Azimio la Umoja's Martha Karua is the most popular running mate among the nominated deputies of the three leading political hopefuls, a Tifa survey shows.
The poll indicates that more Kenyans (85%) could name Raila Odinga's deputy compared to 59 per cent who could identify Rigathi Gachagua as Deputy President William Ruto's running mate.
The study says the 85 per cent of those who could name Karua are part of the 90 per cent who indicated a willingness to support Raila for the presidency.
The 59 per cent who could identify Gachagua are from 69 per cent of the respondents who said they preferred Ruto as the next president.
Lead researcher Tom Wolf painted two scenarios that could possibly explain why Karua is most popular.
"My own personal opinion is that Karua is most popular because she has been in the political limelight longer having been first elected MP in 1992.
"Secondly, the media spotlight on her has been huge, her unveiling at the KICC looked like a political rally compared to Gachagua's unveiling in Karen," Wolf said.
According to the poll, 38 per cent of respondents said they support Wiper leader Kalonzo Musyoka for the presidency, but they had a very low awareness of his running mate, Andrew Sunkuli.
Only 21 per cent said they are aware that Sunkuli is Kalonzo's running mate.
"Presumably, in the coming weeks (if not days) nearly all Kenyans will come to learn who all these just-announced running-mates are," Wolf said.
"It will then be possible to make a more confident assessment of their impact on voting intentions in August," he added.
A total of 1,719 respondents took part in the survey which was conducted between 15-16 May 2022.
The survey, which had a margin of error of +/- 2.34 per cent, was funded by Tifa Research firm.
The national survey was conducted across nine zones ; Central Rift, Coast, Lower Eastern, Mt Kenya, Nairobi, Northern, Nyanza, South Rift and Western.
The survey indicated that the Azimio team was the most preferred presidential pair with 39 per cent of respondents choosing it compared to 35 per cent who preferred the Kenya Kwanza team.
Wolf, however, pointed out that it remains impossible to predict how close this contest will be.
"It seems that any run-off contest will be very unlikely unless all the other presidential candidates combined can garner at least about 5 per cent of the total valid votes cast," Wolf said.
"Otherwise, Kenyans will know who their next most important leaders for the next five years will be on August 9," he concluded.
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