The Labour Party Presidential candidate, Peter Obi has been declared the favourite to win the 2023 presidential race in a poll conducted by Ngozi Okonjo Iweala Polls and commissioned by the Atedo N. A. Peterside Foundation.
According to the poll, the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress, Bola Tinubu and the Peoples Democratic Party flagbearer, Atiku Abubakar came behind Obi in the poll that was conducted this month.
A statement by ANAP foundation announcing the result of the poll said “the results showed a significant lead for Mr Peter Obi with 21% of voters proposing to vote for him if the presidential election were to be conducted today; and 13% each proposing to vote for Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu and Alhaji Atiku Abubakar who are both tied in second place. Dr Rabiu Kwankwaso was a distant fourth with 3% of voters proposing to vote for him.”
The statement added that Obi’s 8 percentage point lead at this early stage is significant, but not sufficient to separate him completely from a leading pack of candidates scoring 21%, 13% and 13% respectively.
It says that undecided voters and those who prefer not to reveal their preferred candidate add up to a whopping 32% and 15% respectively, adding that the gender split of undecided voters shows that 39% of women are undecided versus 27% of male voters.
The percentage of registered voters according to ANAP foundation is as follows in each of the zones – 99% in the North East, 90% in the South South, the North Central and the North West respectively. The lowest registered voter percentages were in the South East with 88% and the South West with 85%.
“When asked if respondents were aware of the various candidates vying for the Presidency, data gathered showed that 99% of the respondents were aware of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu of the APC. 98% were aware of Alhaji Atiku Abubakar of the PDP. 95% were aware of Mr. Peter Obi of LP and 74% were aware of Dr. Rabiu Kwankwaso of the NNPP. All other candidates scored below 55% in terms of name recognition.
“Furthermore, the data summarizes top five reasons why voters are more inclined to vote in the forthcoming elections, these include: – The need to tackle insecurity (45%), the Economy (20%), Education (9%), Unemployment (7%) and Poverty alleviation (4%).
“46% of the respondents would love to see their preferred Presidential candidates participate in a televised interview and/or debate, with the interview/debates spanning across topics like their party manifestos, issues of Security, Economy, Education, Job Creation, Healthcare and Agriculture amongst others.”