El Universal Poll Shows Mexican Leftist Lopez Obrador Leading Ahead of 2018 Election Gabriel Stargardter - Thomson Reuters
go to original September 18, 2017

Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador (MORENA)

Mexican leftist Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, who leads the National Regeneration Movement (MORENA) party, is the front-runner ahead of next year's presidential election, according to a newspaper poll published on Monday.

The El Universal survey found that 23.3 percent of respondents would vote for MORENA in the 2018 vote, ahead of the conservative National Action Party, which had 20 percent support.

President Enrique Pena Nieto's ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) was in third place, with 16.5 percent, the poll found.

A victory for the combative and nationalist-leaning Lopez Obrador could stoke tensions with the Trump administration just as the United States, Mexico and Canada seek to seal a renegotiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement.

The silver-haired Lopez Obrador, 63, is one of the best-known politicians in Mexico, having spent years relentlessly attacking other parties for corruption. But he is also a divisive figure, feared by the country's business elite.

A former mayor of Mexico City, Lopez Obrador finished runner-up in the last two presidential contests.

In various scenarios polled by El Universal, in which AMLO faced different candidates from the other parties, the leftist came out ahead, garnering between 28.6 and 31 percent support. Political analysts say that may be enough to win the July 2018 contest with the electorate increasingly divided.

Only the PAN's Margarita Zavala, who is the wife of former President Felipe Calderon, came close, with 26.1-26.6 percent of respondents giving her their support.

Read the rest at Thomson Reuters

Related: Mexican Far Left Candidate AMLO’s Tax Plan Is Unrealistic: Citigroup (PanAm Post)

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