Hoy newspaper/Hamilton Beattie & Staff poll confirmed the findings of the recent Rumbo magazine/Gallup poll that Danilo Medina, of the PLD is the least attractive of candidates. Despite being the ruling party candidate, Medina’s candidacy hasn’t caught on. Despite 50% of the population considering the present PLD administration a good or excellent government, the PLD presidential candidate is only showing 25% of the preference of the voters, versus 24% of 94-year old former statesman Joaquín Balaguer, and 43% of leading candidate, Hipólito Mejía of the PRD. Medina was Secretary of the Presidency during the first three years of the Fernández administration. As such, he maneuvered to win the vote of the majority of the 3,000 PLD delegates that were in charge of choosing the party’s next presidential candidate. His tactics paid off, and he was elected the party’s candidate, defeating the more charismatic Vice President Jaime David Fernández whom nationwide polls indicated was a more sellable candidate. The most recent Hamilton poll (1-5 March) shows Balaguer increasing his popularity 4 points, from the earlier end of January poll, while Medina lost two points, and Mejía lost one point. Balaguer was the last of the three candidates to announce he would run in the presidential election. He did so in January. The poll continues to show that Hipólito Mejía of the Partido Revolucionario Dominicano is the man to beat. But it also shows that he doesn’t have enough support to win in a first round. Only 4% of voters polled say they are undecided, and 4% say they will vote for none of the candidates.
