Medina on top by far, former president teeters, poll

Santo Domingo.- President Danilo Medina is still the political figure with the most popular image by far, just 14 months to the 2016 presidential elections, according to a Greenberg Quinlan Rosner survey published by diariolibre.com.do.

A solid majority approves the President’s job performance, and 71 percent says they’d vote to re-elect him.

But if Medina doesn’t figure on the presidential ballot, the 2016 presidential race isn’t as secure for the Dominican Republic’s ruling party (PLD) and former president Leonel Fernández, the poll says.

The data show that Fernandez’s image suffered a stunning blow from drug trafficking convict Quirino Paulino’s claims of money owed him by the former president.

His popularity has fallen especially within PLD, and even though Fernandez would win by a majority of the votes in a first balloting in an electoral setting, is narrowly behind former president Hipolito Mejia and opposition PRM party candidacy contender Luis Abinader in a second round showdown.

The Greenberg Quinlan Rosner survey made from March 3 to 8 interviewed 1,007 Dominican adults nationwide, with a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1%