President Akufo-Addo
A survey conducted by the Department of Political Science Department at the University of Ghana (UG) has predicted that President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo will win this year’s general election with at least 51.7 per cent.
It adds that the flagbearer of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), John Dramani Mahama, is expected to follow with 40.4 per cent of the votes while the candidate of the Ghana Union Movement (GUM), Christian Kwabena Andrews, would place third.
The survey, which sampled 11,949 respondents, found that 80 per cent of the respondents will vote based on the campaign message of the various political parties.
Out of the number, 52.5 per cent said they will vote for Nana Akufo-Addo, while 40. 9 per cent will vote for John Mahama.
Free SHS
The survey also found that this year’s election, unlike the previous ones, will be determined by the issues candidates present to them during the campaigns.
“In this particular election, policies that the future government is likely to implement (35.8 per cent), content of campaign messages candidates put across (23.8 per cent), more than management of the COVID-19 (8.2 per cent), more than corruption (4.0 per cent) would shape their voting decision,” it found.
“Therefore, it can be argued that this election is solely contested on policy-based issues. For the Ghanaian voter, their choice is for the candidate who has the capacity to carry through with transformational policies.
“Therefore, it did not come as a surprise when 62.2 per cent of voters said the Free Senior High School programme offers hope to their future aspirations,” the survey said.
While overwhelming 62.2 per cent of the respondents said they would vote based on the Free SHS policy, the survey further found that “the banking restructuring exercise that was greeted with cynicism and lamentations by the affected customers and business owners would have no effect on voters’ choices at the polls (7per cent).”
The survey further found that apart from Free SHS, government policies such as the Planting for Food and Jobs, NABCO and management of the economy are the most important factors for the electorate.
Economy
According to the survey, “voters who expressed satisfaction with the management of the economy by the incumbent believe that the signs are showing that the economy is bouncing back after it suffered some turbulence under the power of COVID-19 (51.4 per cent).”
“It is a minority (22.8 per cent) that have experienced worse economic performance by the incumbent and 10 per cent said there has been no significant change in the economy since the last election.
“As it was in previous elections, voters have been following…the economic management. They are able to examine the changes that have occurred since the last elections (since 4 years ago). Their assessment of government performance over the management of the economy has a considerable influence on their voting decision.
“Overall, 65.1 per cent of the voters rated the government’s management of the economy above the mean score – for instance (19.3 per cent), (24.1 per cent) and (21.7per cent) of the voters said that the performance of the government with respect to the economy is excellent, very good and good, respectively,” the survey found.
Ben Ephson’s polls
The UG survey confirms the results of opinion polls conducted by Pollster Ben Ephson, which also predicted an Akufo-Addo one-touch victory.
According to the polls, President Akufo-Addo will win the December 7 general election with 52.6 per cent of the total votes, as against his main contender, John Mahama, who would get 45.7 per cent, with a two per cent margin of error.
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