Mixed fortunes for President Uhuru Kenyatta, CORD leader Raila Odinga in new poll

Uhuru enjoys 75pc approval rating, new survey shows

President Uhuru Kenyatta's approval ratings have risen to 75 per cent over the last three months, according to the latest Ipsos Synovate poll.

An overwhelming majority of Jubilee supporters (90 per cent) approve of the President's performance with 56 per cent of Coalition for Reforms and Democracy (CORD) supporters also endorsing his leadership in the last three months.

The findings conducted between July and August further suggest that President Kenyatta's improved ratings could be partly attributed to his style and image as a "humble president ready to interact with people from all walks of life".

"These figures suggest, at least among some Kenyans, that his style/image wins him considerable credit, even when they are uncomfortable with certain aspects of his government's policy-agenda or concrete performance," Synovate Researcher Tom Wolf said while releasing the results yesterday in Nairobi.

Asked about reasons for their approval, 23 per cent cited infrastructure, war on corruption (18 per cent) and the economy (16 per cent).

The current ratings are a slight improvement from 73 per cent the President polled in April but a slight drop from 78 per cent in November 2014.

And the President scored even higher performance approval (93 per cent) among Kenyans who feel the country is heading in the right direction but much lower (58 per cent) for the group that felt it was headed to the wrong direction.

The survey, which polled 2,002 respondents across 41 counties, saw both CORD and Jubilee supporters citing economic performance and corruption as justification for their views.

On the country's direction, 47 per cents of individuals said Kenya is moving in the right direction while 37 per cent said the country is headed in the wrong direction.

The findings, however, show a sharp contrast of opinion from the supporters of the two coalitions.

"But in terms of political alignment, supporters of the two coalitions are reverse-images of each other, 66 per cent of Jubilee's feeling it is 'right' versus 59 per cent of CORD's convinced it is 'wrong', raising the question as to how much, and of what, would the Jubilee government have to do to convince a majority of the Opposition's supporters that even if their leaders are out of power, the country's direction is positive," said Mr Wolf.

The research still places corruption as one of the major problems facing the country.

In a single response question, 23 per cent of respondents said high cost of living was a major challenge, while 21 per cent and 17 per cent mentioned corruption and unemployment as some of the main problems facing the country.

Despite the President's constant emphasis on his Government anti-graft efforts, only 27 per cent of CORD supporters believe he is sincere. "Only about half of Kenyans (52 per cent) believe he is sincere about this, with a clear split between his coalition's supporters and those of the opposition at 70 per cent against 27 per cent," Wolf added. It is also of interest that 18 per cent of Jubilee supporters doubt Uhuru's sincerity.