The public opinion study center, Criteria, directed by psychologist Cristián Valdivieso, asked a series of questions for Chileans to compare areas of daily life with the rest of Latin America.
After three years since the movement of social explosion that requested access to social rights, a pandemic and a constituent process whose fruit was rejected, the results of the survey carried out virtually the last week of November, and a thousand Chileans over 18 years of age , is that the view —in general— is pessimistic, and more so in right-wing political groups and low socioeconomic groups.
The first question of the study published in Third It was “compared to other Latin American countries, how do you think the situation in Chile is regarding crime, economic growth, inequality, poverty, violence, political stability and care for the environment?”
60.4% of those consulted answered that the country’s situation with regard to crime is worse or much worse than other nations.
This was more robust in low socioeconomic groups, since 68.5% of this type of respondents rated them this way.
66.7% of those who identify themselves on the right also had this pessimistic look. And 69.3% of those who do not have a political identification expressed the same opinion.
In turn, 25.9% of those surveyed said that in this area Chile is the same as the other countries and 13.7% indicated that it is better or much better.
Perception of a “worse or much worse” country
Consulted for political stability, 40.3% assured that the country is “worse or much worse” than its neighboring nations. 31% said that Chile is the same and 28.7% that it is better or much better.
The survey was carried out prior to events such as the conviction for corruption of the former president of Argentina Cristina Fernández or the dismissal of Pedro Castillo, President of Peru on Wednesday of this week.
In this particular consultation, 59.4% of those who identified themselves as being on the left were more optimistic, saying that Chile is better or much better than its neighbors. On the other side, the majority of those tending to the right -47.7%- had a negative look, declaring worse or much worse.
Economic growth
Regarding economic growth, 43.3% declared that they feel that our country is worse or much worse than the rest of Latin America, 28.8% said that it is the same and 27.9% said that it is better or much better.
The second part of the Criteria study focused on looking at the future. The first thing that was requested there was to choose the term, among six proposals, that best described the feeling of the respondent with a view to what is coming for the country. In descending order, the most chosen was fear (41.4%) and then sadness (29.7%), surprise (16%), joy (7.8%) and anger and contempt (both with 2.5% ).
“Thinking in a period of 10 years, do you think that Chile will have achieved these goals, will it have advanced, will it continue as it is now, or will it have gone backwards?” That was the next question, who had to answer on six assumptions: eliminate poverty, be a developed country, stop the damage to the environment, be a reconciled country, solve the problem of the quality of education, and reduce the inequality of the income. In all areas, with the exception of the environment, the option to stay the same won.
Thus, regarding eliminating poverty, 40.5% think that it will remain the same, 28.7% that progress or achievement will have been made; Regarding being a developed country, 41.2% say that it will be the same, 30.3% that it will have been achieved or advanced; Regarding being a reconciled country, 49.4% believe that it will remain the same, 21.3% that it will have regressed, 18.4% that it will have reached or advanced; while solving the problem of the quality of education, 43.3% believe that it will be the same and 34.5% that it will have been achieved or advanced.
