The majority of Kenyans identify themselves with political parties affiliated to the Jubilee coalition, an Ipsos opinion poll released yesterday, shows.

According to the poll, 43 per cent of Kenyans are close to Jubilee affiliated political parties, while 32 per cent are close to the Coalition for Reforms and Democracy (CORD) affiliated political parties.

Three per cent of Kenyans felt close to other coalitions outside Jubilee and CORD, while 20 per cent of those polled were either undecided or not close to any political party or coalition.

Speaking to The Standard on Sunday Dr Tom Wolf, a social-political consultant with Ipsos, said they had two questions in one on the popularity of political parties, arguing that political party ideology remains shallow in Kenya.

“We had to ask respondents which political party or coalition they are closest to. One can either settle on a party or a coalition,” Mr Wolf said.

ODM’s Director of Campaigns and Suna-East MP Junet Mohamed yesterday said the polls were not reflective of the true situation and questioned figures on the coalition’s popularity.

“ODM is the single-most popular political party in Kenya today, but we also want to state CORD is the most popular coalition because it has support in six former provinces, unlike Jubilee which has only support in Central and Rift Valley,” said Mr Mohamed.

Kitui Central MP Makali Mulu also argued that CORD was more popular than Jubilee because it had support from across the country. “It does not take a genius to know CORD has a wide network of support in all corners of the country than Jubilee,” said Mr Mulu.

Support shifted

But JAP vice-chairman David Murathe and Kiambu County Senator Paul Kimani Wamatangi agreed with the poll on the popularity of the Jubilee coalition.

“Ground support shifted under the feet of CORD without them realising. A region like Coast, which used to be "corded", is now a Jubilee zone,” said Wamatangi.

Mr Murathe said: “JAP is emerging as the party to watch because it has inspired confidence in its membership and those who want elective positions, while the ruling Jubilee coalition is the coalition of choice,” noted Murathe.

In the poll, JAP is rated at 11 per cent popularity within Jubilee affiliated parties. It has overtaken TNA (9 per cent) and URP (4 per cent). President Uhuru Kenyatta has already declared JAP will be his re-election vehicle for 2017.

The Ipsos survey conducted between March 28 and April 7 asked 1,964 respondents across the country which political party they felt closest to.

Unlike ODM which is more popular than CORD, the Jubilee Alliance at 18 per cent is more popular than all its affiliated political parties.

Within CORD, the Wiper Democratic Party Movement (WDM) is second on popularity to ODM at 5 per cent, but less popular than the CORD coalition itself.

Ford-Kenya, the other CORD affiliated party, has scored only 1 per cent approval rating within the coalition.

The survey found 4 per cent of those interviewed to be undecided while 16 per cent have no affinity to any of the polled political parties.

While Kanu and UDF, which were under the Amani coalition during the 2013 General Election, are rated, another key member of that coalition, New Ford-Kenya is not rated.

Other political parties with parliamentary representation not rated include Alliance Party of Kenya (APK), Narc, Maendeleo Party and PDP among others.