After months of complaining about the accuracy of opinion polls by leading firms in the country, which showed President Uhuru Kenyatta having a commanding lead against Raila Odinga, the National Super Alliance (NASA) leaders have released their own survey, which has the ODM boss tied with the Jubilee candidate. Many analysts have soundly dismissed the polls as being unreliable, as they were commissioned by NASA — and not a neutral organisation. The poll, conducted by a US pollster, shows that 47.4% of Kenyans would vote for NASA’s Raila Odinga, while 46.7% would cast their votes for President Uhuru Kenyatta. That gap between the two candidates is within the margin of error, meaning that they are in essence tied. This is the only poll, since the 2013 elections, that shows Raila leading against President Kenyatta. Which is understandable, considering NASA officials were behind it. The question that many are asking is: if NASA wanted to create an illusion that they are ahead, why did they not give themselves 100% support of Kenyans? That way, they can excite their base that the ODM leader will carry the day on August 8.When releasing the findings, John Zogby, the US pollster, make a comment that betrayed the intentions of the survey — to scare Mr Kenyatta into being worried about his chances of retaining the seat. “If I were the President, I would be worried, nearly 70% of Kenyans think corruption has been more rampant in the last four years including 46% of his supporters,” Zogby said. Even before the results of the opinion poll were released, ODM director of elections Junet Mohammed, a key Raila ally, wrote an article in the Star newspaper, arguing that the opinion polls had shown Uhuru losing. Does anyone need any more proof to connect the dots?
OPINION
Why did NASA give Raila low score in own poll?
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