The Iowa Caucus is the first measurable public action in a presidential election, and in this unpredictable year Monday’s results may have a stronger ripple effect than usual. For 76 years the Des Moines Register’s pre-caucus poll has been an important gauge of how the Hawkeye State may vote. But who wants consistency in a contentious year when we could have mayhem and the whiff of a conspiracy?
On Saturday night the newspaper said they were cancelling the release of the poll’s conclusions after they received feedback that there may have been issues with the way the survey was administered.
J. Ann Selzer, head of Selzer & Co., the company that runs what is now called the CNN/Des Moines Register/Mediacom poll, said “there were concerns about what could be an isolated incident. 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.”
The red flag was raised by Mayor Pete Buttigieg’s campaign, as confirmed by his senior advisor of communications Lis Smith on Twitter.
According to a report in Politico, the issue stems from an interviewer at the call center who enlarged the font on their monitor. In doing so, this potentially cut off some of the names from the bottom screen.
I know what you are about to say. “Buttigieg starts with a ‘B’!” But the names of candidates were randomized, and therefore, according to Politico’s sources, the former South Bend mayor’s name got clipped in at least one instance.
It is unknown just how much this human error tainted the entirety of the poll.
Supporters of Sen. Bernie Sanders, who leads in other recent Iowa polls, accused the mainstream media of showing favoritism toward the more centrist Buttigieg.
Accusations from the Bernie boosters were met with counter-tweets from those less-than-enamored with the Brooklyn-born Vermont Senator, as is in accordance with the laws of thermodynamics.
And then there were jokes that both wings of the Democratic Party could enjoy.