New records for Chilean president Piñera: approval 26%; disapproval 66%
Chilean President Sebastián Piñera has reached his lowest level of citizen approval since he came to office in 2010, according to the latest Adimark poll released on Monday.
Only 26% of respondents approved of his management of the country, compared to 66% who disapproved, according to the Adimark poll for April. Overall government approval also fell to the same 26% level and disapproval grew to 67%.
Government spokesman Andrés Chadwick dismissed the poll’s results and tried to spin the story in another direction. He told Cooperativa the government was doing a great job with the best effort possible, and was taking the management of the country seriously.
“If we make mistakes, and it’s evident that we will, then we want to rectify them. We want to listen to the people,” Chadwick said. “When the citizens see the results of our policies that benefit them, then they will have confidence in the government. This will happen sooner rather than later.”
The report also found that approval of the government's economic policies also fell, notwithstanding good economic growth. Approval for government's employment policies dropped to 45% and approval for its management of the economy dropped sharply to 36%. Health also took a hit, falling by 8 points to 27%, according to the Adimark report.
National Women’s Service (Sernam) Minister Carolina Schmidt and Public Works Minister Laurence Golborne were the best evaluated figures in the Piñera government, each receiving approval levels of 75%. Golborne, who gained his popularity while serving as mining minister during the 2010 rescue of 33 trapped miners, is reportedly considering a presidential bid. But no such political aspirations are on the horizon for Health Minister Jaime Mañalich whose Adimark approval rating fell from 54% in March to 43% in April.
The National Congress also fell in approval, said the Adimark poll, with confidence in the Chamber of Deputies dropping to 16 points and the Senate dropping to 17 points, both the lowest levels in two years. The Senate’s fall came at the same time as press stories revealed 4.000 dollars in increased allocations for the senators' expense accounts.
Socialist Party and opposition leader Dep. Osvaldo Andrade said he was not surprised with the report and he was keen to work with the government.
“For a long time now two thirds of the population doesn’t believe him (Piñera) anymore and now we see the ministers not paying attention to the people,” Andrade told Cooperativa.
By Jade Hobman - The Santiago Times
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He is such a pitiful populist that he would do that if he thought it would work.
I had such high hopes at the start of his term in office, but he has delivered almost nothing. We have just been in neutral for 2 years.
For many years we had a socialist government that thought it could spend more and more money - money that we did not have.
We voted in a new government to be hard and sort out the socialist overspending, they have been doing this and the UK has kept its AAA credit rating.
Now after 2 years the polls and local elections are showing an upsurge in support for the socialists. Many people believe that they should be exempt from the pain of sorting out the economy.
OK this is a simplistic view of the situation - the current coalition government has its faults and made mistakes.
At the end of the day you can not spend what you have not got - never mind what the socialists feel.
Piñera had an easier situation, we must admit.
No matter how much we can critizise our previous left governments, we cannot blame them for spending money they didn't have. Totally opposite... Michelle Bachelet, a socialist, has increased the positive fiscal balance to historic heights (also mainly due to increased copper prices).
Chile never had so much money as it has during the last years, we are one of the less indebted countries in the world, but now this causes the masses to get greedy for their interests.
Much of the turbulence you see and hear about Chile is because we are having GOOD times and everybody wants a big piece of the cake.
Strangly this had led to more dissatisfaction in the population than in times were Chile was economically weak and suffering.
Human kind is a very strange being...
The UK and Chile are moving to similar positions from opposite ends. In the UK you are scaling back public service due to high debt, while in Chile people are demanding better public services due to trade surplus.
In Chile people dont' understand what wellfare is, in the UK people can't imagine a world without it. When you look at Uk public spending from outside it is absurd. The NHS budget is approx £100 billion that is almost 2 billion pounds a week (I think those two new aircraft carriers have a price tag of 2 billion each). At some point you just have to tell people enough is enough. In the UK it is an abuse of your human rights if you can't wreck your liver with alcohol then fall in to hospital and demand a new one. But tell a Brit that is not sustainable and most won't comprehend.
I have another sister-in-law, who makes 420,000 Pesos Chilenos/month working in comercio exterior. She is applying for her first house. She has to have un palo y medio in her account and show her paystub and the government will subsidize quite a bit of the down payment. My other sister-in-law, who makes 320,000 Pesos Chilenos/month as a teacher is applying for her first house and the government will do the same thing.
So, those are some examples of what I call welfare. But, maybe my definition is different?
Yes, I agree that the housing subsidies are a form of welfare, although I have never heard of, or know of anyone who has received a house for CH$250,000
The system I know of provides a subsidy of up to 200UF (US4000) on houses worth up to 2000UF. But my point is that total government spending in Chile is tiny compared to countries like UK, France and Germany.
I am just going on what I have see when in these countries. Perhaps the spend in terms of % of GDP is similar.
I did say it was a simplistic view.
The UK has not always been is this poor state - we have been in the position of surplus of balance of payments!
But we all have to be careful, when times are good we should not just spend what we have.
Yes your copper mines provide a great income at the moment, but the danger is that the you can spend that income now and then your people expect you to provide this level of expenditure now matter what happens in the future.
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