Mexicans prefer Clinton to Donald Trump, poll shows

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexicans favor U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton over Republican Donald Trump by a 10-1 ratio, according to a poll. The poll, conducted by Consulta Mitofsky and released last week, showed that 2.9 percent of Mexicans have a favorable opinion of Trump, compared to 30.4 percent for Clinton. The poll comes almost a month after a meeting between Trump and Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto in Mexico City sparked outrage across the country and led to the resignation of Luis Videgaray as finance minister. Roy Campos, director of the Mitofsky polling firm, said Mexican interest in the U.S. presidential election signified a change from years past. "While in the election of 2008 the interest awakened by [Democratic President Barack] Obama was based on approval ... now the interest is because of fear," Campos said, adding that Trump is the least popular U.S. presidential candidate among Mexicans in history. When he announced his candidacy last year, Trump said Mexico was sending rapists and drug dealers to the United States and that he would build a wall on the southern U.S. border and make Mexico pay for it. He also has threatened to impose punitive tariffs on Mexico, deport millions of migrants and ditch the North American Free Trade Agreement. The poll, which was conducted between Sept. 2 and 5, surveyed 1,000 Mexicans and had a margin of error of 3.1 percent. (Reporting by Natalie Schachar; Editing by Bill Trott)