Trump Influences Mexican Presidential Election - But Maybe Not in the Way He'd Prefer

The Miami Herald reports that a "joke making the rounds in Mexico says that President Donald Trump has become the de facto campaign manager of leftist populist candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador", who now has a large lead in the polls.

Andres Oppenheimer at the Herald writes:

"Knowingly or not, Trump gave a big boost to Lopez Obrador on March 13, when the U.S. president visited the Mexican border in southern California and said that “there are some very good people” running for president in Mexico, and “some that aren’t that good.”

Predictably, the banner headline in some of Mexico's leading newspapers the next day was “Trump says some Mexican candidates aren’t that good.” You didn't need to be a political scientist to guess that the U.S. president was referring to Lopez Obrador, the most vocal Trump critic among Mexico’s leading presidential hopefuls."

Trump's distaste for Lopez Obrador isn't all that he has going for him in the election but the latest poll shows a big jump in his support since Trump made his comments. He now has a 21 point lead in the race which is to be held on July 1st.