The evidence overwhelmingly supports the truthfulness of the statement. The primary source is a Reuters article explicitly titled "China's factory activity set to shrink for eighth month: Reuters poll," which directly reports on the poll mentioned in the query. This source, being the original report on the poll's findings, provides direct and conclusive evidence. Furthermore, three other high-authority Reuters articles, while reporting on the subsequent official government data, explicitly corroborate the poll's prediction. They each state that the official data, which confirmed an eighth month of contraction, was in line with the median forecast from the Reuters poll. There are no contradictions among the relevant sources. The consistency and high authority of the evidence, all originating from the same organization that conducted the poll, provide a high degree of confidence in the statement's accuracy.