Chile: President Piñera's approval ratings drop to all-time low

The 30% approval (62% disapproval) scored by Seb Piñera in the Adimark GfK poll released today isn't just the worst approval rating he's had; it's the worst approval rating ever scored by any Chilean president.

So IKN goes for the succinct analysis commentary: It sucks. Casillero del Diablo served, the end.

Approval ratings of four local Presidents (for the attention of Foreign Perfidy)

This chart as a complement to Greg Weeks' post this morning, as he decided to debunk some of the guff and nonsense written by Foreign Policy on Ecuador.

Presidential Approval in the Americas at end 2009

Those nice people over at the reliable Mitofsky ratings agency in Mexico have put together their regular "poll of polls" for leaders in the Americas (I'd say 'Presidents', but Harpo is there) as at the end of 2009. Here's the chart (click it to make it bigger), below some comments:

• Martinelli and Funes top the bill, but both are still early into their terms and enjoying that honeymoon period.

• Lula is Yoda.

• 'Chelle (Chile) and Tabby (Uruguay) are now wrapping up their very successful terms and both should be congratulated on good jobs done.

• Uribe (Colombia) is still popular but has been dropping all through the year, his attempt to muscle in on the May elections largely to blame.

• Evo (Bolivia) and Felipe (Mexico) batting well enough and Lugo (Paraguay) at 50% doing just enough to get a green.

• The Hawaiian (USA) under 50% already? That didn't take long, did it?

• Studmuffin (Ecuador) has seen a sharp drop in 2009, a lot due to the electricity crisis late year but the unemployment inertia is to blame too.

• The ones in red? Yep, totally agree. All of them "ugh".

Finally, you'll note that Hugo Chávez doesn't make the list. Mitofsky doesn't cover him in its poll of polls, probably because they like to be accurate and the polls that come out of Venezuela show wild differences. For example, the latest December numbers for Chávez from pro-gov't pollsters IVAD have him at 60.3% while the pro-oppo Datanalisis guys have him as low as 46.3% for exactly the same time period. I wonder why.........

Chart of the day is.....

...the approval ratings of President Alvaro Uribe of Colombia, November 2007 to November 2009.

The bimonthly survey run by Gallup has just registered its lowest reading for Uribe in seven years. Hey, 64% is still better than most and he has a hardcore of supporters that verge of deification over there. But that 64% is also an interesting move, what with the US troops coming to breakfast and the dude battling to get the rules changed so he can be king again and all that. Plus the reasons given below, of course. Here's Reuters with the quotes:

BOGOTA, Nov 6 (Reuters) - A scandal involving accusations of improper state payouts to friends of Colombian President Alvaro Uribe has cut his popularity and threatens to complicate his re-election plans, according to a poll released on Friday.

Uribe's popularity dropped to 64 percent from 70 percent two months ago, said the Invamer-Gallup survey.

Washington's ally in the left-tilting Andean region, Uribe may run for a third term if the subsidy scandal and sluggish economy do not bog down efforts by his supporters to change the constitution to allow him to stand in next May's election.

The conservative leader remains the most popular politician in the country thanks to his U.S.-backed crackdown on drug-running Marxist guerrillas who are widely loathed for their practice of kidnapping.

But the scandal -- in which the opposition accuses the agriculture ministry of handing out millions of dollars in subsidies to businesses and individuals, including a local beauty queen, with ties to Uribe -- has taken a toll.

"It has affected the perception of the government's handling of corruption," said Jorge Londono, head of Invamer-Gallup, which carried out the survey of 1,000 voters in the cities of Bogota, Medellin, Cali and Barranquilla.

Adding to Uribe's troubles, Colombia has been pushed into recession by fallout from the world economic slowdown.

"This is the lowest popularity rating we've ever seen for Uribe," Londono said. "When there is a scandal at a time of slow economic activity, it hurts."

CONTINUES HERE

Studmuffin loved or loathed: Pick your own poll and make up your own mind

Two polls just out in Ecuador have Studmuffin's approval rating really widely spread. Here's the graph to make it easy....

.....and that's a big difference. The strange thing about it is that the two polling companies are just about the most repuatable in the country, too. Cedatos is part of the world of Gallup so has to play by the book. On the other hand Santiago Perez Inv Y Est (SP) has been called pro-gov't in previous years (by the dumbasses at El Universo, mainly) but also has the reputation as the closest pollster to reality in major elections and has the top job of producing exit polls on the big days...not a task for the flybynighters.

So is Studmuffin loved or loathed? You be the judge!

Twobreakfasts Approval Rating

The monthly opinion poll from IPSOS/Apoyo Peru is out today, with Twobreakfasts scoring an impressive 26% approval rating. What's more, 67% of Peruvians disapprove of his work. He scores highest (least lowest would be better) in Lima with 34% approval. As we pointed out the other week, Twobreakfasts' best polling city is less than Evo Morales' worst polling city in his country (Santa Cruz, 38%). You want context? We do context.

