MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Slight drop in Uruguayan President's approval

President Lacalle still has an 11% positive image surplus

Uruguayan President Luis Lacalle Pou of the Multicolor coalition and Montevideo Mayor Carolina Cosse of the opposition Broad Front (Frente Amplio - FA) were both shown to have a 47% approval rating, according to a survey from the Equipos Consultores firm. Disapproval of Lacalle's administration went up from 32% to 36%, it was also reported.

Cosse is one of the likely candidates to run for president in the next elections as the FA seeks to regain control of the Executive.

When asked about Lacalle Pou's performance, 47% of Uruguayans approved of his work, 36% disapproved, and 17% have intermediate judgments. Hence, the president still has an 11% surplus.

Early in October when the so-called “Astesiano case” went public, Lacalle's approval stood at 49%. The scandal involved Lacalle's chief bodyguard involved in a scheme for the fraudulent issuance of Uruguayan passports to Russian nationals.

Among Multicolor voters, 77% still supported their chosen head of state while 11% regretted their decision, while 73% of center to leftwing Uruguayans disapproved of Lacalle and only 12% still supported Lacalle.

Regarding Cosse, she also had 47% approval, against 34% disapproval and 19% of intermediate opinions, so her net balance was 13 points. The Mayor of Montevideo started with 57% approval and then her support started dwindling but always within “a relatively narrow range of between 41% and 51%,” the report pointed out.

Among FA voters, Cosse has 78% support, but among Multicolor followers, her disapproval reaches 63%. The endorsement also varied according to the socioeconomic level of the respondents.

This study was conducted between Oct. 21 and Nov. 7, based on face-to-face interaction with 704 people aged 18 or over, in 176 sampling points throughout towns with more than 2,000 inhabitants nationwide. Respondents were selected from the total based on a stratified, probabilistic, multistage sample of households, using sex and age quotas for final segmentation, with a maximum margin of error to be around +- 3.7%.

The results were adjusted according to the previous vote, region, educational level, age, sex, and occupation status of the respondents. Equipos Consultores' survey is funded by media, social organizations, private companies, international agencies, and political parties.

The report was released Thursday on Montevideo's Channel 10.