National Treasury Cabinet Secretary John Mbadi has claimed that President William Ruto enjoys greater support among Generation Z voters than Nairobi Senator Edwin Sifuna.
Mbadi dismissed claims that Sifuna had gained a commanding lead among young voters, insisting that the President’s support among the youth remained strong despite growing criticism of his administration over the cost of living, taxation and employment opportunities.
Speaking during an interview with Citizen TV, Mbadi said the presidential contest required a serious assessment of voter preferences rather than reliance on online polls.
“Presidential election is not a joke. We do our polls every two weeks, for your information,” Mbadi said.
He went on to make a bold claim about Ruto’s standing among different age groups, saying the President enjoyed substantial support among young voters.
“William Ruto has more support among the Gen Zs than even the elderly. You go do your polls and see,” he said.
Mbadi’s remarks come amid growing political attention on Sifuna, whose outspoken criticism of government policies and confrontational exchanges with political opponents have helped raise his profile among younger Kenyans.
The Treasury CS was responding to a question about an opinion poll circulating on social media that placed Sifuna's support at 70 per cent.
Mbadi dismissed the figure, arguing that online polls did not necessarily reflect the views of the wider electorate.
He drew from his own political experience to challenge the reliability of such surveys, recalling instances when social media polls predicted his defeat in his constituency, only for the candidates projected to beat him to perform poorly at the ballot.
“Do you know how many times I lost elections on social media in my constituency to someone who ended up getting 809 votes?” he posed.
Sifuna has increasingly emerged as a prominent voice among young Kenyans, with his criticism of the government and calls for accountability gaining traction among sections of the electorate.
His appeal has been partly reflected in opinion polling. An Infotrak survey conducted in July 2026 found that Sifuna had the support of 20 per cent of voters aged 18 to 26 as their preferred presidential candidate, compared with Ruto's 28 per cent.
The same survey indicated that Sifuna's support stood at 14 per cent among those aged 27 to 35, 10 per cent among voters aged 36 to 45 and five per cent among those above 55.
