Two of today?s newspapers, the government-intervened Listin Diario and the Hoy, are publishing voter preference polls, with striking differences between them. The Listin Diario cites a poll by the CEDEMERS group which shows Leonel Fernandez with 42% of the intended votes and Hipolito Mejia with 37% of the voter preference. The PRSC?s Eduardo Estrella carried 16.6% of voter preference. These results, in an official election, would force a second round of voting ? and offer a marked contrast to all of the other polls taken so far. The Hamilton, Beattie & Staff-Hoy poll shows a major difference, with Leonel Fernandez earning 54% of voter preference and Mejia obtaining just 27%. Estrella carried 14% of the potential voters. In contrast to the March poll by the Hamilton, Beattie & Staff-Hoy group, which was taken just after the candidates named their Vice-Presidential running mates, Fernandez and Mejia each climbed two points, while Eduardo Estrella lost three points in voter preference and there was a 1% drop in the ?undecided? category. According to the latest Hamilton, Beattie & Staff-Hoy survey, at least 54% of the voters think a second round of voting will be needed to decide the election. Of the 54%, about half think it is ?very probable? that there will be a second round and the other half think such a scenario is ?somewhat probable.? The April 14-18 poll taken by the Diario Libre-Gallup group showed Fernandez with 54.8%, Mejia with 27.1% and Estrella with 14.4%. There were only 2.7% ?undecided? in the DL-Gallup poll.
14-18 April: A Diario Libre-Gallup poll showed 54.8% in favor of Leonel Fernandez, the PLD candidate. President Hipolito Mejia followed with 27.1% of the hypothetical vote, and the PRSC?s Eduardo Estrella would have received 14.4%. Voters who say they are undecided accounted for 2.7%.
23-31 March: CID, the Central American polling organization affiliated with Gallup, released findings whereby Fernandez would receive 50% of the vote, Mejia would receive 23% and Estrella would receive 19%.
20-23 March: A Hamilton Beattie & Staff-Hoy March poll showed PLD candidate Leonel Fernandez winning in a first round, albeit with a much lesser lead than predicted by Penn Schoen and Gallup polls carried out in January and February, respectively. The Hamilton poll showed Fernandez winning with 52%, followed by Hipolito Mejia (PRD) with 25% and Eduardo Estrella (PRSC) with 17%. The Hamilton poll was conducted after Fernandez and Mejia had chosen their VP candidates.
17-24 March: The Penn, Schoen & Berland polling company, carried out from 17-24 March, showed that 63% of those questioned would support former President Leonel Fernandez, followed by 19% for President Hipolito Mejia (PRD) and 16% for Eduardo Estrella (PRSC).