MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Uruguayan President still has 51% of approval after two years

Lacalle's strength lies with his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic above anything else. Photo: Sebastián Astorga

At least 51% of Uruguayans still approved of President Luis Lacalle Pou's management of the country, according to a survey by Opción Consultores published Tuesday.

Two years into his term, Lacalle has become one of the best presidents ever at that point “after the democratic recovery,” the report highlighted.

Most Uruguayans (51%) found Lacalle's administration either “good” or “very good” rating it as “very good” or “good”, according to Opción Consultores' survey, aired Tuesday on Montevideo's Channel 4.

On the other hand, 24% of Uruguayans considered Lacalle's handling of national affairs “neither good nor bad” and another 23% believed it was “bad or very bad”.

“The rating of approval place Lacalle Pou's government among the best Uruguayan administrations after two years of ruling [since] the democratic recovery,” the study pointed out.

However, “the current approval levels are lower than those registered by the government in the first months of its mandate,” the consulting firm underlined.

”This means that the approval cycle of the current government follows for the moment the logic of previous governments, with a peak registered at the beginning and a subsequent deterioration of approval, with the peculiarity that the loss of political capital of this government has been slight (in comparison to administrations such as that of Jorge Batlle or the second Vázquez administration),” Opción elaborated.

Lacalle Pou's management was measured very differently depending on the issue: handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, security and economy.

Regarding the upcoming referendum to repeal 135 articles of the so-called Law of Urgent Consideration (LUC), the Opción report would lead people to believe most Uruguayans will vote against repealing it, since it deals with several security issues at which Lacalle has been measured favorably.

Nevertheless, the report calls for caution when forecasting an outcome, because “relevant segments that approve of the government's work are not clearly in favor of maintaining the LUC.”

The study also stressed the Government's main reason for its approval had to do with the handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, which is in no way connected with the LUC.