With lower than three weeks till South Korea’s presidential election, a graphic was shared in social media posts that falsely claimed it confirmed the newest polling information printed on Could 13. The graphic, which suggests Folks Energy Occasion candidate Kim Moon-soo is main the Democratic Occasion’s Lee Jae-myung, actually makes use of figures collected in January and February. Official polling information printed by the Nationwide Election Fee reveals the graphic was altered to take away the dates the surveys have been carried out.
“Present figures 2025 5 13,” reads a part of the Korean-language caption of a graphic shared on Fb on Could 14.
The graphic, titled “opinion polling”, reveals the outcomes of three surveys carried out by pollsters JoWon C&I, WinGKorea Consulting and KOPRA.
All three surveys present Folks Energy Occasion candidate Kim Mun-soo main the opposition Democratic Occasion candidate Lee Jae-myung.
Screenshot of the false Fb publish, captured on Could 14, 2025
The graphic surfaced forward of South Korea’s snap presidential election on June 3, triggered by former chief Yoon Suk Yeol’s removing from workplace over his short-lived martial legislation declaration final December.
Most pre-election polling information printed by native media indicated Lee was main Kim by large margins of 10 factors and above (archived hyperlink).
Among the many survey outcomes launched on Could 14, a Gallup Korea ballot carried out Could 12 to 13 confirmed Lee at 51 % and Kim at 31 %, whereas a Hangil Analysis survey from Could 11 to 12 confirmed Lee at 50 % and Kim at 38 % (archived right here and right here).
The graphic exhibiting Kim main Lee, nonetheless, was broadly shared amongst conservative social media customers.
“That is proof that many of the polls launched by the media are faux and mislead us,” learn a touch upon one of many posts.
One other mentioned: “The opposite polls have been tampered with to get us to surrender voting.”
The circulating graphic, nonetheless, makes use of information from the start of 2025.
Outdated ballot numbers
A key phrase search discovered the graphic used within the false posts was altered from one printed in an AsiaToday report on Could 11 that mentioned the surveys have been carried out from late January to late February (archived hyperlink).
The report singled out these surveys as being “previous examples” that mirrored the “risk that Lee will be crushed if the conservative camp unites”.
The dates of the surveys have been cropped out of the falsely shared graphic.
Screenshot comparability of the falsely shared graphic (left) and the AsiaToday graphic printed on Could 11 (proper), with the cropped out dates highlighted by AFP
South Korean election legislation mandates all pre-election opinion polling that’s publicly launched have to be registered on the web site of the Nationwide Election Survey Deliberation Fee (archived hyperlink).
The graphic printed by AsiaToday accurately lists the dates of the JoWon C&I ballot as January 18 to 19, WinGKorea Consulting as February 12 and the KOPRA ballot as February 21 to 22, which matches information on the fee’s web site (archived right here, right here and right here).
AFP couldn’t discover any ballot outcomes launched on Could 13 that matched the numbers used within the falsely shared graphic.
AFP beforehand debunked an analogous false declare misrepresenting previous survey outcomes as former President Yoon Suk Yeol’s approval numbers following his impeachment.
