(Angus Reid Global Monitor) – Enrique Peña Nieto is the early favourite in Mexico’s presidential race, according to a poll by Reforma. 40 per cent of respondents would vote for the current State of Mexico governor in the 2012 ballot.
(Angus Reid Global Monitor) – Enrique Peña Nieto is the early favourite in Mexico’s presidential race, according to a poll by Reforma. 40 per cent of respondents would vote for the current State of Mexico governor in the 2012 ballot.
Former Mexico City mayor Andrés Manuel López Obrador of the Workers Party – Convergence for Democracy coalition (PT-CD) and former interior secretary Santiago Creel of the National Action Party (PAN) are tied for second with 14 per cent, followed by current Mexico City mayor Marcelo Ebrard of the Democratic Revolution Party (PRD) with nine per cent.
None of Mexico’s main political parties have actually settled on a presidential candidate at this stage.
The PAN’s Vicente Fox ended 71 years of uninterrupted rule by the PRI in the 2000 presidential election, winning a six-year term with 42.5 per cent of the vote.
Mexican voters chose their new president in July 2006. Official results placed Felipe Calderón of the PAN as the winner with 36.68 per cent of all cast ballots, followed by López Obrador of the PRD with 36.11 per cent, and Roberto Madrazo of the PRI with 22.71 per cent. Calderón—a former energy secretary—took over as Mexico’s head of state in December.
In July 2009, Mexico held a mid-term legislative election. The opposition PRI received 36.68 per cent of the vote, compared to 27.98 per cent for the PAN. The number of PAN lawmakers in the Chamber of Deputies was decimated from 206 to 146. The PRI now controls 241 seats in the 500-member lower house, plus 17 seats from its ally, the Green Environmentalist Party (PVEM).
On Jun. 11, López Obrador said he would work to avoid a PRI victory in 2012, saying, "We need to combat the great lie that, if the PRI comes back to power, everything will be better in the country."
The next presidential election is scheduled for July 2012.
Polling Data
If the presidential candidates in 2012 were the following, which one would you vote for?
|
May 2010
|
Feb. 2010
|
Dec. 2010
|
|
|
Enrique Peña Nieto (PRI)
|
40%
|
40%
|
41%
|
|
Andrés Manuel López Obrador (PT-CD)
|
14%
|
14%
|
12%
|
|
Santiago Creel (PAN)
|
14%
|
12%
|
14%
|
|
Marcelo Ebrard (PRD)
|
9%
|
9%
|
9%
|
|
None of these
|
9%
|
10%
|
11%
|
|
Not sure
|
14%
|
15%
|
13%
|
Source: Reforma
Methodology: Face-to-face interviews with 1,515 Mexican adults, conducted from May 21 to May 23, 2010. Margin of error is 3.5 per cent.