The above chart puts it all into context. Not only is Twobreakfasts hated by his population, the rejection is consistent (top reasons for disapproving of Twobreakfasts 1) he's a liar 2)prices are rising 3)there's no work 4)APRA corruption). Or in other words, they know how bad he is and they don't need reminding. This is the dude that businesspeople love and English language lapdog media fawn over, of course...hardly a coincidence.

Presidential approval ratings in Latin America

A big thank you to Tim's El Salvador blog for the image below. Quite simply, Tim runs the best English language blog about El Salvador out there and does a high class job. Visit early and often and get wise to the country.

(click to enlarge and for better focus)

The chart is taken from the nice people over at Mitofsky, who put together these poll-of-polls every couple of months or so. The columns show the country and President, the month of the last poll (either August or September) the numbers of months s/he has been in office and the approval rating.

• In the dark green "we totally rule" category, Funes in El Salvador and Martinelli of Panama are enjoying their honeymoon periods right now. Lula, 'Chelle and the little guy with glasses in Colombia are all as popular as ever.

• In the light green "we're popular" category comes Calderón, Vasquez and Evo.

• The yellow-shaded "look we're still ok here but we gotta watch out" category come some guy with a foxy wife, Studmuffin, Rasputin and Colom (who's managed to shake off the murder accusations in the last few days, too).

• Bringing up the rear come the guy who EpicFailed in the negotiations with the coupmonger fascists of Honduras, Twobreakfasts and Klishtina. She was a dead duck Prez in month four or so...nothing has changed.

You'll note that Hugo isn't on the list. He polled 58% last time round, according to the pretty reliable Datanalisis polling firm.

Evo and popularity

From IKN's department of fed-up-to-the-back-teeth-with-this-bullshit-bias, here we go with the latest opinion polls and Presidential approval ratings for Evo Morales of Bolivia. With just two months before the most one-sided presidential race since Chirac vs Le Pen, Evo has been given a 60% approval rating over the length and breadth of Bolivia, up six points since the last poll, by the reliable pollsters Ipsos Apoyo.

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So Evo is popular, period. He's popular because he's been doing a good job. Got that? I know it might be tough to swallow for some of you, but it's just another inconvenient fact that you're gonna have to live with, dudettes and dudes. However there's more to see in the numbers and that's why there are several bars on that chart above. The results have been broken down further and show Evo's support in the three major conurbations of Bolivia. In his La Paz/El Alto stronghold he's running an impressive 84%. In Cochabamba he's polling 56% and is far more popular than his main (adjective used loosely) election opponent, local boy Manfred Mann Villa Reyes or Reyes Villas or whatever his name is. In Santa Cruz, he's polling under 50% but the 39% approval is nobody's idea of a total disaster. Just check how Evo's numbers in Santa Cruz compare to Twobreakfasts in the whole of his country, also according to Ipsos/Apoyo.

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Strange how the English language media that cover South America love to dwell on Evo's unpopularity in Santa Cruz but nary a word gets printed about the utter rejection felt by the Peruvian people all over the country towards their dumbass-in-chief. Strange, innit?

Chart of the day is....

....Hugo Chávez's presidential approval ratings, monthly in 2009.

There are many surveys done in Venezuela on this subject, but with yesterday's Datanalisis survey results for July published it give us a chance to track one single (and reputedly reliable) survey company's results using the same question and same demographics every time.

We see that in the period January to March, Chávez won support through the constitutional amendment period (when there was no poll taken). No poll taken for April. Then his support dropped back down to what the boss of Datanalisis calls his "traditional support" of between 50% and 54%. This month it's moved back up to 57.3%. The negative views towards Chávez dropped from 41% in June to 38.8% in July. Presumably the other 13.9% are neutral towards him or offered no opinion.

Thus, if media channels were to reflect the true state of opinion in Venezuela, on average 573 out of every thousand news reports or articles should be supportive of Chávez, 388 should criticize him and 139 should take a neutral stance. Anybody note a slight discrepancy with reality there?

Vox Populi

Here's a chart showing the latest presidential approval ratings for LatAm leaders. The figures are all those take so far in August and are from the authoritative Angus Reid Global Monitor page on Latin America, right here:

• Funes in El Salvador is enjoying his honeymoon period.

• 'Chelle in Chile is enjoying her swan song..we'll miss her.

• Evo in Bolivia is up a point since the last poll in April

• Studmuffin in Ecuador is down a point since the last show

• And then we have Twobreakfasts. Isn't it amazing how this dude is the one made out to be the best of the bunch by the idiot English media? Shome coinshidensh, shurely ossifer!

So what's the next argument, blue-eyes? The little brown people down here don't know what's good for them, is that it?

