Renowned pollster J. Ann Selzer has announced her retirement from election polling weeks after her bogus poll showing President-elect Donald Trump trailing Kamala Harris by three points in Iowa.

Selzer's Des Moines Register poll stunned America when it was released ahead of the election showing Trump losing a state he won in 2016 and 2020 suggesting that Harris was about to win in a landslide. 

The poll was unprecedented and ignited outrage from Trump who believed that Selzer deliberately fabricated the poll in order to demoralize Trump voters and hopefully get some voters to stay home in the face of an inevitable Harris victory.

However, when the votes were counted it quickly became clear that Selzer's poll was meaningless as Trump would win Iowa for the third time, this time by a massive 13 points.

Selzer Completely Out Of Line

Nonetheless, Trump was incredibly angry as Selzer is seen as the "gold standard" of polling and there was definitely a scenario where her poll could have impacted the election as more Trump voters stayed home.

Selzer's poll was so shocking because nearly every other poll had Trump leading Harris by a significant margin. So for Selzer to come out with her claim, it led to other pollsters adjusting their predictions significantly.

When the dust settled, not only was Selzer wrong, but so was everyone else. While most pollsters had Trump winning Iowa by 5-8 points, he ultimately would win by double-digit points in a resounding rebuke of Selzer's claims.

Selzer has reportedly been planning her retirement for over a year which lends credence to the idea that Selzer may have been trying to help Harris's campaign considering her status as the "gold standard" of polling would no longer matter.

Long-planned retirement?

She stated in an op-ed released on Sunday that, “Over a year ago I advised the Register I would not renew when my 2024 contract expired with the latest election poll as I transition to other ventures and opportunities."

She continued saying, "Would I have liked to make this announcement after a final poll aligned with Election Day results? Of course. It’s ironic that it’s just the opposite. I am proud of the work I’ve done for the Register, for the Detroit Free Press, for the Indianapolis Star, for Bloomberg News and for other public and private organizations interested in elections. They were great clients and were happy with my work."

Now Selzer gets to leave the world of polling with a massive question mark on her years of accurate polling because of one absurdly incorrect poll that was realistically never a possibility.

Pollsters Continue To Fail

Selzer's poll was an outstanding example of a greater trend that has been observed in American politics.

As politics becomes more divided, many Americans aren't being as open and honest about their political views which has heavily skewed polling. Left-leaning individuals feel safe to speak about their beliefs while right-leaning Americans keep quiet and vote loudly.

Pollsters have been unable to track the support for President-elect Trump over multiple elections because his supporters are demonized and unwilling to interact with pollsters.

Like 2016, pollsters got it wrong with Trump again as he smashed expectations and won the popular vote which no Republican has done for quite some time.

There is less and less value in polls as American politics continue to become more polarized and Americans become even more private or even deceptive about their beliefs.