Poll Update: An Early Look at Mexico's 2018 Presidential Race

Judging by Buendía & Laredo’s first election poll of the year, the presidential hopefuls are chasing one frontrunner: Andrés Manuel López Obrador, often referred to simply as AMLO. This will be his third time running, and that means the former Mexico City mayor, depicted as a leftist on various points of the Lula-Chávez spectrum, definitely has name recognition in his favor, as the poll itself shows.

That doesn’t mean he doesn’t need to watch his back. Ricardo Anaya, who leads a left-right coalition known as Forward for Mexico (Por México al Frente), is just six points behind him. But José Antonio Meade of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (Partido Revolucionario Institucional, PRI) has his work cut out for him: AMLO’s got double the level of support held by former finance minister.

Get a who’s who in the race from the new Americas Quarterly. In the meantime, AS/COA Online takes you through the poll numbers.