The latest opinion poll for the 2023 year-end by Global InfoAnalytics shows that the flagbearer of the opposition National Democratic Congress, Former President John Dramani Mahama has taken a huge lead over the governing New Patriotic Party’s candidate, Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia in the race to be the next president of Ghana in 2025.

The opinion poll which was published by the Global InfoAnalytics on January 4 2024 revealed that Former President John Dramani Mahama leads in the poll with 53.2% while Dr Mahamudu Bawumia secured 29.6% almost eleven months into the elections.

The former Trade and Industry Minister, Alan Kwadwo John Kyeremanten on the other hand had 7.7% support of voters while nearly 4.2% of voters intend to vote for other candidates with 5.3% respondents indicating that they are undecided.

Among first-time voters, the National Democratic Congress flagbearer, Mr Mahama led with 51%, while the Vice President, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia garnered 25% with the Movement for Change Leader, Alan Kwadwo Kyerematen securing 8%. About 7% of respondents also intend to vote for other candidates and 9% remain undecided.

Again, in a new development in the poll, former President John Dramani Mahama now leads in all the regions except the North-East region where Vice President Dr Mahamaudu Bawumia’s dominance appears to be narrowed.

According to Global InfoAnalytics, for the first in the history of its polling, the flagbearer of the National Democratic Congress, former President John Dramani Mahama leads in the Ashanti and Eastern regions.

The report further indicated that even though the outcome of the poll from the Ashanti and Eastern Region could be an outlier, the governing New Patriotic Party’s poor performance in office may reflect growing concern about voter apathy in the two regions.

Furthermore, when voters were asked to choose between the National Democratic Congress’s proposed 24-hour Economy, the New Patriotic Party’s proposed Blue Economy or Digitization and the Movement for Change Great Transformational Plan, approximately 50% of the respondents went for the 24-hour Economy Policy while 25% went for the Blue Economy or Digitization,

Also, nearly 8% of the respondents choose the Movement for Change leader, Mr Alan Kyerematen’s Great Transformational Plan with almost 17% of the respondents choosing none of the three proposed policies.

President Akufo-Addo Receives Low Approval Rate From Ghanaians

Moreover, on the direction of the country, the poll indicated that about 68% of Ghanaians believe the country is headed in the wrong direction compared to 22% who believe it is headed in the right direction and 10% indicating that they did not have an opinion.

On the President’s job performance, the poll also showed 63% of voters disapproved of President Akufo-Addo’s performance compared to 32% who approved of his performance, while 5% did not have an opinion.

More so, when voters were asked to describe their standard of living in the last 12 months, 54% said it has gotten worse while 20% said it has improved. Again, almost 22% indicated that their standard of living has not changed while 4% did not have an opinion.

The polls showed a significant increase in the number of voters who said their standard of living has deteriorated, rising from 47% in October 2023 to 54% in December 2023.

The poll also showed that the National Democratic Congress is on course to form the majority in parliament, as the generic poll predicts 52% of voters plan to vote for the party’s candidates in the 2024 elections, up from 46% in October 2023 while the New Patriotic Party received 31% on the approval of it parliamentary candidates compared to 38% recorded in October 2023.

On the question of whether the New Patriotic Party can break the eight, 60% of voters said the ruling party will not break the eight compared to 21% who said it would be able to break the eight with 19% who did not have an opinion.

In addition, the poll showed a growing confidence of voters in the Ghana Police Service as 58% say they have confidence in the service to manage the 2024 election compared to 32% who don’t have confidence in the force, while 10% have no opinion.

For the Electoral Commission (EC), the majority of voters, 54% now have confidence in the elections management body compared to 38% who have no confidence and 8% who did not express any opinion.

Finally, when voters were asked about what divides Ghanaians, 56% of voters attributed it to politics while 27% chose ethnicity and 17% chose religion.

However, when voters were asked whether the religion of the candidates will play a role in who they intend to vote for in the 2024 elections, 76% said it will not play a role while 24% said it will. For ethnicity, 74% said it will not play a role compared to 26% who said it will.

The poll was conducted between 22nd – 30th December 2023 with a sample of 5,881 respondents in all 16 regions and across 82 constituencies in the country.