The numbers Nana Kwame Bediako is polling in recent surveys should be a worry to the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) since most of those figures are likely to be people who would vote for the NDC, Professor Kobby Mensah, a Political Marketing Analyst, has indicated.
The founder of the New Force, Nana Kwame Bediako, also known as Cheddar, after coming out as the ‘man behind the mask‘ to contest the presidency, is gaining grounds per latest surveys, including his positive sentiments on social media as contained in IMANI-Africa’s PULSE.
Prof. Kobby Mensah’s comments stem from the latest national opinion poll organised by the Global InfoAnalytics for the 2024 presidential election which placed the National Democratic Congress’s (NDC) John Dramani Mahama ahead of the governing New Patriotic Party’s (NPP) Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, with Nana Kwame Bediako trailing Alan John Kwadwo Kyerematen.
The survey report “shows the ruling party’s candidate, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia (DMB) trailing the main opposition candidate, John Dramani Mahama (JDM) in the race to lead the country in 2025. The poll shows JDM leads with 54.3%, DMB, 34.9%, Alan Kwadwo Kyeremanten (AKK), 7.5%, Nana Kwame Bediako, 2.3%, others, 1%.”
The report, is what Prof. Mensah says should be a worry to the NDC and NPP since Cheddar’s numbers are likely to be from the camp of the NDC, with Alan Kyerematen’s figures coming from the NPP.
“And I was surprised seeing what Cheddar is getting. Clearly a signal to the NDC as well. Because I think that if you look at the people Cheddar is attracting them, it looks like people who are most likely to vote NDC. He is getting 2 per cent, here, he’s getting a 3 per cent here, he’s getting a percentage here.
“These are significant figures that he is polling so I think that the parties instead of questioning the credibility of a poll that has been extensively published with all the tools that have been used in the public domain, you’ll rather have to look at some of the limitations of your own political party and start working on that because the figures that Alan is getting is quite significant and I have no doubt that he is polling most of these figures from the NPP quarters, obviously some of them from the NDC quarters but insignificant. But if you look at Cheddar’s numbers, I have no doubt extremely majority of them are from the NDC’s quarters,” he indicated.
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Meanwhile, the Professor has said he will not discount the “it’s too early” argument that people are making. However, stakeholders should not forget the poll did not say the outcome is what would be replicated on the election day, but rather, what will likely be, based on if elections were held at a particular period.
“We have what we call campaign intensity during the elections and I had always said that just campaign songs alone had influenced people and they feel a certain vibe around a certain candidate and a certain party and as a result influences their decision to vote so I will never discount that particular position that it’s too early.
“Clearly, Global InfoAnalytics didn’t say this is what will transpire in December. They said if elections were held today or that particular period, what would be the outcome and that’s what they are saying. So if you raise the argument that of course, eight clear months, I don’t think that you’re being fair to the poll,” he stated.
He added that “the poll didn’t say this is the result of December it says that if elections were held. It’s an opinion poll and clearly opinion poll also mean that people might not tell you the truth and so you take the result with a certain caution and you use it to work around what the poll says is your weaknesses.”
