Uruguayans generally approve of President Luis Lacalle Pou’s management, according to a new Opción survey released in telenoche (Channel 4). In november 44% approve, 31% disapprove, and 24% neither approve nor disapprove. Meanwhile, 1% do not know or do not answer.
Compared to the previous measurement of the consultant, there is a slight increase in polarization, and neutral approval falls. Last quarter, 41% approved of the presidency, 27% disapproved, and 31% held intermediate positions.
According to Option, the government of Lacalle Pou “It is on track to close 2022 with a positive management image gap, although with lower approval levels than those existing at the beginning of the year.”
The November measurement is broken down as follows: 44% approve (13% qualify it as very good and 31% consider it good). Conversely, 15% of citizens classify it as “very bad” and an additional 16% define it as “bad”, which constitutes 31% disapproval.
“Compared to previous administrations, since there is evidence of public opinion available for Uruguay, the current administration continues to be one of the best positioned to cross the middle of the period,” the consultant highlights in its report.
If you look for political sympathiesamong those who voted for coalition parties in the first round of the 2019 presidential elections, support is 74%, compared to 6% disapproval.
On the other hand, among the Frente Amplistas, 11% approve of the management and 61% disapprove of it, increasing disapproval by 5 points compared to the previous quarter.
Astesian Case
The Opción measurement included the political scandal regarding the ex-custodian of the president, Alejandro Astesiano, today accused of various crimes after having used the Executive Tower for his illegal activities.
“The high visibility of the case, the responsibility assumed by the president regarding the Astesiano selection process and the criticisms made by the opposition, were configured as a possible impact factor on the image of the government and/or the president“, said the consultant. For this reason, Uruguayans were asked how their perception of the president, linked to the Astesiano case, evolved.
For the majority of Uruguayans (60%), the image of the president did not change as a result of this event. In turn, the percentage of those who declare that the image has changed negatively (22%) is higher than those who maintain that it has changed positively (8%).
If you look for political sympathies, in both electorates prevail those who maintain that the presidential image did not change as a result of this episode. Among the coalition voters, for 13% the president’s image changed positively, for 12% negatively, and for 69% it did not change.
Meanwhile, among the Broad Front voters, only 2% consider that it changed positively, 36% state that it did so negatively, and 51% maintain that the Astesiano case did not change the previous image of the president. Lacalle Pou’s popularity did not change significantly this quarter.
“Therefore, in general terms, neither the image of the government nor the popularity of the president seem to have been affected in a very significant way by the Astesiano case, beyond the fact that the episode throws a negative balance for the ruling party,” Opción analyzes.