Twobreakfasts approval rating drops 9 points to 21%

The thing about populations is that they've consistently proven themselves to be much smarter than either politicians or media outlets give them credit. Today's opinion poll published by IPSOS Apoyo is the regular monthly roundup of approval ratings in Peru, but is also the first one to be published since the Bagua massacre. Here are some of the choicer details, but you should click through and look for yourself; there's a lot of info and even basic Spanish should see you through (numbers are numbers, y'see);

• Twobreakfasts' approval rating drops 9% to stand at 21%
• His disapproval rating rises 15% to stand at 78%

• Prime Minister Yehude Simon's approval rating drops 10% to stand at 25%
• His disapproval rating rises 17% to stand at 61%

• Finance Minister Luis Carranza's approval rating drops 7% to stand at 19%
• His disapproval rating rises 9% to stand at 60%

Also, 63% of those polled said Yehude Simon sould resign, and a full 73% said Interior Minister Mercedes "nothing to do with me" Cabanillas should also resign. As for "who's to blame" for the Bagua massacre, here's how the percentages line up (more than one answer sometimes given)

• Twobreakfasts 57%
• Cabanillas 39%
• Simon 24%
• Alberto Pizango 17%
• National Police 17%
• Extremist Infiltrators 11%
• Foreign Infiltrators 11%
• Native Communities 7%
• NGOs 5%
• other/no answer 6%

So much for Evo Morales getting the blame, eh? As my personal favourite stat, 92% of Peruvians think that Amazon natives should be been consulted before the "law of the jungle" decrees (DL1064, DL1090) were passed. It makes the Peruvian embassy's argument last week look as stupid as it is and shows that Peruvians aren't going to settle for anything less than democracy.

All in all, it's good to note that the people of Peru weren't led up the garden path by the heinous propaganda spewed by Twobreakfasts and his lapdog press corps this month. The country of Peru really does deserve far better leaders than the dross it has to put up with.

LatAm Presidential Popularity: Full Chart Rundown

We haven't done an update on this for a while, so as the new Mitofsky poll of polls for regional presidential approval ratings was published this week (here's the link to the Spanish language PDF) and we have the Summit of the Americas on the event horizon it's as good a time as any.

Here's the full table, all colour-coded for your dee lek tay shun. The base source for the ratings is the Mitofsky report, but I've also added the latest updates from Angus Reid Monitor (example, Bachelet's recent 62.1% polling from last weekend). Click the chart to expand it if necessary and feel free to swipe it for your own blog, website or whatever (but a h/t this time, please guys, yeah?):

click to enlarge

So now a few selected OttoComments:

• Lula: He is Yoda. The end.

• Uribe: It's high but it's also dropping. NastyBrutishAndShort was polling 80+% this time last year. It's the economy, stupid.

• Calderón: Must be really annoying Lopez "legit" Obrador by polling so well. He's been surprisingly likeable in his first two-and-a-bit years, in fact. An example of the 'art of the possible' definition of politics.
  

• Chávez: Amazing how the Venezuelan majority opinion gets lost in translation via the English media, innit? Media bias is one thing, but ignoring the views of almost 2/3rds of Venezuelans is nothing short of disgraceful.
  

• Bachelet: Probably the best recent performance. Michelle was in the low 40s this time last year. Chileans are going to miss this quality head of state when her time is up at end 2009. We like Michelle, yay!
  

• Correa: Studmuffin wins April 26th. Nuff said.

• Lugo: Very likely to drop in the near future, all things considered.

• Morales: Steady as she goes, he always polls high 50s.

• Ortega: Low at 38% but was a lot lower. Notable that when this ratface STFUs and gets on with the job in hand he gets better numbers. The world would still be better off without him, though.

• García: The man least likely to go on hunger strike in THE WHOLE WORLD. Amazing how outsiders think Twobreakfasts is doing a good job in Peru. The man is a disaster.

• Klishtina: Ugh. She deserves less and is going to get hammered at the polls in June.

Confirmed: 19% of Peruvians are officially and certifiably insane

Chile player Orellana, about 0.7 seconds after scoring Chile's winning goal against
Argentina last night....have a guess what word he's about to scream?

The following two survey results cannot possibly be a coincidence:

1) President Twobreakfasts García has a job approval rating of 19%

2) 19% of Peruvians think their national football team can make it to the World Cup finals in 2010.

Nineteen percent! In the world they call "bleedin' reality, mate", both of those percentages should be stuck at zero. This can only mean that if you ever walk round Lima the chances are that 19% of the people you meet will be saying "wibble wibble" a lot and having long conversations with dogs and their own shoelaces and things like that.

Be clear; Peru cannot and will not make it to the Finals and anyone who understands the offside law can see that one. Meanwhile, Otto proved again last night that he totally sucks at soccer betting, as none of his three selections came in and his bankroll is back to zip nada nothing. At least Otto isn't mad enough to actually bet real money on his own selections......