If presidential elections took place today in Mexico, leftist leader and two-time presidential candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador would win with about 26 percent of the vote, while former first lady Margarita Zavala of the right-wing National Action Party would follow him with 21 percent, a Reforma newspaper poll revealed.
The ruling PRI party would win third place if Miguel Angel Osorio, current minister of the Interior, was the candidate, the daily newspaper added.
President Enrique Peña Nieto, of the PRI, has seen his popularity drop to an all time low due to unpopular reforms, corruption scandals and his government's lack of interest in resolving the grave human rights issues affecting the country, including the massive failure in the investigation into the enforced disappearance of the 43 Ayotzinapa students.
“Once again, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador occupies a notable position in Mexico's electoral stage as a viable and dominant candidate ahead of the next presidential elections in 2018,” Reforma said. “He is not only the candidate with more name recognition, but also, unvariably, the first place holder in all face offs with a lead of two to seven percentage points.”
The survey by Reforma was carried out between April 7 and April 10 to 1,200 Mexican adults. The error margin is less than 3.8 percent and has a confidence level of over 95 percent.
Lopez Obrador ran for presidency twice for his former Democratic Revolution Party, or PRD, before breaking away from that leftist political institution to form his own party called National Regeneration Movement, or MORENA:
Zavala is former President Felipe Calderon of the PAN party.