MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Chile’s government begins to react to disapproval rating of 64%

President Piñera admits that education and the tax system are no longer taboos

In the last week, Chile’s conservative government has made two surprisingly liberal announcements, explained in part by the latest public opinion polls. First, President Sebastián Piñera announced Sunday that he was open to making quality education a constitutional right, just two weeks after he called education a “consumer good”.

Second, government spokesperson Andrés Chadwick told local media that tax reform was no longer “a taboo subject.” The Ministry of the Interior was commissioned to look into tax reform in June and preliminary details suggest that the government is considering raising taxes on businesses in order to address inequality in Chile.

The statements carry symbolic weight as public opinion continues to move against the president and against both major political coalitions – left and right.

According to a government evaluation survey released Tuesday by the Chilean polling firm Adimark, government approval has fallen from 31 to 29% while disapproval has risen from 62 to 64%, the worst rating ever seen by President Sebastián Piñera since he took office in early 2010.

The sharpest change in the last few months has been in education, where approval of Piñera’s government fell from 60% in April to 20% in July. School takeovers by students have been ongoing since mid-May and officials warn that some students might not be able to move on to the next grade if strikes continue much longer. At one point, 400 high schools were on strike or taken over, with more than 300,000 students involved in nationwide protests.

Approval of how Piñera’s government has dealt with crime has also fallen sharply, from 33% in May to 22% in July.

The poll revealed that Chile’s two leading political coalitions have also suffered, each falling to their lowest approval rating since Piñera took office. Approval for the centre-right Alianza fell from 30 to 26%. The centre-left opposition coalition, the Concertación, has an even lower approval rating of 20%, down from 22%.

When respondents were asked whether they identify more with Piñera’s government or with the political opposition, however, 40% identified with the opposition, up from 37% one month earlier. Only 30% identified with the government.

According to La Tercera, inequality in Chile is expected to be a central focus of the Piñera administration in the future. Last week, the president told local media, “The inequalities that we are living within Chile today are excessive and I feel that they are immoral.”

In order to combat low approval ratings, the government has taken a number of steps in addition to those mentioned earlier. Yesterday, the government released a new proposal for education reform. Last month, Piñera announced eight changes to his cabinet, including replacing the Minister of Education.

By Benjamin Schneider – The Santiago Times