Major Iowa Poll Yanked After Buttigieg Complaint

The Des Moines Register reports:

The Des Moines Register, CNN and Selzer & Co. have made the decision to not release the final installment of the CNN/Des Moines Register/Mediacom poll as planned this evening. Nothing is more important to the Register and its polling partners than the integrity of the Iowa Poll.

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.

While this appears to be isolated to one surveyor, we cannot confirm that with certainty. Therefore, the partners made the difficult decision to not to move forward with releasing the Iowa Poll.

USA Today reports:

Buttigieg’s campaign complained of irregularities in the polling methodology that left out his name among the panel of candidates when a supporter was surveyed for the poll. The campaign brought the problem to the attention of the pollster and its media partners.

“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,” Buttigieg campaign spokeswoman Lis Smith said in a statement.

“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.”

Supporters of Yang and Sanders have been complaining loudly on Twitter. At this writing, #ReleaseThePoll is trending at #3.