DP William Ruto, President Uhuru Kenyatta and presidential campaign secretariat chairman Raphael Tuju wave smart membership cards launched at Kasarani stadium during their meeting on January 13, 2017. /PSCU
Jubilee still Kenyans’ favourite with 40% support, NASA catching up – Infotrak
The Jubilee coalition is the favourite among Kenyans (40 per cent) and is followed by the newly formed National Super Alliance at 32 per cent, a survey has found.
Twenty eight per cent of those who took part in the research by Infotrak Research & Consulting said they were undecided.
In terms of parties, President Uhuru Kenyatta and DP William Ruto’s Jubilee also led at 34 per cent while Raila Odinga’s ODM was ranked a distant second.
Kalonzo Musyoka’s Wiper followed at 3.4 per cent and then came Moses Wetang’ula’s (one per cent), Isaac Rutto’s Chama cha Mashinani (0.8), ANC (0.5), Maendeleo Chap Chap ((0.4) and Kanu (0.3 per cent).
The poll conducted from February 2 to 24 involved 1,500 participants from counties from Nairobi, Coast, Nyanza, Western, North Eastern, Central, Eastern, Eastern and Rift Valley.
A survey last July found that Uhuru’s popularity compared to Raila’s had increased considerably ahead of the August 8 poll.
The poll, by research firm Ipsos, indicates Uhuru has recovered from the fall in popularity he had suffered as of Ipsos’ survey in November 2015.
At that time, his government was suffering a number of serious problems, including blame for the teachers’ strike that saw schools completely shut down, and the revelation of several high-profile corruption scandals.
Among key issues Kenyans’ currently want the President to address are corruption, insecurity following attacks by bandits in Laikipia and Baringo, the drought and the doctors’ strike that will soon reach the 100-day mark.
Read: Uhuru widens gap over Raila, Ipsos poll shows
More on this: Twice as many Cord supporters as Jubilee’s go to bed hungry – Ipsos
Sixty five per cent of the respondents welcomed the formation of Nasa while 25 per cent said they were opposed to it.
Mudavadi, Raila, Kalonzo and Wetang’ula joined forces to form an alliance strong enough to get Uhuru out of power and ‘Okoa Kenya’. But they are yet to pick a flag bearer and have all declared that they want to be flag bearer.
Nasa supporters said Raila Odinga was the preferred flag bearer (68.3 per cent). Kalonzo was second at 13.1 per cent, Mudavadi (12.3 per cent) and then came Wetangula (Bungoma Senator) at 2.2 per cent. Some 4.1 per cent supporters said none of the four chiefs was fit to fly the coalition’s flag.
Jubilee supporters said Mudavadi stood the best chance of defeating Uhuru (27.3 per cent). Raila followed at 26.5 per cent, Kalonzo 24.6 per cent and Wetang’ula at 3.9 per cent.
Respondents not affiliated to either one of the coalitions said Raila would make the best candidate (32.2 per cent), Mudavadi (24.3 per cent), Kalonzo (15 per cent) and Wetang’ula (2.5 per cent).
NASA announed a 12-member steering committee that will select the presidential candidate and his running mate.
Read: All NASA chiefs are better than Uhuru, Wetang’ula says on flag bearer
Also see: Uhuru confessed his incompetence to me in 2013, says Mudavadi
A February survey by Ipsos found that fronting a single candidate is the most formidable opposition strategy to topple the President.
The Ipsos survey — containing several questions commissioned by the Star — revealed that a full 61 per cent of respondents are convinced that fronting one candidate, not several, would be the most potent strategy to prevent Jubilee from winning the presidential election in the first round.
In fact, the survey showed that 77 per cent of of those who identify with the opposition (either by political party or Cord/NASA) were strongly persuaded a joint candidate was the way to go.
Even a majority of Jubilee supporters at 53 per cent saw that fronting a single joint candidate as constituting the biggest threat to Jubilee’s continuing grip on power.
Participants in the Infotrak survey were aged between 26 and 59 and were drawn from rural and urban areas. The poll was conducted to represent registered voters as per IEBC’s 2017 provisional register of about 19.7 million voters. The margin error was +/-2.53 while the degree of confidence was 95 per cent.
Source: The Star
