MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Mrs. Kirchner “on the wrong track” says 65% of Argentines

Pte. CFK, the negative perception is down two points but still 39%

Only 23% of Argentines believe President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner is performing a good job, while 65% consider she's “on the wrong track”, according to the latest public opinion to be released over the weekend.

Although only nine months in office, Mrs. Kirchner has received the full impact of her husband's previous four years of unfinished jobs plus the resulting mounting political adversity: strikes, claims of corruption and a submissive Congress which has become surprisingly demanding in exercising its role of keeping track of the administration's decisions and actions. However the Graciela Romer & Associates poll also shows that the majority of interviews are under the perception that "any perceivable advance can only be attributed to individual factors (efforts, merit, luck, etc.) and that all negative contingencies belong to the realm of the government's responsibility". Among the issues most worrisome for the 680 Argentine residents of metropolitan Buenos Aires who were polled, crime (68%) and the economic situation (37%) figure top of the list. More specifically regarding Cristina Kirchner's performance, only 23% described it as good; 36% moderate and 39% outright negative, said Ms Romer who added that the first signs of this critical stance were first perceived last June, but "this is the first time the negative perception was higher than the positive and moderate perceptions". However the negative perception is down from 41 to 39% and the positive up from 18% to 23%. The negative peak occurred last July. The main hurdle facing the Kirchner administration seems to be her course of action. When asked if the administration was on the right track or not to face Argentina's problems, 65% said "wrong" and 22% replied "correct". Since June 2008 the economic situation has rapidly become one of the main concerns in the interviews, and particularly inflation which was specifically mentioned in 27% of interviews. Only 12% considered the current economic situation in Argentina as "good", 47% moderate; 30% bad and 9%, very bad. Only two out of ten Argentines expect a positive change in the economy next year. The Argentine government insists that annual inflation is below two digits but an overwhelming majority believe the opposite. As to images of the politicians most mentioned in the media, vice president Julio Cobos is best positioned with 52%; he's followed by Buenos Aires mayor Mauricio Macri, 44%; Congress member Elisa Carrió, 39%; farm leader Alfredo de Angeli, 38% and Buenos Aires province governor Daniel Scioli, 37%. Both Kirchners, the former president and current president have negative image standings. Nestor Kirchner figures with a negative 44% and positive 30%, while his wife, 39% and 25%.