Poll: Mexicans want Clinton as president

An overwhelming majority of Mexicans think it would be better for their country if Hillary Clinton beat Donald Trump in November’s presidential election.

A poll published Friday by the newspaper Reforma showed that 83 percent of Mexicans prefer Clinton, while 3 percent prefer Trump. A parallel survey of experts showed support for Clinton at 88 percent among Mexican thought leaders, while only 1 percent backed Trump.

{mosads}The researchers also asked respondents to rate potential presidential candidates for Mexico’s 2018 election in terms of whether they would be a better or worse counterpart to Trump or Clinton.

Margarita Zavala, the wife of former President Felipe Calderón, stands the most to gain if Clinton succeeds President Obama. Of poll respondents, 36 percent said the two former first ladies would make the best North American presidential match. Experts were even more bullish, with 48 percent supporting Zavala.

Andrés Manuel López Obrador, a firebrand left-wing former mayor of Mexico City who has narrowly lost two presidential races, received 25 percent support among poll respondents and 16 percent among experts. But he also raked in the highest negative numbers as a potential peer to Clinton: 32 percent of those polled said the two would be a mismatch, as did 52 percent of experts.

López Obrador, known for his populism and aggressive rhetoric, was rated as both the most compatible and the most incompatible with Trump. 27 percent of respondents said López Obrador would be Mexico’s best presidential option if Trump wins, while 28 percent said the opposite. Experts were not as kind: While 21 percent considered him the best option, a full 51 percent said he would be the worst.

Zavala placed a close second in the poll as a good match for Trump, with 25 percent, but she was the experts’ favorite as a would-be peer of President Trump, with 29 percent.

Also in the running were Miguel Ángel Osorio Chong, the powerful secretary of the Interior, whose numbers against Trump were slightly better than against Clinton; Miguel Ángel Mancera, the mayor of Mexico City; and Jaime “El Bronco” Rodriguez, the first independent candidate to ever win statewide office. Mancera and Rodriguez have virtually identical numbers against either candidate.