32% of Kenyans would vote No, 29% would vote Yes if BBI referendum was held today poll

A new poll by TIFA Research released on Friday revealed that 32 per cent of Kenyans would vote No and 29 per cent would vote Yes if the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) referendum was held today.

The poll also revealed that 26% of Kenyans would not participate in voting at all while another 16% are still not sure about it either because of lack of information about the proposals contained in the BBI report (68%) or because they believe it will be rigged to ensure its passage (10%).

According to the poll, the 32% would vote No because of varied reasons among them lack of information (32%), belief that it is not a priority at the moment (20%), increased political tension (9%) as well as increased political power to the Presidency which they view as a threat to democracy (6%).

The 26% that would support the process, in the same line, would also do so with reasons such as more money to counties (19%), inclusivity brought about by Prime Minister and their deputy positions (15%), benefits to youth (5%), position of official opposition leader (5%) while 40% have no specific reason whatsoever but would vote Yes anyway.

“This means that there is still a considerable work that needs to be done by champions of both of Yes or No campaigns to win over Kenyans to their side,” read the poll report.

TIFA also stated that only 15% know something about the BBI contents and proposals while 84% of Kenyans are still not familiar with it two months after document launch; including 53% who know absolutely nothing about it and another 31% who know very little.

In terms of the preferred timing for the BBI referendum, the poll revealed that 44% want it held before the 2022 General Elections, 12% on the same day, 31% want it afterwards while 14% are not sure.

Strangely enough, however, the poll suggested that 46% of the respondents prefer Deputy President William Ruto’s multiple-choice referendum format of voting on each specific proposal while only 37% prefer to vote Yes or No for the entire set at one go.

66% of Raila Odinga and his Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) party supporters would vote Yes in the BBI referendum while 14% would vote No and 12% would note vote at all.

Only 36% of Jubilee Party supporters allied to President Uhuru Kenyatta would vote Yes in the BBI referendum while 24% would vote No and 22% would note vote at all.

However, 13% of Jubilee Party supporters allied to Deputy President William Ruto would vote Yes in the BBI referendum while 50% would vote No and 30% would not vote at all.

“As of now, nearly half of all Kenyans (42%) decline to self-identify with any political party. Among those who do, most identify with Jubilee, and are among those who prefer DP Ruto as president in 2022 (21%), while others who also identify with Jubilee but do not support DP Ruto are only about half that proportion (12%),” added the poll.

“The only other political party that receives more than 1% of support through such self-identification is Wiper (2%).”