President Uhuru Kenyatta would beat Raila Odinga if polls were held today

Majority of Kenyans would vote for President Uhuru Kenyatta if elections were called today.

Most MPs, governors and senators would, however, not be re-elected, according to findings of an opinion poll.

The poll, conducted by Strategic Africa between May 6 and 9 had 1,813 respondents drawn from 31 counties.

It shows 45.4 per cent of the respondents would vote for Uhuru, followed by 37.1 per cent who would choose CORD Principal Raila Odinga as President. A high percentage of those who favour Uhuru for president would want Deputy President William Ruto as his running mate (83 per cent). Those who would pick Raila would want Wiper leader Kalonzo Musyoka to be his running mate (56.5 per cent).

Of those polled, 2.8 per cent would vote for former Gatanga MP Peter Kenneth as president, followed by current DP William Ruto (2.3 per cent), Kalonzo (1.8 per cent), Amani Coalition leader Musalia Mudavadi (1.5 per cent) and Bungoma Senator Moses Wetang'ula (1.3 per cent).

Another 0.7 per cent would vote for former Gichugu MP Martha Karua as president.

Other leaders whom the respondents would consider for presidency are Mombasa Governor Hassan Joho (0.4 per cent), Machakos Governor Alfred Mutua (0.3 per cent) and former Lands Cabinet Secretary Charity Ngilu (0.2 per cent). About five per cent of those polled are, however, undecided on who to pick for the top post.

Respondents that said they would vote for Kenneth would want him to pick Karua as his running mate (30 per cent), while those who picked Ruto for the top job would want Kalonzo to be his running mate (24.4 per cent). Those that would choose Kalonzo for president would want him to pick Raila as his running mate (24.2 per cent) with Ngilu coming in as the second option at 15 per cent.

Majority of Kenyans would however not re-elect their MPs, governors and senators if elections were to be called today.

According to the poll, 56 per cent of respondents would not re-elect their governors, while another 55.1 per cent and 51.7 per cent said their MPs and Senators, respectively, would suffer a similar fate.

Majority of the respondents also favour the Jubilee coalition (48.7 per cent), followed closely by those who favour CORD at 44.3 per cent. Those who feel closest to the Amani Coalition account for 2.9 per cent of the respondents, while another 3.5 per cent of those polled refused to answer this question, while another 0.6 per cent said they were not close to any coalition or political party.

The survey shows that majority of Kenyans (34.7 per cent) trust President Kenyatta to unite the country compared to Raila who scored 18.6 per cent.

According to the poll, Raila beats Uhuru in the handling of corruption at 33.3 per cent against Uhuru's 22.8 per cent. The CORD leader also scores better than Uhuru in the handling of roads and infrastructure at 39.5 per cent against Uhuru's 22.5 per cent.

Ruto is rated highest in the management of agriculture with a score of 38.1 per cent above Uhuru (20.7 per cent) and Raila (14.6 per cent).