Statesman Poll: Akufo-Addo to beat Mills

Comprehensive, scientific opinion poll says: Akufo-Addo best bet to beat Prof Mills

It is so far and by far the most comprehensive sampling of who, among the then 17 known aspirants of the New Patriotic Party, has the best chance of being nominated as flagbearer and going ahead to beat John Evans Atta Mills of the National Democratic Congress.
The 55-paged poll by the multinational research group, Research International, goes as far as providing the age group, educational and employment background of the 2,021 people questioned, comprising 935 NPP executives and 1,086 members of the general public eligible to vote.
40% of the NPP executives (2 from each Region and 5 from each constituency) polled said Nana Akufo-Addo was their party's best bet against Prof Mills in the December 2008 presidential elections. While this may mean that 'one touch' victory may be difficult in this particular December 22nd national congress, Akufo-Addo came out by a huge margin as the most popular and electable NPP candidate among the 17.
For example, in second place was Vice President Aliu Mahama with 18%, a clear 22 percentage points behind Akufo-Addo.
Alan Kyerematen came third (11%), but with a wide margin of 29 percentage points behind Akufo-Addo. However, though 30% and 21% of the general public polled also endorsed Akufo-Addo and Alhaji Aliu Mahama, respectively, in the eyes of the general public Kwame Addo-Kufuor, Yaw Osafo-Maafo and Alan Kyerematen had a similar chance of beating Prof Mills, with the three sharing third place, on 9% each. Hackman Owusu-Agyemang came next, followed by Dan Botwe and Paapa Owusu-Ankomah.
50% of those who tipped Akufo-Addo to win against Prof Mills said they chose him because they found him "acceptable and appealing." 44% opted for the NPP aspirant against Prof Mills because, to them, Nana Akufo-Addo is "well known."
5 aspirants who consistently showed up in all categories as the top favourites were Nana Akufo-Addo, Alhaji Aliu Mahama, Alan Kyerematen, Dr Addo-Kufuor and Yaw Osafo-Maafo., but, according to the pollsters, "with Nana Akufo-Addo clearly in the lead with endorsement from both the voting public and the executives."
The polls conducted by Research International covered all 230 constituencies, with the field work undertaken between June 22 - July 10, as the G8 minister-aspirants were preparing to leave office. The pollsters targeted 2,320 people, achieving 87% of the targe: 2,021.
On the question of the popularity of the 17 aspirants, Nana Akufo-Addo received the highest total spontaneous awareness rating: 86% (of party executives) and 80% (of voters). He was followed in name recognition, again, by Alhaji Aliu Mahama (76%, 76%), Dr Addo-Kufuor (73%, 69%), Alan Kyerematen (72%, 54%), with Yaw Osafo-Maafo in fifth place (66%, 58%).
Mr Kyerematen, seen as among the top candidates, appeared to be more popular within the NPP than with the general electorate, with his candidacy being spontaneously acknowledged by only 54% of voters as opposed to 72% of party executives.
For example, in the Ashanti Region , Mr Kyerematen came fifth after Mr Osafo-Maafo as the most popular aspirannt among the public, yet came fouth, behind Nana Akufo-Addo, Dr Addo-Kufuor and Alhaji Aliu Mahama, among party executives in the Region. Ashanti was, however, the Vice President?s weakest Region.
Aware of the inherent margin of error in opinion polls, Research International further rated all the 17 aspirants on a scale of 1 (being the poorest score) to 7 on their chances of leading the NPP to victory in the 2008 elections. After the nationwide polls, the pollsters concluded, "Nana Akufo-Addo came out with a clear lead ahead of all the other aspiring candidates. He was followed by Alhaji Aliu Mahama. Alan Kyerematen, Yaw Osafo-Maafo and Dr Addo-Kufuor were virtually tied for the third position."
They added, "Apart from the Northern, Upper West, Volta and Western Regions where Alhaji Aliu Mahama led, Nana Akufo-Addo was favoured in all the Regions by the voting public."
The party executives painted a similar picture as the voting public. "The party executives in the Northern and Western Regions," RI reports, "tied Nana Akufo-Addo and Alhaji Aliu Mahama as candidates with best chances. Those from all the other regions apart from the Volta Region placed Nana Akufo-Addo ahead of all the other candidates." In Volta, executives placed Alan second, ahead of Nana.
"The 5 least recognised aspirants are Dr Arthur Kennedy, Boakye Agyarko, Felix Owusu-Adjapong, Prof Mike Oquaye and Prof K Frimpong-Boateng," RI stated. Read more in tomorrow?s Saturday Statesman.

