2023: Atiku-Okowa wins straw poll

As the 2023 general election approaches a straw poll has put Atiku Abubakar, the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, ahead of other candidates.

The straw poll which was conducted by Guardians of Leadership and Democracy, GLD, a pro-democracy group with a focus on leadership, good governance, sustainable democracy, innovation, and human capital development, put Atiku in the clear lead over three other top contestants for the presidential contest.

A straw poll, also known as a straw ballot, is usually an ad hoc poll carried out to determine the slant of opinion on an issue or the popularity of an individual or group of persons within a community.

In modern political communication and marketing, it has become an effective quickfire tool to gauge the popularity of issues or the suitability of persons for a position.

The group had in the past conducted straw polls (both online and offline) on several national issues and on the popularity of categories of Nigerians for certain offices including whether Nigeria should adopt the Parliamentary system of government or continue with the extant Presidential system.

Many respondents to the poll conducted (online and offline) across diverse categories of Nigerians, according to GLD, projected Atiku to win the presidential election.

A press statement issued in Lagos yesterday by GLD Executive Secretary, Dr. Robert Ebelo, said the emergence of Atiku as the presidential candidate of the PDP altered earlier projections of the possibility of the next president emerging from the southern part of the country.

The statement emphasized that most of the respondents from the north picked Atiku over other candidates.

In the North-West geopolitical zone, which comprises the seven states of Sokoto, Zamfara, Kano, Kaduna, Katsina, Kebbi, and Jigawa, with a total of 22.67 million registered voters, most of the respondents picked Atiku over others.

Meanwhile, in the South-south, which is traditionally a PDP stronghold and the zone of Atiku’s running mate, Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa, the Atiku-Okowa ticket was in the clear lead; followed by Peter Obi and his Labour Party.

According to the statement, the 2023 Presidential election contrasts with the norm in the past where the race was always reduced to a two-horse race with one horse being the dominant one, making the contest too easy to call.

Some of the criteria considered by respondents, according to the statement, include ethnicity, fitness, ability to create jobs and wealth, and experience, among other human development indices.

Source: Vanguard.