Iowa Court Dismisses With Prejudice Trump's Suit Over the Selzer/Des Moines Register Poll, Holding the Poll Is Fully Protected Political Speech

On September 23, 2026 (ruling filed, e-filed 3:50 p.m.), the Iowa District Court for Polk County dismissed, with prejudice, Trump et al. v. Selzer et al., the suit by President Donald Trump, Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks and former state senator Bradley Zaun against pollster J. Ann Selzer, Selzer & Company, the Des Moines Register and Tribune Company and Gannett. CNN identifies the judge as Scott Beattie. The suit concerned the Selzer poll the Register published three days before the 2024 election showing Kamala Harris leading Donald Trump in Iowa; the court’s ruling describes it in one line: “The poll proved wrong.” The petition pleaded an Iowa Consumer Fraud Act count, fraudulent misrepresentation and negligent misrepresentation, and asked the court to enjoin further “deceptive” polls.

The holding, in the court’s words. The motions to dismiss were granted “on two separate and independent grounds.” First, “the Iowa Poll and its reporting are fully protected political speech, and the Petition does not allege the elements that would place that speech within the fraud exception,” so the First Amendment bars all three counts. Second, “independently, the Petition states no claim under Iowa law”: Count I alleges no prohibited act in connection with consumer merchandise, no ascertainable loss and no reliance; Count II alleges “no representation made to induce any Plaintiff to act and no act taken in reliance on the truth of the polls”; and “Count III alleges no duty running from a pollster or a newspaper to a candidate.” The court denied the request to enjoin further polls and assessed costs to the plaintiffs. It denied the Selzer defendants’ request for an order to show cause (the sanctions request), saying it “does not reach the separate contention that this action was interposed for an improper purpose.”

Procedure. Trump sued in Polk County on December 16, 2024; Gannett removed the case to federal court the next day; the plaintiffs dismissed the federal case and filed the operative petition in state court on June 30, 2025; the court stayed discovery on February 10, 2026, and heard argument on July 10, 2026 (all per the ruling).

What happens next. CNN reports a Trump legal-team spokesperson said the president “plans to appeal to the Iowa Supreme Court.” No notice of appeal was located; the Iowa docket was not accessed.

Pattern context. This is a pleading-stage dismissal with prejudice resting on the First Amendment and, independently, on Iowa law, of a suit brought by a sitting president against a pollster and the newspaper that published her poll. The ruling does not address the plaintiffs’ motive in suing; the court expressly left the improper-purpose contention undecided. CNN notes it came the same day a federal judge in Washington heard arguments in the CNN, MS NOW and Politico suit over the White House media ban (see 2026-09-21–cnn-politico-msnow-sue-trump-white-house-press-ban).

Research Gaps

• The ruling was read from the e-filed copy hosted by Reason (it carries the Polk County clerk’s stamp); the Iowa Courts Online original was not fetched.
• Notice of appeal to the Iowa Supreme Court: not yet confirmed.
• The separate Trump suits against the NYT, WSJ and BBC are not covered here.