TEGUCIGALPA (Reuters) - Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez is the most positively viewed likely candidate in November's general election, putting him in a good early position as he seeks to win an unprecedented second consecutive term, a poll released on Wednesday showed.
Hernandez, a member of the conservative National Party, was viewed positively by 55 percent of those surveyed in the CID/Gallup poll from Jan. 5-12, which was published in the La Prensa newspaper.
The poll showed Salvador Nasralla, a center-right political television show host who is running for the Anti-Corruption Party (PAC), in second place with 47 percent approval.
Hernandez, a 48-year-old lawyer, was given the go-ahead to run for a second term after the Supreme Court overturned the constitutional ban on re-election in 2015. That ruling came six years after a military coup ousted leftist Manuel Zelaya over his own efforts to reverse the ban through a referendum.
Xiomara Castro, wife of Zelaya and candidate for the leftist Liberty and Refoundation Party (LIBRE), was in third place in the CID/Gallup poll with 44 percent.
According to CID/Gallup, a favorable rating of more than 50 percent is a key indicator of a given candidate's likelihood to win.
Hernandez and Castro are expected to win their parties' primaries this March, which would confirm their general election candidacies.
The poll included 1,226 interviews and had a 2.82 percent margin of error.