Leftist front-runner Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador of the National Regeneration Movement (MORENA) waves to supporters during his campaign rally in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico April 1, 2018. REUTERS/Jose Luis Gonzalez
Reuters: Exclusive: Mexican leftist has 18-point lead as campaign kicks off - poll
MONTERREY (Reuters) - Mexican left-wing presidential candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has an 18-point lead ahead of the July 1 election, according to a poll published on Monday that showed him with a growing advantage at the start of formal campaigning.
Lopez Obrador, who launched his campaign on Sunday, holds 38 percent of the vote, according to the poll by Parametria, published by Reuters on Monday ahead of wider distribution. That compared to 35 percent in its previous poll.
A Lopez Obrador victory could usher in a Mexican government less accommodating toward the United States, where President Donald Trump has stoked trade tensions with Mexico and aggressively moved to curb immigration.
Lopez Obrador has backed the North American Free Trade Agreement, but his plan to review newly issued oil contracts sparked worries he will deter foreign investment.
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WNU Editor: What has helped front-runner Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador is that his nearest opponent is fighting corruption allegations on a property deal .... A leftist populist could be Mexico's next president — in part because of corruption allegations against a rival (L.A. Times). As for the other two candidates .... José Antonio Meade, from Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto's Institutional Revolutionary Party and Margarita Zavala, the wife of former president Felipe Calderon .... their campaigns have not caught the interest of the Mexican voter. Bottom line .... this is front-runner Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador's election to lose.
