey that showed Vice President Kamala Harris leading in the deep red state.

In a post on his Truth Social platform, Trump blasted the Nov. 1 poll results for causing "great distrust and uncertainty at a very critical time."

"She knew exactly what she was doing," Trump wrote of pollster J. Ann Selzer, 68, who announced her departure from political polling on Sunday.

Trump defeated Harris in Iowa by 13 points, 56% to 42.7%. But in the waning days of a pressure cooker campaign, Selzer's poll for the Des Moines Register, part of the USA TODAY Network, outraged the GOP and gave Democrats false hope ahead of what turned out to be a national Republican rout.

Trump's takeover: Matt Gaetz to Elon Musk signal big ambition and combat ahead

Trump on Sunday described the poll as "possible ELECTION FRAUD by Ann Selzer and the now discredited 'newspaper' for which she works," adding, "An investigation is fully called for!"

Survey errors aren't known to violate criminal statutes. Asked if Trump was calling for a criminal investigation of the pollster, spokesman Steven Cheung replied: "President Trump was very clear in his Truth Social post."

'Nothing is more rewarding than figuring out what went wrong'

In a 19-page review of the poll she released Sunday, Selzer wrote: "I'll continue to be puzzled by the biggest miss of my career." In the data-heavy analysis, she walked through seven factors that may have contributed to the result that showed Harris leading Trump, 47% to 44%.

But Selzer couldn't put her finger on where the poll went so wildly off-course.

"It comes down to what theories we have that we can test with data, and theories that are speculative where no data exists for a credible test, at least for now," she wrote. "Nothing is more rewarding than figuring out what went wrong."

Writing separately on Sunday, Des Moines Register Executive Editor Carol Hunter said that "no likely single culprit has emerged to explain the wide disparity" between Selzer's poll and the Election Day result.

Cheung said Selzer had "beclowned herself during the last days of the campaign in a seemingly blatant attempt to misinform the public for the benefit of Kamala Harris."

Selzer didn't immediately respond to a request for comment on Cheung's broadside ? or Trump's apparent call for a criminal investigation.

Announcing what she described as a long-planned departure from public opinion polling, Selzer wrote in the Register on Sunday that her profession was "a science of estimation, and science has a way of periodically humbling the scientist."

She mused that her status as a top-rated pollster and a "history of accuracy" could have made her "too comfortable" with the off-target survey results showing Harris in the lead.

"Would I have liked to make this announcement after a final poll aligned with Election Day results?" Selzer wrote. "Of course. It’s ironic that it’s just the opposite."

What the incoming Trump administration means for you: Sign up for USA TODAY's On Politics newsletter.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Donald Trump demands probe of Iowa pollster J. Ann Selzer