Publication of Iowa opinion poll cancelled at last minute
Friday, February 7th, 2020
Just a couple of days before Iowa’s Democratic caucuses, the Des Moines Register was forced to cancel publication of an opinion poll conducted by Selzer & Co, because of the risk that a candidate’s name had been omitted from a list.
According to the newspaper itself, ‘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.’
The problem may well have been limited to a single interviewer – indeed, possibly even to a single respondent – but, said J. Ann Seller, ‘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.’
More details here.
