RAILA WINS ON ROUND ONE. CONGRATULATIONS

A new poll by research firm Infotrak has placed Azimio la Umoja Presidential candidate Raila Odinga as the most preferred contender in the August race to State House with a popularity rating of 49 percent.

Deputy President and UDA Party candidate William Ruto came in second in the poll with a popularity rating of 42 percent.

Roots Party candidate Prof. George Wajackoyah’s popularity stood at 2 percent followed by Agano Party presidential candidate David Mwaure’s at 0.3 percent.

The survey released on Tuesday evening was conducted between August 1 and 2, across nine geographic regions namely: Coast, Northern, Lower Eastern, Mt. Kenya, South Rift, North Rift, Nyanza, Western and Nairobi.

Odinga ranked higher in six regions; Coast region, Northern, Lower Eastern, Nyanza, Western and Nairobi while Ruto was ahead in Mt. Kenya, South Rift and North Rift.

A total of 6,000 Kenyans are reported to have participated in the survey which was conducted through Computer Assisted Telephone Interviews (CATI).

“To ensure the survey findings were representative of Kenyan voters, who are 18+ years, the sample was designed proportionate to size using the voter’s register and covered all the 9 sub-regions. All the 47 counties and all 290 constituencies of Kenya,” the IPSOS report reads in part.

“Data was processed and analysed using SPSS 26 statistical software due to its high accuracy and reliability.”

Odinga and his running mate Martha Karua’s popularity was distributed across the regions as follows: Coast (58pc), Northern (55pc), Lower Eastern (71pc), Mt. Kenya (24pc), South Rift (31pc), Northern Rift (30pc), Nyanza (79pc) Western (61pc) and Nairobi (53pc).

According to Infotrak, DP Ruto and his running mate Rigathi Gachagua’s popularity stood at 29pc (Coast), 35pc (Northern), 19pc (Lower Eastern), 66pc (Mt.Kenya), 62pc (South Rift), 64pc (North Rift), 14pc (Nyanza), 29pc (Western) and 37pc (Nairobi).