Image purporting to show CNN graphic of Texas election results is fake – Full Fact

On By Littum

A fake image that appears to show CNN broadcasting US election results from the state of Texas ahead of Election Day has been circulating on social media.

But the broadcaster has confirmed that the graphic, which appears to be a “key race alert”, showing Kamala Harris six points ahead of Donald Trump from 2.1 million votes is not real.

Multiple social media accounts at X (formerly Twitter) and Facebook has been sharing the image since the early hours of November 3 (UK time), with captions saying: “Planning to steal Texas and it’s 40 electoral votes? (sic).” It has also been shared Instagram and Thread.

The image also includes a progress bar in the right corner, indicating that a percentage of the votes have already been counted, and states that “Polls closed 9:00 ET” in the left corner.

Although early voting opened in Texas from October 21 to November 1, the photo has been circulating days before polls on election day close at 7:00 p.m CST (which would be 8 p.m. ET, not 9 p.m.) in the state on Nov. 5, and no results – including these early votes – have yet been announced.

And the math in the picture doesn’t add up either. Although the graphic claims Ms. Harris is 121,408 votes ahead of Mr. Trump, the difference between the votes attributed to them is actually 131,408.

Emily Kuhn, CNN’s senior vice president of communications, told Full Fact via email: “This image is completely fabricated and manipulated and was never broadcast on any CNN platform.”

The the result of the US presidential election will not be confirmed until the last of the polling stations close at 01:00 EST (6:00 GMT) on November 6. Polling stations in Texas are open on Election Day from 7am to 7pm CSTand from 7:00 a.m. mountain time in El Paso. Early voting results for Texas is often released just after the polls close at

Full Fact has debunked a number of misleading social media posts throughout the election campaign, including fake CNN headlines, edited images and likely AI-generated images.

We’ve written a number of guides to help, including how to spot misleading images and videos. We’ve also created a toolkit to help identify misinformation and written about how to view AI-generated images and videos.