Raila Odinga’s popularity in Mt Kenya is soaring amid intense campaigns which have seen the former Prime Minister crisscross Central Kenya several times in less than a month.
All opinion polls carried out so far indicate that William Ruto is still the most preferred presidential candidate in Mt Kenya though his popularity is quickly dropping.
Ruto had an approval rating of 85% in Mt Kenya in January 2021 but by October his support had dropped to less than 60% – just as Raila started campaigning in the region.
A survey conducted by Radio Africa between October 8th to 10th indicated that Ruto had 57.2% support in Mt Kenya while Raila had 11.0%.
Other aspirants had; Alfred Mutua 3.8%, Musalia Mudavadi 2.6%, Gideon Moi 1.2%, Fred Matiang’i 0.9%, Kivutha Kibwana 0.5 and Kalonzo Musyoka 0.3%.
A new survey conducted by Mizani Africa research firm between 1st October to 13th showed that Ruto enjoys 58.2% in Mt Kenya followed by Raila at 27.1%.
Amani National Congress (ANC) leader Musalia Mudavadi is third with 5.2%, Machakos Governor Alfred Mutua is listed at 3.1% followed by Wiper party leader Kalonzo Musyoka who has 2.5%.
The opinion poll was carried out in 11 counties by Mizani Africa. The survey was conducted through questionnaires distributed to 5,000 individuals in Mt Kenya region.
“Considering some of these aspirants such as Raila and Mudavadi have just started, there might be much more that we can expect. This is a scenario that we can look forward to next year,” said Haron Kiriba, Chief Executive Officer of Mizani Africa when he presented the research findings on Monday October 18th.
Raila’s camp is pleased by the survey even though the ODM leader is trailing Ruto in Mt Kenya. The ODM leader doesn’t need full support from the region to be president.
Raila had been getting about 3% of the total votes in Mt Kenya region in the past elections, political strategists say the ODM leader needs about 15% support from the region if he is to win the presidency.
Raila’s allies from the region vowed to ensure he gets at least 30% support from Mt. Kenya, hoping that he keeps a firm grip of his Western, Nyanza, Coast and Nairobi bases.
Related: Ruto Still Favorite Candidate In Mt.Kenya But His Support Drops By 24% As Raila Makes Inroads
