Last weekend’s poll by respected Des Moines Register pollster Ann Selzer boosted Democratic morale. It showed Vice President Kamala Harris ahead of Republican Donald Trump by three points in the red state of Iowa.

But the Election Night results were not what the poll predicted. Trump easily won in Iowa, defeating Harris with 56% of the vote to Harris’s 43%.

Now Selzer says he thinks his flawed polling actually helped Trump: According to the Daily Beast.

“I told multiple news outlets that the findings from this latest poll could galvanize and galvanize Republican voters who think they are likely to cruise to victory,” he wrote in his column for the Register. “Maybe that’s what happened.”

Trump supporters said Selzer manipulated his data to show Harris was leading in Iowa.

Trump won the state all three times he ran for president. Democrat Barack Obama won both presidential elections in Iowa.

Selzer said no one can know exactly what happened in the poll, but he gave it his “best shot.”

“My philosophy in public opinion polling is to do my best to uncover the truth of a future event, in this case Election Day,” Selzer said. “We used the same methodology as the last poll this year, without fear or favor, to show a healthy lead for Trump in both 2020 and 2016. These turned out to capture the mood of voters pretty well, but both drew backlash from doubting Iowans. “The findings may be correct.”

Selzer said he will continue to examine his data to see why the 2024 poll is wrong.