Datanalisis’s latest shows Chávez’s popularity holding steady in the wake of his cancer diagnosis, and Henrique Capriles well out ahead in the opposition primary race.
It’s a good news/bad news kind of read:
- Good news: Capriles beats Chávez among self-described independents by better than 2-to-1.
- Bad news: he’d still lose the race-if-it-was-held-this-Synday by a hair – 39% to 37%.
- Good news: only 27% of poll respondents want Chávez to continue to govern for “many years to come”.
- Bad news: 50% still like him.
In fact, I get a sense of Chávez becoming a bit of a “jarrón chino” for some voters – even some of those who revere him would prefer him out of the way.
Remarkably, there are more self-identified chavistas out there (30.7%) than people who want Chávez to stay in power for many years to come – meaning that, yes, there is such a thing as a chavista who hopes PSUV nominates someone else next year.
Hmmmmmmm…primary challenge, anyone?
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