Hugo Chavez refuses to hold election debate with "nonentity" rival Mr Capriles has sought to focus his campaign on Venezuelans' daily problems - crime, unemployment and stuttering social services - rather than be drawn into a rhetorical fight. Yet he responded sharply on Monday to Mr Chavez's latest salvo. "The candidate of backwardness could never debate with anyone, he only knows how to insult and discredit people - a worn-out and tedious speech," he said via Twitter. Mr Capriles also mocked the president's comments this week about seeking to send a second Venezuelan satellite into space with Chinese help, saying he should first resolve more pressing issues of ill-equipped hospitals and crime. Will our people's problems be resolved putting a satellite into orbit? Will they do away with violence from outer space? The latest opinion poll, published by local company Hinterlaces on Monday, gave Mr Chavez 51 per cent of voter intentions versus 34 per cent for Capriles. Though that was a fall by two percentage points for Mr Chavez from his showing in the same pollster last month, it still represented a formidable gap for the opposition. Mr Chavez appears to have won considerable sympathy for his cancer, while his popularity among the poor remains high due to heavy spending on welfare projects and his personal charisma. Despite his cancer treatment, the president has been increasingly active in the last two weeks, appearing more frequently on state media and attending several events in person. He addressed Monday's news conference of the ruling Socialist Party by telephone, however. Capriles, who by contrast projects an image of youth and energy, is drawing large crowds on his daily visits to remote corners of Venezuela and is promising a Brazilian-style "modern left" government should he unseat Chavez.