Comprehensive, scientific opinion poll says: Akufo-Addo best bet to beat Prof Mills

It is so far and by far the most comprehensive sampling of who, among the then 17 known aspirants of the New Patriotic Party, has the best chance of being nominated as flagbearer and going ahead to beat John Evans Atta Mills of the National Democratic Congress.
The 55-paged poll by the multinational research group, Research International, goes as far as providing the age group, educational and employment background of the 2,021 people questioned, comprising 935 NPP executives and 1,086 members of the general public eligible to vote.
40% of the NPP executives (2 from each Region and 5 from each constituency) polled said Nana Akufo-Addo was their party's best bet against Prof Mills in the December 2008 presidential elections. While this may mean that 'one touch' victory may be difficult in this particular December 22nd national congress, Akufo-Addo came out by a huge margin as the most popular and electable NPP candidate among the 17.
For example, in second place was Vice President Aliu Mahama with 18%, a clear 22 percentage points behind Akufo-Addo.
Alan Kyerematen came third (11%), but with a wide margin of 29 percentage points behind Akufo-Addo. However, though 30% and 21% of the general public polled also endorsed Akufo-Addo and Alhaji Aliu Mahama, respectively, in the eyes of the general public Kwame Addo-Kufuor, Yaw Osafo-Maafo and Alan Kyerematen had a similar chance of beating Prof Mills, with the three sharing third place, on 9% each. Hackman Owusu-Agyemang came next, followed by Dan Botwe and Paapa Owusu-Ankomah.
50% of those who tipped Akufo-Addo to win against Prof Mills said they chose him because they found him "acceptable and appealing." 44% opted for the NPP aspirant against Prof Mills because, to them, Nana Akufo-Addo is "well known."
5 aspirants who consistently showed up in all categories as the top favourites were Nana Akufo-Addo, Alhaji Aliu Mahama, Alan Kyerematen, Dr Addo-Kufuor and Yaw Osafo-Maafo., but, according to the pollsters, "with Nana Akufo-Addo clearly in the lead with endorsement from both the voting public and the executives."
The polls conducted by Research International covered all 230 constituencies, with the field work undertaken between June 22 - July 10, as the G8 minister-aspirants were preparing to leave office. The pollsters targeted 2,320 people, achieving 87% of the targe: 2,021.
On the question of the popularity of the 17 aspirants, Nana Akufo-Addo received the highest total spontaneous awareness rating: 86% (of party executives) and 80% (of voters). He was followed in name recognition, again, by Alhaji Aliu Mahama (76%, 76%), Dr Addo-Kufuor (73%, 69%), Alan Kyerematen (72%, 54%), with Yaw Osafo-Maafo in fifth place (66%, 58%).
Mr Kyerematen, seen as among the top candidates, appeared to be more popular within the NPP than with the general electorate, with his candidacy being spontaneously acknowledged by only 54% of voters as opposed to 72% of party executives.
For example, in the Ashanti Region , Mr Kyerematen came fifth after Mr Osafo-Maafo as the most popular aspirannt among the public, yet came fouth, behind Nana Akufo-Addo, Dr Addo-Kufuor and Alhaji Aliu Mahama, among party executives in the Region. Ashanti was, however, the Vice President?s weakest Region.
Aware of the inherent margin of error in opinion polls, Research International further rated all the 17 aspirants on a scale of 1 (being the poorest score) to 7 on their chances of leading the NPP to victory in the 2008 elections. After the nationwide polls, the pollsters concluded, "Nana Akufo-Addo came out with a clear lead ahead of all the other aspiring candidates. He was followed by Alhaji Aliu Mahama. Alan Kyerematen, Yaw Osafo-Maafo and Dr Addo-Kufuor were virtually tied for the third position."
They added, "Apart from the Northern, Upper West, Volta and Western Regions where Alhaji Aliu Mahama led, Nana Akufo-Addo was favoured in all the Regions by the voting public."
The party executives painted a similar picture as the voting public. "The party executives in the Northern and Western Regions," RI reports, "tied Nana Akufo-Addo and Alhaji Aliu Mahama as candidates with best chances. Those from all the other regions apart from the Volta Region placed Nana Akufo-Addo ahead of all the other candidates." In Volta, executives placed Alan second, ahead of Nana.
"The 5 least recognised aspirants are Dr Arthur Kennedy, Boakye Agyarko, Felix Owusu-Adjapong, Prof Mike Oquaye and Prof K Frimpong-Boateng," RI stated. Read more in tomorrow?s Saturday Statesman.