MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Chilean president Piñera approval rating experiences slight recovery

Students’ demonstrations still have strong support but they are declining

The approval rating of Chile’s President Sebastián Piñera rose to 31% over the month of October according the results released by Chilean polling company, Adimark on Monday. While that figure represents an improvement of only one percentage point from last month’s poll, it confirms that the president has arrested the downward trend that saw him fall to his lowest approval rating of 27% in August’s Adimark poll.

The president's “active and energetic” personality was approved by 57% of those surveyed, making it his personal attribute most positively received by the Chilean public. His perception as being “able to confront crisis situations,” “holding authority” and having “the ability to find solutions for the country’s problems” all maintained their September positions in the October poll at 53%, 48% and 46%.

The attributes for which the Chilean president was rated most poorly included “having the respect of Chileans,” “credibility” and “the endearment of the public,” at 38, 37 and 32 percent, respectively. However, while the president’s personal support was higher than in recent polls, that of his government dropped three points to 28% and the percentage of respondents who disagreed with its vision for the country rose to 64%.

The Piñera government’s management of international relations continues to be its most highly rated, with an approval of 64%. The economy, at 44%, and employment, 42%, were the second and third best-rated areas of the administration.

Conversely, delinquency, education and public transport were the lowest rated of the government’s performance at 19, 20 and 27 percent respectively. The figure for transport was as low as 17% in the Chilean capital.

The honour of most-highly-rated member of the administration’s cabinet was shared between Defence Minister Andrés Allamand and Minister Carolina Schmidt, who heads the National Women’s Service, both of whom received a rating of 78% approval.

Allamand’s approval remained the same as in September’s poll, when it rose by 20 percentage points after he headed the rescue efforts of the tragic Juan Fernández plane crash in early September, which had a powerful effect on the Chilean public.

Schmidt’s approval jumped by 10 percentage points after her role in the extension of postnatal leave that took effect last month, meanwhile the lowest rated cabinet member was Education Minister Felipe Bulnes, who fell 7 points to an approval rating of 34%.

The government’s handling of the student movement for education reform that has been at the forefront of public discussion for the last six months fell 1 percent to a 21% approval rating, while disapproval was at 73%. However support for the demands of the student movement fell sharply in some key areas.

Overall approval was down 12 points since the previous poll to 67%. While approval of the way in which the students are demanding change fell to 38% and disapproval rose to 57%, after a series of large marches that ended in violent confrontations between police and protesters.

Adimark president, Roberto Méndez, advised the student movement to take note of his company’s results, saying that the time for “disorder in the street” and school seizures -- which have been one of the principal forms of protest -- were over.

Méndez said that the results demonstrated “wear and fatigue in public opinion over the student movement.”

Another discernible trend appears to be the Chilean public’s rejection of all major political institutions, picked up in last month’s Latin America-wide Latinbarometro poll, which found that satisfaction with the operation of democracy in the country fell 24% in 2011 to only 32% of the population.

Respondents in the Adimark poll gave an approval rating of only 23% to the Chilean Chamber of Deputies and 27% to the Senate. Chile’s left-wing opposition alliance, the Concertación, continued its approval rating crisis with a drop of 3 percentage points to only 14% overall, and a disapproval as high as 73%.
 

The governing Alianza coalition maintained its ratings of 29% approval and 59% disapproval. However identification with the Piñera government, at 30% was lower than identification with the opposition, which was at 35%. Identification with neither political coalition polled at 35%.
The Adimark poll interviews 1,110 respondents above the age of 18 and has a margin of error of 3 percent.

By Joe Hinchliffe  – The Santiago Times