CHILE-POLITICS/BACHELET-POLL Chile president's approval rating hits record low: poll

Record ID: 148263

  • Title: CHILE-POLITICS/BACHELET-POLL Chile president's approval rating hits record low: poll
  • Date: 6th July 2015
  • Summary: SANTIAGO, CHILE (FILE - 2011) (REUTERS) ***WARNING CONTAINS FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY*** VARIOUS OF PROTESTERS MARCHING FOR EDUCATION REFORM VARIOUS OF FORMER PRESIDENT SEBASTIAN PINERA
  • Embargoed: 21st July 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Chile
  • Country: Chile
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA1UPYWEU26IWZRH1YGO3URBUO1
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Chilean President Michelle Bachelet's approval rating fell to a record low in June after a month of political shakeups and protests, an opinion poll showed Monday (July 6).
    Bachelet's rating fell to 27 percent of those surveyed by pollster GfK Adimark in June from 29 percent in May, the lowest rating over her two administrations.
    Her disapproval rating in June climbed to 68 percent, one of the worst levels of any president since Adimark began doing such surveys in 2006.
    "Frankly, they're not figures we like, but the figures are there and what we have to do is double our efforts, take them as an incentive, precisely to improve our ability to have better management," said Marcelo Diaz, minister of the Presidency's General Secretariat.
    Adimark said that Bachelet was likely hurt by the resignation of the government's chief of staff at the beginning of the month and her subsequent failure to fill the post promptly.
    Also chipping away at Bachelet's image and that of her government were a series of environmental emergencies in smog-choked Santiago, disruptive public-transport strikes, and massive demonstrations by professors and students demanding university reforms.
    "What we have in the survey is the consolidation of critical public opinion in respect to the capacity of the president to govern in everything involved in the management of her government. And in her handling of her government it's related to the reform agenda that she has proposed in her program, it has to do with the handling of dialogue with the opposition and it has to do with the acceptance of reforms citizens consider as necessary, but on the hand, are also criticizing how they are being carried out. As a result, there is, in this poll, a consolidation process of a process which probably started in 2014 and which hasn't been able to rebound," said analyst Guillermo Holzmann.
    Left-leaning Bachelet led Chile, the world's top copper exporter, from 2006 to 2010 and took office for her second term in March 2014. Though she began her mandate with an approval rating of 54 percent, Chileans have steadily soured on the president as sluggish economic growth and scandals involving money and politics have rocked the nation.
    "While changes are not made things are going to stay the same. But it will be difficult to change. We hope so but, well, this other government….just…see what happens…," said Leonardo, an administrative worker.
    Ivan Rojas, a security guard in Santiago, felt that Bachelet's administration had failed to accomplish promises made to voters.
    "I find that the president, on this occasion that we Chileans gave her, myself included, we gave her our vote and she hasn't accomplished anything. It's just talk, more of the same," he said.
    Amalia, a shopkeeper in the capital, expressed frustration about what she labeled as government waste and corruption.
    "Judging by what is happening, there's a lot of corruption in her government. Many ministers who have failed, who have failed in the offices they were holding. A lot of wasteful spending in the budget, in things they [politicians] have asked for in funds [from companies]. So I think that's why things are bad in the country," she said.
    The main opposition right-wing coalition, however, has failed to capitalize on Bachelet's woes, with both it and the governing New Majority coalition now facing disapproval ratings of more than 70 percent.
    According to analyst Guillermo Holzmann, the government must act swiftly to counter the negative fallout from recent corruption scandals.
    "The government, I think, insofar as it is able to handle the agenda, set up the issues and establish negotiation mechanisms that are institutional and credible for citizens, it will definitely balance the negativity or criticism that emerges from political corruption cases or unethical behavior in politics," he said.
    The pollster said in its report that while the Copa America tournament - in which Chile made history by snagging the title - had been able to divert media attention during the month of June, the government's reputation had not gone unscathed.
    Political institutions in general have suffered in the eyes of the public, with approval of Chile's senate and chamber of deputies falling to the lowest figures since the poll began.
    The survey polled 1,053 people by telephone from June 8 to June 30. Its margin of error was 3 percentage points.
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