The Trump campaign demanded a retraction and an apology from CNN for a recent poll it called “intentionally false, defamatory, and misleading.”
A cease-and-desist letter was sent to network head Jeff Zucker on Tuesday, which was obtained by the Washington Examiner, arguing that CNN’s Monday poll that showed Trump trailing former Vice President Joe Biden by 14 points, 55% to 41%, among registered voters was “designed to mislead American voters through a biased questionnaire and skewed sampling.”
“If CNN is genuinely committed to protecting free and fair elections, reporting accurately and truthfully, and polling the genuine pulse of American voters, rather than seeking to harm the Donald J. Trump for President, Inc. campaign, we urge CNN to immediately correct its inaccurate and skewed poll,” the letter reads in part.
Matt Dornic, a CNN spokesman, told the Washington Examiner that CNN stands by the poll.
Shortly after the poll was released on Monday, Trump announced that he had retained McLaughlin & Associates, a polling firm, “to analyze today’s CNN Poll,” which “he felt were FAKE based on the incredible enthusiasm we are receiving.”
In a letter shared by Trump, veteran GOP pollster John McLaughlin said, “The CNN poll out today is another skewed anti-Trump poll of only 25% Republican. It’s a poll of 1,259 adults — not even registered voters, let alone likely voters. Also, it was done between June 2nd and 5th, before the great economic news from last Friday.”
The Trump campaign cited McLaughlin’s comment in its letter to CNN, which the network claimed had a faulty foundation.
The network said McLaughlin was accurate in saying that 1,259 people were contacted but that the main premise of the poll, which showed a 14-point lead for Biden, was determined based solely on a question that was posed to 1,125 registered voters.
