Sinking Your Party

Mitofsky has some interesting polling on Torreón's political situation, where the present mayoral administration of panista José Ángel Pérez is widely regarded to made a hash of things. Fifty percent of the electorate is leaning toward PRI candidate Eduardo Olmos, who was resoundingly beaten by Pérez in previous election, in this Sunday's mayoral contest. The PAN candidate, Chuy de León, scrapes together only 22 percent. Thirty-nine percent of those polled called themselves priístas, compared to 18 percent who called themselves panistas.

This just goes to show how security can swing local politics. The PAN has governed the city for the three of the past four administrations, Calderón and Fox were far more popular here than their competitors, PAN signs were always the most prevalent during election seasons...until about 2007, when the murder rate jumped through the roof, people started getting kidnapped, businesses started getting extorted, and everyone blamed Pérez. Now it's a PRI town to such a degree that a PRI retread is going to take the mayoral race by some 30 points. You see two Olmos signs for every de León sign, even in the tony neighborhoods that figure to be fertile ground for the PAN. I know people who have never voted for a priísta in their lives and are punching their ticket for Olmos.