A new poll conducted by Trends and Insights Africa (TIFA) shows Deputy President William Ruto is the most popular presidential candidate than the Orange Democratic Movement leader Raila Odinga.
According to the poll, 38 per cent of those polled would vote for Ruto while 27 per cent would vote for Odinga.
In the Central Rift, Ruto has a majority 61 per cent while in Mt. Kenya he is three times more popular at 49 per cent than Odinga who has 16 per cent.
In Nyanza and Nairobi, Odinga’s popularity is nearly twice than that of Ruto with 48 per cent while Ruto is at 23 per cent and 38 per cent vs. 21 per cent respectively.
The most competitive possible elections look to be in Coast and Western, with Ruto leading by 4 per cent in the former and Odinga leading by 3 per cent in the latter.
The exercise also indicated that Wiper party leader Kalonzo Musyoka has a popularity rating of 2 per cent while Musalia Mudavadi has a popularity rating of 1 per cent.
Meanwhile, in the August 9 surveys, 41 per cent of respondents chose former Gatanga MP Peter Kenneth to be Raila’s running mate.
For the third time since 2013, 18 per cent of respondents want Kalonzo to drop out of the presidential race in favour of Odinga and serve as his running mate.
Martha Karua, the leader of the Narc-Kenya Party, has received the most votes as Odinga’s preferred female running mate garnering 13 per cent of the vote against Kitui Governor Charity Ngilu’s 5 per cent.
“Karua is considered the most electorally beneficial female deputy running-mate for Odinga. Notably, there are more males than female’s respondents with a preference for Karua,” the report states.
Only 4 per cent of respondents believe Peter Munya, the Agriculture Cabinet Secretary, should deputize Raila in the next election.
The Amani National Congress (ANC) leader has emerged as the best candidate to be Ruto’s preferred running mate.
This comes after he received a 27 per cent response rate from respondents in a recent Trends and Insights Africa survey (TIFA).
Meanwhile, Kirinyaga Governor Anne Waiguru was voted as the second-best candidate to deputize the UDA leader by 15 percent of those who took part in the poll.
Rigathi Gachagua, the Mathira MP, received 11 per cent of the vote.
8 per cent of respondents urge Kalonzo, the One Kenya Alliance co-principal to put his ambitions on hold and support Ruto’s bid to succeed President Uhuru Kenyatta.
Senator Irungu Kang’ata of Muranga, who is pursuing the county governor seat was also thrown into the mix with 5 per cent of those polled preferring him to be on the Ruto ticket.
