In the final days before the election, a prominent pollster in Iowa surprised everyone with a prediction that Democratic nominee Vice President Kamala Harris would flip the red state to blue, which Democrats and the national media seized upon as alleged evidence of an impending huge victory overall for Harris.

Of course, Harris ultimately lost decisively both in Iowa and nationally, and now President-elect Donald Trump has suggested an "investigation" is warranted for "possible election fraud" by longtime Iowa pollster Ann Selzer, according to HuffPost.

The grossly inaccurate poll -- it was off by 16 points -- was thoroughly exploited by Democrats and the media to cause "great distrust and uncertainty," per Trump, and to both encourage Democratic turnout and demoralize Republican voters just a few days ahead of the election.

Final Iowa poll pushed by media was way off the mark

Released on Nov. 2, the last Saturday before Election Day, pollster Ann Selzer's final survey for the Des Moines Register suggested that VP Harris would win the solidly red state over former President Trump by a three-point margin of 47-44%.

Yet, Iowa was called early on Election Night for Trump and once all of the ballots had been counted, he prevailed over Harris by roughly 13 points, or around 55-42%, according to NBC News.

How and why Selzer's final Iowa poll was so far off from the actual results remains a mystery, but that -- and how the inaccurate poll was used by Democrats and the media in a coordinated fashion to sow discord among voters in the final days -- are things that Trump thinks should be investigated.

The Register's executive editor, Carol Hunter, has already begun such a review of Selzer's last poll and suggested that while there was no apparent single "determinative" factor for why the survey was so wrong, it was "possible that a combination of lesser factors played a role" in the egregious error.

Trump calls for "investigation" of wildly inaccurate Iowa poll

In a Truth Social post on Sunday, President-elect Trump wrote of Selzer's final Iowa survey, "A totally Fake poll that caused great distrust and uncertainty at a very critical time. She knew exactly what she was doing."

"Thank you to the GREAT PEOPLE OF IOWA for giving me such a record breaking vote, despite possible ELECTION FRAUD by Ann Selzer and the now discredited 'newspaper' for which she works," he added. "An investigation is fully called for!"

Attached to that post was a link to a Des Moines Register guest column by Selzer in which she announced that she will no longer conduct political polling in future elections, though her passion for surveying the public on their opinions about other non-political matters would likely continue.

Selzer claimed that she'd decided more than a year ago to let her contract with the Register expire after the 2024 election so that she could instead pursue "other ventures and opportunities," and wrote, "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."

Selzer responds to Trump's criticisms

In an interview on Monday with local Iowa affiliate KTIV, Selzer responded to President-elect Trump's critical post by pointing out that her final surveys in the 2016 and 2020 cycles had correctly shown him leading Iowa by comfortable margins over his Democratic opponents, and said, "I’ve done the polls that he liked and praised me."

"There’s just a thin veneer of his being concerned about the quality of my polling that has nothing to substantiate," she continued of Trump's critique. "So, it’s annoying, but it’s more than annoying. It is really a dig at my reputation. And for people who know me, they’re not buying a bit of it."

"I have been alerted that I should be on guard. And that alert came from the West Des Moines Police Department. They said they had no credible threats," Selzer added of the broader public pushback she's received for her wildly inaccurate final poll. "But, you know, if the police department knocks on your door and says your name has bubbled up, I take that seriously. And I’m taking all available precautions."