Raila Beats Ruto in the Latest Mizani Africa Opinion Poll

A new opinion poll by Mizani Africa has placed Raila Odinga as the most popular presidential candidate ahead of the August 9th elections.

Odinga, who is the Azimio La Umoja-One Kenya coalition party presidential candidate, has an approval rating of 47.5 percent followed by Deputy President William Ruto of the United Democratic Alliance (UDA) party with 46.6 percent.

The survey shows that Odinga’s rating has been on an upward trajectory since February 2022 when his popularity stood at 45.1 percent while that of Ruto has been on the decline from a 49.2 percent approval rating in February.

A total of 4,245 respondents from across all the 47 counties were interviewed during the study conducted between May 24th and June 4th this year.

Odinga, 77, leads in six regions namely: Nyanza (77.8 percent), Nairobi (53.6 percent), North Eastern (51.1 percent), Lower Eastern (68.1 percent), Coast (56.2 percent) and Western (61.4 percent).

On the other hand, Ruto enjoys more support in the Mt. Kenya region (67.2 percent) and Rift Valley with a rating of 64.6 percent.

Ruto-led Kenya Kwanza Alliance was found to be the most popular political outfit with a rating of 48.5 percent ahead of Azimio La Umoja-One Kenya with a rating of 47.8 percent.

The survey comes barely days after Infotrak Research released a survey showing that Odinga would garner 9.3 million votes, representing 42 percent of the total votes cast, ahead of Ruto’s 8.4 million votes (38 percent).

Odinga, who is giving his fifth try at the presidency, led in 20 counties while Ruto was more popular in 16, according to the survey. 

Infotrak said 11 battleground counties in Coast, Rift Valley, Northern and Western Kenya will decide who will be Kenya's fifth president. They include Tana River, Kwale, Lamu, Turkana, Narok, Kajiado, Samburu, Nakuru, West Pokot, Bungoma, and Trans Nzoia.