President’s discharge Luis Lacalle Pou reaches its lowest point of the government period. Public opinion at the end of this year —and in the midst of tensions over the Marset and Astesiano cases— ended up divided: 39% approve of performance, 38% disapprove (technical tie), 22% have a vision intermediate and the remaining 1% have no opinion.
This is confirmed by the latest survey by the consulting firm Equipos, which conducted a face-to-face survey of 704 Uruguayans representative of the country’s adult population between December 2 and 20. If compared with the previous measurement, from less than a month ago, approval of the president’s job fell five percentage points (from 44% to 39%). Disapproval also decreased, although to a lesser extent (from 40% to 38%).
According to the Equipos report, “looking at the data in perspective, since October (coinciding with the start of the ‘Astesiano case’) the president has lost 10 points of approval, increased disapproval by six, and as a consequence his net balance went from +17 to start October to +1 at the end of the year”.
During the beginning of the health emergency, as soon as he had assumed his mandate, Lacalle Pou enjoyed a very favorable image (65% approved of his management) and his performance was comparable, judging by those surveyed, to the first term of Tabaré Vázquez. The high approval remained until the steepest drop in the last quarter.
The opinion continues to be very marked by the ideological self-perception of those surveyed. Among those who define themselves as “left” or “center left”, disapproval of Lacalle Pou is very high (74%). On the other hand, among those who define themselves as “right” or “center right” there is almost as broad an approval (72%). In the “center” of the electorate, the president receives positive balance split evaluations (37% approval and 28% disapproval).
It is in the center of the electorate that, judging by different public opinion analysts, part of the political bid will take place in the next electoral campaign, given the existence of two party blocs with almost symmetrical forces.
