MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Argentina: There is no stopping Milei, poll shows

Many roads lead to Milei becoming President in December

Libertarian Congressman Javier Milei remained the top contender for the Oct. 22 presidential elections, according to a survey by the consulting firm Opinaia released Monday in Buenos Aires.

Between August 15 and 23, Opinaia interviewed 2,000 people and presented the results with a +/- 2.2% margin of error. Opinaia's survey shows Milei in first place, Massa in second place, and Bullrich in third place.

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“After the different crimes that happened during the end of the electoral campaign, insecurity grows significantly in the consideration of the public opinion,” the pollsters explained.

“The diagnosis is common within the different constituencies. Voters of any of the five candidates agree that inflation is the main problem of the country,” they also pointed out.

“With the exception of Javier Milei, the presidential candidates have more negative than positive image among Argentines,” Opinaia noted.

In October, ”Milei would be the most voted candidate with a 35% of voting intention. Then, the second place would be very disputed between Massa and Bullrich, with a slight advantage for the former (25% to 23%),“ the report also pointed out.

With these figures, a runoff scheduled for Nov. 19 would be needed. No poll has yet forecast a first-round victory, which would require at least 45% of the votes or 40% and a 10 percentage-point lead over whoever finishes second.

In a hypothetical runoff, Milei would beat Massa by 49% to 30%, with 8% of the votes blank, 8% undecided, and 5% ”would not vote.“ Milei would also beat Bullrich 39% to 31%, with 14% of blanks, 7% undecided, and 9% of ”would not vote.“ And Bullrich would also beat Massa 44% to 32%, with 10% blank, 7% undecided, and 7% ”would not vote.”