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| - With hours left until the 2024 U.S. Election Day, CNN weighed in on a fake image circulating online supposedly documenting that the news network broadcast a "key race alert" showing U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris leading former President Donald Trump by six points in Texas — a state historically won by Republican Party presidential candidates.
According to the image, with polls closed and a small percentage of votes already tallied, Harris led Trump 51.8% to 45.7%, with Harris garnering 1,113,499 votes and Trump with 982,091. The image claimed these tallies showed Harris with a lead of 121,408 votes (although the true calculated difference of the displayed numbers would be 131,408).
For example, one user on X posted the fake image on Nov. 2, and said, "Are they planning on stealing Texas and it's [sic] 40 electoral votes?" Other users also reposted the same image on the 4chan forums, Instagram, Threads and X, as well as websites displayed in Korean and Vietnamese languages. We were not yet able to identify who created the image.
Actor James Woods posted (archived) of the fake image, "Funny how they can tabulate votes to influence an election before Election Day, but can't get a total for WEEKS in states they are losing after Election Day." Fellow actor Antonio Sabato Jr reposted Woods' message.
The CNN Communications (@CNNPR) account on X posted (archived) of the fake image, "This image is completely fabricated and manipulated and it never aired on any CNN platform."
CNN's post shared another post (archived) from BBC Verify senior journalist Shayan Sardarizadeh (@Shayan86), who said of the image, "This fake screenshot of a CNN poll, which shows Kamala Harris ahead of Donald Trump by six points in Texas, has been viewed millions of times. CNN has no such poll from Texas and never aired those numbers. The image is doctored and the poll numbers are fake."
Another detail underscoring that the image wasn't legitimate was the words, "Polls Closed 9:00 ET." As CBS News reported, "Polls in Texas close at 7 p.m. on Nov. 5 except in El Paso, when polls close at 7 p.m. MT, or 8 p.m. CT."
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