NAIROBI — Three opinion polls have predicted a dead-heat in the race for State House between CORD’s presidential candidate Raila Odinga and Uhuru Kenyatta of Jubilee Alliance.Released on Monday, two weeks to the March 4 election of the country’s Fourth President, the surveys by the pollsters, Ipsos Synovate, Infotrak and Strategic Research, either showed the race all tied up or gave a slight lead for Raila.But the findings of the surveys indicated the presidential contest will most certainly be settled in a run-off election, which the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) has scheduled for April 10. The Ipsos Synovate poll, which questioned 2,500 respondents on February 13 through to February 15, showed Uhuru and Raila tied at 43 per cent.The margin of error was plus or minus 1.96 percentage points. The Infotrak Research poll, which questioned 2,572 respondents between February 15 and 17, indicated Raila had the support of 46 per cent of those polled while 44 per cent backed Uhuru. It had a margin of error of plus or minus 2 percentage points.Strategic Research, which interviewed 2,500 respondents between February 14 and 17, indicated 44 per cent of the respondents would vote for Raila while Uhuru would secure 43 per cent of the vote with a margin of error of plus or minus 2.14 percentage points. And the Ipsos Synovate poll also predicted Raila and Uhuru would go neck-and-neck if the presidential vote is pushed to a second round. Asked who their preferred candidate was in case of a runoff, 22 per cent chose Raila against 21 per cent for Uhuru. Eagle Alliance presidential candidate Peter Kenneth was preferred by 14 per cent of voters in case of a runoff.The three polls indicated the candidate ranked third, Amani Coalition’s Musalia Mudavadi, trails the frontrunners by a wide margin. Ipsos Synovate showed Mudavadi would secure five per cent of the vote while Strategic Research and Infotrak gave Mudavadi six per cent. The three national polls commissioned by Citizen Television showed Raila’s CORD coalition and Uhuru’s Jubilee alliance command equal support.Agencies
