While facing increased competition, Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos remains the favorite candidate for May’s presidential elections, according to a Gallup poll released on Wednesday.
Santos is followed by Oscar Ivan Zuluaga, the candidate of former President Alvaro Uribe’s Democratic Center party. The businessman’s percentage of intentional votes increased from 10.8% to 15.6%.
Third on the list is the Green Alliance’s candidate, Enrique Peñalosa, whose percentage also increased since February’s polling from 8.6% to 11.3%.
The Conservator Party’s candidate, Marta Lucia Ramirez, is in fourth place with 9.3%, followed by leftist candidate Clara Lopez of the Democratic Pole with 8.6 %.
FACT SHEET: Election candidate profiles
Gallup polls since November
| When questioned about the main problems that the future president should focus on, 30.6% of those polled answered unemployment while 18.9% wanted better health care. |
Support for voting blank has dropped significantly following the congressional elections held earlier this month. February’s results had shown 28.1 % support for the blank vote, while the most recent results show 19.6% support.
Apart from these numbers, the survey also revealed that the majority of Colombians (58.1%) are pessimistic about the future of their country. This was 67% in November.
Little more than 30% of the polled Colombians said the main problem the future president should focus upon is unemployment. Another 18.9% said the priority should be the health sector.
Other priority issues for Colombians are corruption (10.2%), education (7.9%), crime (7%) and ongoing peace talks with rebel group FARC (6.6%).
Gallup is one of five pollsters measuring the public opinion ahead of the first round of the election on May 25.
FACT SHEET: Election Polls
Sources
- Santos y Zuluaga pasarían a segunda vuelta: encuesta (El Tiempo)
- Santos sigue adelante, pero se estrechan las distancias (El Pais)
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