Two new polls are indicating that Argentina's presidential election could go either way, with President Mauricio Macri and Senator Miguel Ángel Pichetto all but tied with Alberto Fernández and Cristina Fernández de Kirchner in a potential November run-off vote.
With most surveys tipping neither ticket to win the race outright in the first round, Macri and Fernández are expected to go head-to-head in the second round.
Polling firm Management & Fit’s survey gave Macri a 2.1-percent edge over his opponents in a head-to-head run-off, a rate that falls well within the margin of error.
The survey indicated that in the second round the Macri-Pichetto ticket would obtain 45 percent of the vote with the Fernández-Fernández ticket taking 42.9 percent.
However, 6.2 percent of those surveyed said they would leave the ballot blank as it currently stands, with another 5.8 percent undecided.
Meanwhile, pollster Isonomía’s latest survey places Macri and Fernández tied at 45 percent, with eight percent saying they would not vote for a specific candidate.
With respect to the first round of elections, the same poll put Fernández three points ahead of Macri at 37 percent, below the tally needed to win outright, while the Management & Fit poll shows parity between the candidates.
Fernández leads in the latter poll with 39.9 percent of the vote, while Macri polled at 38.2 percent. Roberto Lavagna, candidate for Consenso Federal, polled far lower, with just 6.9 percent of the vote.
The same poll also separated the politicians from their political parties and obtained a different result: Juntos por el Cambio (formerly Cambiemos) polled at 38.6 percent, barely 0.1 percent above Frente de Todos.
The study also held a poll of candidates for the province of Buenos Aires. Current governor, María Eugenia Vidal, held an advantage of 41.9 percent against Axel Kicillof, the former economic minister, who polled at 38 percent.
– TIMES/PERFIL
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