TWO VERY differing election polls were published on Sunday, one giving the lead to incumbent President Tassos Papadopoulos and the other to DISY’s Ioannis Kasoulides.
The poll published in Politis had Kasoulides at 30.5 per cent – slightly ahead of Papadopoulos’ 30.3 per cent. It was the first poll so far that put any of the other candidates ahead of the President.
However a poll published in Simerini put Papadopoulos ahead with 32.5 per cent, compared to Kasoulides’ 28.1 per cent.
AKEL candidate Demetris Christofias nabbed 31.9 per cent in the Simerini poll, carried out by Insights Market Research, and 29.1 in the Politis Noverna poll.
Another surprise in both polls was the showing by MEP Marios Matsakis, a latecomer to the race who only announced on Christmas Eve that he would be running for President. He bills himself as the only candidate that “tells it like it is”.
In his first poll, Matsakis, as an independent, pulled a respectable 2.2 per cent in the Politis poll and a similar showing, 1.9 per cent in the Simerini one.
Despite his good head start, Matsakis was nonplussed.
“I’m not interested in polls,” he said. Matsakis said his campaign was going fine despite his not being taken seriously by the media.
“They are not helping any of the independents, especially me,” he said. “I don’t offer business.”
The second independent candidate, Costas Themistocleous came out with 0.5 per cent in the Simerini poll and 0.1 per cent in the Politis results.
Second round predictions in Simerini shows Papadopoulos winning 51 per cent in a race with Kasoulides, who would poll 35.7 in a second round.
Christofias would also beat Kasoulides by more than ten points but the AKEL leader also would come out on top in a run off with Papadopoulos, the poll found. The race would be close but Christofias would win 43.8 per cent to the incumbent’s 41.4 per cent.
Politis’ second-round predictions were similar in the instance of a run off between Christofias and Kasoulides and Kasoulides-Papadopoulos. The DISY candidate would lose by a wide margin in both instances.
However it differs in a Christofias-Papadopoulos race, giving 42.4 to the President and only 38.4 to Christofias.
Interesting figures in the Politis poll show that among men, Kasoulides is by far the favourite candidate, earning 34 per cent of their votes compared to Papadopoulos’ 29 per cent and Christofias 30 per cent.
But when it comes to women, Papadopoulos is tops at 32 per cent, Christofias 29 per cent and Kasoulides 27 per cent.
However the DISY candidate’s popularity among women has grown from its previous 24 per cent.
Also interesting was the refugee vote. Christofias is their most popular candidate at 24 per cent followed by Kasoulides’ 31 per cent. Papadopoulos only takes 27 per cent of the refugee vote, which speaks volumes about his handling of the Cyprus issue among those who are most affected by it.
But when it comes to non-refugees the figures are reversed. Papadopoulos comes out top with 33 per cent, Kasoulides 30 per cent and Christofias last with 27 per cent of the non-refugee vote.
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