Leftist Chile presidential candidate leads new polls as run-off vote
looms
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[November 29, 2021]
By Fabian Cambero
SANTIAGO (Reuters) -Chilean leftist
candidate Gabriel Boric was leading conservative Jose Antonio Kast in
the latest polls released on Sunday ahead of the second round of the
presidential election on Dec. 19.
The polarized run-off vote will set the political tone in the Andean
country for the years ahead, with the two candidates pushing wildly
different visions for the future of the world's top copper-producing
nation.
The major Citizen Pulse poll from Activa Research showed likely voters
heavily favored Boric, representing a coalition including the leftist
Frente Amplio and the local Communist Party, with 53.9% support against
Kast's 31.2%.
The online survey, carried out Nov. 23-26, polled 1,518 voters, with a
margin of error of 2.5 percentage points.
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A second poll from Cadem, which surveyed 1,000 people with a margin of
error of 3.1 percentage points, showed Boric ahead with 39% of voting
preference versus 33% for Kast. There were still 28% who were undecided
or did not intend to vote.
In a hypothetical run-off scenario, that result would translate into a
54%-46% win for Boric.
The polls, some three weeks out from the election, indicate that
moderate voters may be more willing to shift their support to Boric than
to Kast, a far-right candidate often likened to Brazil's blunt-talking
President Jair Bolsonaro.
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![](../images/112921pics/news_z66.jpg)
Chilean presidential candidate Gabriel Boric, of left-wing coalition
'Apruebo Dignidad' (I Approve Dignity), gestures as he attends a
session at the congress in Valparaiso, Chile, November 24, 2021.
REUTERS/Rodrigo Garrido
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Kast has found a receptive audience for his "law and
order" message, which helped him win the first round of voting on
Nov. 21, though without the majority needed to win outright.
Boric, who rose to prominence as a student protest leader, got about
26% in the first round, a close second to Kast on some 28%. Analysts
have said Boric needs to expand his support beyond his core of
young, urban voters.
One of the big unknowns of the election is how much support liberal
candidate Franco Parisi could pull after coming in third in the
first round of voting. Both polls suggested more of his voters would
shift to Boric, though many remained undecided.
(Reporting by Fabian Cambero, writing by Hugh Bronstein; Editing by
David Gregorio and Chizu Nomiyama)
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