Poll: Mexico Presidential Race Has Tightened

MEXICO CITY (AP) — A new poll suggests Mexico's presidential race is tightening.

The polling firm GEA/ISA says the lead of candidate Enrique Pena Nieto has dropped to 7 percentage points. He had a 20-point lead in a January poll by the same company.

The survey says 36 percent of voters favor Pena Nieto, while 29 percent back Josefina Vazquez Mota of the conservative National Action Party that now governs Mexico. Pena Nieto's Institutional Revolutionary Party ruled Mexico from 1929 to 2000.

The poll published Thursday by the newspaper Milenio says 17 percent of voters back leftist Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador.

The February 17-19 poll of 1,000 potential voters has a margin of error of 4 percentage points.