DES MOINES — A highly anticipated poll of Iowa Democrats, set to be released two days before the presidential caucuses, was shelved on Saturday night because of concerns about irregularities in the methodology. The apparent problem, raised by aides to Pete Buttigieg, prompted CNN to cancel an hourlong special organized to release the results of their survey, conducted with The Des Moines Register. The results were held back after the Buttigieg campaign said that an Iowa supporter received a poll phone call from an operator working for the polling operation, but that the name of the former mayor of South Bend, Ind., was not listed on the menu of options, according to a senior official on Mr. Buttigieg’s campaign. The poll is conducted by telephone from a call center, where operators read from a prepared script of candidates’ names to determine who a voter plans to support. One operator had apparently enlarged the font size on their computer screen, perhaps cutting off Mr. Buttigieg’s name from the list of options, according to a person familiar with the incident who did not have permission to speak about it publicly.

Source: New York Times February 02, 2020 02:10 UTC