Despite Being Criticized for His Administration’s Incompetence, New EL NUEVO DÍA Poll Has Rosselló Leading All Puerto Rico Governor Election Scenarios

May 10, 2019
8:37 AM

File this one under the category, “Only in Puerto Rico?” A new poll by El Nuevo Día published this past week offers a very unique look into the state of the island-colony’s politics in 2019.

Stick with us here.

How Competent Is Governor Ricardo Rosselló’s Administration?

According to the poll, 57% of Puerto Ricans says that the pro-statehood Democrat’s administration is either “not competent” at all or “a little competent.” Just 16% of voters gave a “competent” answer. Although there is some ray of hope for Rosselló? Puerto Rico’s previous governor, Alejandro García Padilla, got a 77% “not competent”/”a little competent” score in 2015.

Rosselló said that the poll results indicate that he still has more work to do before the 2020 November election, where he will be running for a second term. And from the looks of it, according to the polls, he is leading all opponents in any election scenario right now. The main opposition party, the Populares, would still have to go through its primary elections, but think about that. Even after being slammed for how he and his administration for handling post-Hurricane María politics (16 certified deaths, Mr Trump), Rosselló’s is still the front-runner. Part of that could be that there are other parties in the race besides the Populares, but still, these polls suggest that if the election were held today, Rosselló would win a second term.

Only in Puerto Rico.

Here’s the breakdown of what the polls say about that:

Closest Race Would Be Against David Bernier

This would be Rosselló’s closest challenger, but he still has a slight edge over Bernier: 35%-34%. Bernier lost in 2016 to Rosselló 42%-39%. By the way, Bernier has not officially announced that he would run for governor in 2020.

What About a Race Against Carmen Yulín Cruz?

It wouldn’t even be close: Rosselló 40%, the current San Juan mayor would get 25%. Yulín Cruz did declare his candidacy for governor earlier this year.

Why the Disparity With Yulín Cruz?

These two polls suggest that Yulín Cruz does not have a favorable rating as a mayor in San Juan, both with residents of San Juan and with Puerto Ricans outside of the capital city.

This first poll shows Yulín Cruz’s favorability in the 25%-27% range, depending on whether you are a resident of San Juan or someone who lives outside of San Juan.

This second poll shows Yulín Cruz’s favorability at 25% across all poll participants.

For the record, Yulín Cruz has already said that the will continue to talk with Puerto Ricans during her campaign and that the only poll that matters is the actual election that will happen next November in 2020

Rosselló vs. Eduardo Bhatia: 37%-28%

Rosselló vs. Roberto Prats: 36%-27%

Rosselló vs. Josian Santiago: 35%-25%

Rosselló vs. Juan Zaragoza: 35%-23%

Rosselló vs. Carlos Delgado Altieri: 37%-23%

This is the part where we remind everyone that Yulín Cruz is the only woman in any of these election scenarios.

Meanwhile, the poll also asked people about the Fiscal Control Board. It doesn’t look good for la Junta.

The Junta Is Not Popular at All

Only 16% of Puerto Ricans support the Junta now. See how that support has dramatically decreased since 2016. It was as high as 62% once.

Maybe it’s because Puerto Ricans have no idea about what the Junta actually does? Look at this poll. Only 9% know a lot about what the Junta actually does.

The kicker to all this? A Junta spokesperson said the Board is not surprised at all about the poll results.

There are other poll questions and findings, which you can find in Spanish here.

As for the poll process, it was conducted at the end of April, and interviewed 1,000 eligible voters on the island-colony. The margin of error is about 3%.