The report spread claiming that Sheikh Hasina is the most popular leader is from 2023
Recently, a photo of a report published in the newspaper Bangladesh Pratidin in 2023 has been shared on social media with a new claim. Referring to a US survey and citing a European organisation, the headline reads, “Sheikh Hasina is still the most popular leader in Bangladesh.” But verification shows the survey is not from 2025. The original survey is from 2023, which came up in a national poll by the International Republican Institute (IRI), based in Washington, USA. That survey from two years ago about the then-political situation in Bangladesh is now being spread as current.
From a Facebook profile, a photo of a printed page of Bangladesh Pratidin was shared, claiming that, according to a US survey, Sheikh Hasina is still the most popular leader in Bangladesh. The description of the post read, “25 August today’s news 25/8/25. According to a US survey, Sheikh Hasina is still the most popular leader in Bangladesh.” The same photo was shared from other pages and profiles (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7) as well. In the post, some commenters supported it, writing, “This is the real truth,” or “This is reality” . However, at least one commenter pointed out, “This is from 2023, why mislead people?”
Keyword searches to verify the authenticity of the report’s photo found that the same claim was uploaded on Facebook from a personal profile on September 2, 2023. The post stated“News published in Bangladesh Pratidin, the country’s most circulated national daily, on 25/08/2023. Statement of a European organisation on US survey, Sheikh Hasina is still the most popular leader in Bangladesh.” Several other profiles (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7), pages (1, 2, 3), and groups (1, 2, 3) also shared the same photo with the same statement in 2023.
The news photo from Bangladesh Pratidin, which is being spread as if from 2025, shows that the report was published on August 25, 2023, in the daily’s North America edition. The newspaper has been published weekly from New York since 2018. Dismislab found two reports on the issue on its website. One report was published on August 19, 2023, headlined: “Sheikh Hasina is still more popular in Bangladesh: US survey.” The other was published on August 20, 2023, with the headline “Statement of European organisation on US survey: Sheikh Hasina is still the most popular leader in Bangladesh.”
For further verification, Dismislab searched for the US organisation mentioned in the report and found a report of a nationwide survey on Bangladesh’s political situation on the website of the US-based nonprofit organisation International Republican Institute (IRI). On IRI’s website, the report titled ‘National Survey of Bangladesh, March-April 2023’ was published on August 8, 2023. The survey said that 70 percent of the people of the country supported the work of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. The survey’s methodology mentioned that data collection took place from March 1 to April 6, 2023, based on direct interviews with five thousand participants aged 18 or older from 64 districts of the country.
The IRI survey was also mentioned in a commentary report published in Prothom Alo on October 21, 2023. It said that the growing optimism among the people of Bangladesh about the country’s overall progress since 2013 had, in recent years, turned into frustration. The survey conducted by the International Republican Institute (IRI) on five thousand adult citizens of Bangladesh showed the rise of public frustration.
In addition, on the website of the United States Institute of Peace (USIP), an article titled “Bangladesh: Survey Reveals Premier Remains Popular Despite Growing Public Discontent” was published on August 9, 2023. It was written by IRI’s program manager, David Hoogstraten and the organisation’s senior advisor and South Asia specialist, Geoffrey Macdonald. At that time, several media outlets (1, 2, 3, 4) also published reports on the survey.
Therefore, the report and the survey claim to be from 2023, but they are being shared as if they are recent.
Disclaimer: The original version of this fact-check report was published in Bengali on Dismislab’s Bengali website on August 28, 2025. The English translation was completed later; however, to maintain time accuracy and avoid any potential misinterpretation, the English version has been published with the original publication date.
