Mexico Elections: Claudia Sheinbaum's Lead Over Xochitl Galvez Narrows, According to New Poll

The Mexico national elections, the largest in the country yet, are heating up as a new poll has shown that 2nd-ranked Xochitl Galvez is gaining on presidential frontrunner Claudia Sheinbaum, who has maintained a massive lead much of the time, heading into the election.

Mexican polling firm Parametria's survey between April 25-29 showed Sheinbaum's MORENA having 44% of support, ahead of a right-left alliance of three parties that have Galvez as their candidate, with 31%.

However, this is a big deal as this showed that MORENA is waning in support but Galvez's 3-party alliance is gaining, as Parametria's previous poll showed Sheinbaum with 49% support and Galvez with only 29%. Despite this, the MORENA candidate is still in a comfortable lead over Galvez.

Meanwhile, third-ranked candidate, Jorge Alvarez Maynez of the opposition center-left Citizens' Movement (MC), also found his poll numbers increasing to 8%. This is a three-point increase from the previous survey held last February, according to Reuters.

The face-to-face poll asked 800 people and had a 3.5% margin of error. Aside from the top three candidates, 17% of respondents offered no preference. Despite the 5-point slide, the poll showed that the support for the ruling Morena Party is still very much solid despite the criticisms toward President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, a close ally and mentor to Claudia Sheinbaum, who, like AMLO, also previously served as the mayor of Mexico City.

Mexican University Holds Mock Mexico Election Simulation, With Claudia Sheinbaum Beating Xochitl Galvez

Meanwhile, the Metropolitan Autonomous University (UAM) in Mexico City held a simulation of the upcoming Mexico presidential election in a mock poll where 255,707 students took part. The result was a landslide victory for Sheinbaum, who many believe would also win the youth vote.

Sheinbaum received over half of the total number of votes at 162,444, which is around 63.5%. Surprisingly, Jorge Alvarez Maynez took 59,128 votes in second place, with him having 23.1% of the votes. Xochitl Galvez, who was the consistent 2nd placer in other polls, only took 21,845 votes, which is around 8.5%.

UAM Spokesperson Pamela Guevara told La Jornada Maya that the mock election represented the voice of its students and must be respected, adding that it was not made to be liked or not or provoke the reaction of any party. It was only to demonstrate the level of participation within the university.

Mexico Youth Could Have a Big Impact on the Presidential Election

The hundreds of thousands of students making their voices heard at UAM are just in one university. Imagine what might happen on a national scale, and that may be the impact of the youth vote in the upcoming June 2 election.

AS/COA noted that there are many issues that the Mexican youth are worried about, and politicians running for president must tackle these issues. These include the crime rate, the lack of job opportunities, and low salaries. Young Mexicans are mostly unenthusiastic about the election and many are mistrusting of politicians.

This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written by: Rick Martin

WATCH: Mexico presidential debate: Candidates face off ahead of elections in June - Al Jazeera English