MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Argentina: Survey shows only Milei improving

Poliarquía's Citizen Optimism Index has reached the level of “extreme pessimism.”

A new survey released earlier this week has shown only Liberal Congressman Javier Milei is improving ahead of next year's presidential elections with the current Frente de Todos (FdT) government having a 20% rate of approval.

According to a study from pollsters Poliarquía, Kirchnerism reached its nadir in May amid rising inflation and the love loss between President Alberto Fernández and Vice President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner (CFK) who will reportedly run separately for the Casa Rosada in 2023 and have not appeared publicly together since March 1.

The survey also highlighted CFK's negative image hitting an all-time low of 60%. In addition to that, her positivity rate broke its average floor of 30% and plummeted to 25% among the youngest, and those with at least a primary school education in the Buenos Aires City area. In addition to that, the positive image of CFK's son Máximo Kirchner fell nine points down to 15%.

Regarding President Alberto Fernández, 6 out of 10 Argentines disapprove of his administration and the percentage is even higher among voters who do not adhere to any political party, Poliarquía reported. His positive image on the other hand dropped from 33% to 28%, with 30% of Argentines believing it is CFK who actually makes all the key decisions and only 5% of the Argentines think that the President is the one who has the power.

Among the main points of the fall in the image of the Frente de Todos and its main actors, “the worsening of the inflationary process” which caused “the deterioration of the personal economy of the Argentines, consumption and future expectations” is highlighted. But also the very political internal affairs of the ruling coalition eroded the image among the public opinion.

In this shaky context, Congressman Javier Milei keeps improving, while Buenos Aires Mayor Horacio Rodríguez Larreta has fallen below 40%, the report also pointed out. Former President Mauricio Macri maintains his level of rejection unchanged at 51%, but his positive image fell to just 19%, while former Buenos Aires Governor María Eugenia Vidal has fallen below 30%.

With a positive image of 33%, Milei is now the most appealing of politicians.

In addition, more than half of the population considers that inflation will increase strongly in the next three months, while only 8% think that it will remain at the same level or decrease. On the other hand, the negative evaluation of the country's economy rose to 58%, reaching the worst record of any Kirchnerist presidency after it hit 51% in 2014.

Only 12% of Argentines said their domestic economy had improved last year, accumulating a seven-point decrease in the last 60 days, while expectations have fallen to historic lows: only one in four Argentines believe that their personal economic situation will improve within a year.

Poliarquía's Citizen Optimism Index has reached the level of “extreme pessimism.”