MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

President Kirchner's confidence index keeps eroding

With less than three months for next October presidential election the Nestor Kirchner administration is going through one of its worst moments since he first took office in May 2003, according to the Confidence Index from the Torcuato Di Tella University.

The monthly index from the university's Government School in July registered the lowest rating since June 2003 falling to 2 points in a scale from 0 to 5. This means a drop of 4% compared to June when it stood at 2.07 and 21% from the same month in 2006, when it stood at 2.53 points. The Kirchner administration performance had its confidence index peak in the last quarter of 2003 with 3.14 and 3.26, increasing to 3.32 in February 2004. But since then it has never managed to stand above 3 points. Last July's index is actually below the average of the Kirchner administration's four years. The confidence index is based on a phone poll with five basic questions: general assessment of the government; perception if officials are committed to public interest or favor specific sectors; efficiency in managing public funds and expenditure; honesty and if the administration members are capable for the jobs they hold. The area which most confidence attracted during July was the Kirchner administration capacity to cope with people's demands, 54% of interviews; transparency followed with 46% (but 9% less than June) believing most government officials are honest; the general assessment of the administration also dropped from 41 to 37%; only 35% believe Kirchner and officials manage public expenditure with certain degree of efficiency and only 28% said the government acts benefiting the general interest. Education played a significant part in the confidence index, with professionals and university graduates expressing a 1.81 support down from 1.96 in June; people with elementary education reported 2.23 points, down from 2.54, and with secondary education, 2.11. The report points out that "as usual" women are less confident than men.