A new poll released on Thursday, sponsored by newscast CM& and conducted by the National Consultancy Center, showed the race for Colombian president narrowing between Partido de la U candidate Juan Manuel Santos and Green Party candidate Antanas Mockus.
The poll asked “If the election to choose the president of the republic were to be held tomorrow, which of the following candidates would you vote for?”
Santos leads the pack with 36% of the vote, followed by Mockus with 29%.
Conservative Party candidate Noemi Sanin has 19% of the vote, Polo Democratico candidate Gustavo Petro has 4%, Liberal Party candidate Rafael Pardo has 4%, Cambio Radical candidate German Vargas Lleras has 2%, and Alianza Social Afrocolombiana candidate Jaime Araujo has 1%.
The poll shows a difference of just 7% between Santos and Mockus, compared to a poll conducted the week before by the same organizations that showed the two candidates 15% apart.
The poll also asked respondents about imagined second runoff matchups between the three frontrunners.
When Santos and Mockus were placed head to head in a second runoff, Santos beat Mockus 49% to 44%, with 4% voting blank.
When the second runoff was asked about between Santos and Sanin, Santos beat Sanin 48% to 37%, with ten percent leaving the ballot blank.
A second runoff between Mockus and Sanin gave Mockus the victory, with 47% for the Green Party candidate and 36% for the Conservative candidate, and 8% voting blank.
The poll was conducted by telephone between April 12th and 14th in 38 cities throughout Colombia, and has a 3% margin of error and 95% confidence.