Poll: Raila, Uhuru to face off in presidential run off

Poll: Raila, Uhuru to face off in presidential run off Written By:KBC reporters,    Posted: Sun, Jul 29, 2012

Infotrak Executive Director Angela Mbitho (file) Kenyans should ready themselves for a run off come the next general election, for neither of the Presidential aspirants will garner the required 50+1 vote. The latest opinion poll released by Infotrack Harris on Sunday shows that if elections were to be held last month, Prime Minister Raila Odinga and his Deputy Uhuru Kenyatta would tie at 50%. However should any of them pull out of the race, the remaining candidate is destined to become Kenya's fourth President. The survey conducted between 7th and 15th of last month indicated that no single candidate would win on the first round. The study shows if the elections were to be a two horse race between Raila and Uhuru, they will tie at 50%,  Raila will  garner 57% against Kalonzo's 43, Raila will win by 55 against Mudavadi, and 60% against 40% in the event of Ruto. Uhuru will do the same against the other candidates garnering 59% against Kalonzo's 41%, 60% against Ruto's 40%, and 61% against Karua's 31.  Infotrak Executive Director, Angela Mbitho said  Uhuru's popularity had grown by at least  7% and attributed the trend to Uhuru's launch of his party, The National Alliance (TNA). "Now Kenyans are sure of the political vehicle that Uhuru is using in his presidential bid, thus the rise in his popularity because the launch of TNA was seemingly convincing," she noted The survey further indicates that most respondents preferred Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) at 41.9 percent, followed by TNA at 12.2 percent, Party of National Unity (PNU) was at 11.3 percent and United Republican Party (URP) at 8.1 percent. Others include Wiper, UDF, KANU, NARC-K, UDM, FORD-K and NARC at 7.8, 5.6, 3.3, 1.8, 1.2, 0.8, 0.8 all in percentage, respectively. Regarding the popularity of Political Parties by region, ODM was most preferred in five of the eight provinces including Nyanza which was at 84.4 percent, Coast 59.7 percent, North Eastern 57.9 percent, Western 49.3 percent and Nairobi 47.9 percent. TNA was preferred in Central at 36.3 percent, respondents in Eastern preferred PNU at 18.4 percent while Rift Valley preferred URP at 30.3 percent. The survey also interviewed the respondents on their preferred running mates for their preferred presidential candidate and it emerged that Raila supporters preferred Mudavadi to be his running mate. Uhuru was however the most favorable running mate with respondents indicating that he should pair with Kalonzo, Ruto, Mudavadi or Karua. Peter Kenneth supporters preferred his running mate to be Karua. The survey also revealed poor economy as the most pressing issue facing Kenyans at 52 percent. Others issues include youth unemployment and drug abuse at 14 percent and 4 percent, respectively, Insecurity at 13 percent, poor governance at 15 percent and others including implementation of the constitution, tribalism, at 12 percent.