Iowa newspaper subscriber gets last gasp at lawsuit over 2024 Trump poll

Filed 1h ago · Via Courthouse News · The Buffoon Desk

THIS STORY IS SCORED

Fig Leaf Rag

Kevin MacLeod · incompetech.com · CC BY 4.0

Photo: JJonahJackalope · CC BY-SA 4.0 · via Wikimedia Commons

Dennis Donnelly asked the Eighth Circuit to revive his consumer fraud lawsuit against the Des Moines Register over a 2024 poll showing Trump trailing Harris by three points in Iowa, a poll that missed Trump's actual 13-point win by 16 points. A federal judge already dismissed the case on First Amendment grounds under the actual malice standard from New York Times v. Sullivan, and Trump has an identical claim pending separately in Iowa state court.

Donnelly's attorney argued the poll's own description as ‘stunning, shocking, surprising’ suggests the paper doubted its accuracy before publishing it anyway. The Register's counsel countered that the theory would let any subscriber sue any outlet they later decide got something wrong, comparing it to Fox News or New York Times subscribers suing over perceived inaccuracy.

The three-judge panel includes a Trump appointee and two Bush appointees; one of the Bush appointees, who subscribes to the paper himself, disclosed the fact and declined to recuse.

The full dispatch is available from the source below.

✒ FROM THE EDITORIAL DESK

A poll being wrong and a poll being fraudulent are two different animals, and this lawsuit is betting a judge won't notice the difference. Being surprised by your own numbers is not the same as knowing they are false, whatever the odds against them turning out that way. If ‘I didn't like what happened next’ becomes grounds for a lawsuit, every subscription in the country turns into a lottery ticket.

Source: Read the original at Courthouse News → Scored: Fig Leaf Rag · Kevin MacLeod · CC BY 4.0

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