Fifty percent of Mexicans believe that Mexico’s security situation will improve this year, according to a poll conducted by the newspaper El Financiero, while just over half think the economy will pick up after stagnating in 2019.
In contrast, 30% of 800 Mexican adults polled last month predicted that the security situation would deteriorate this year, while 17% said it would stay the same.
The optimism of half of the those polled came despite homicide numbers reaching record levels in 2019.
With regard to the economy, 54% of respondents said they believed it would improve in 2020, while 27% predicted it would get worse and 17% said it would remain the same.
Revised data published by the national statistics agency Inegi in November showed that the economy contracted 0.09% in the first quarter of 2019 and 0.06% in the second, and grew by just 0.1% in the third. Figures for the fourth quarter of last year have not yet been released.
Reasons for the optimism on the economy from more than half of those polled including the signing of a revised version of the new North American free trade agreement last month and the announcement in November of a US $42.95-billion national infrastructure plan that the government said would stimulate growth.
Asked to offer an opinion on the outlook for President López Obrador’s popularity in 2020, 49% of respondents said it would increase, 29% said it would decrease and 18% said it would stay the same.
The result could be explained by the optimism of half of the poll respondents with regard to security and the economy.
However, to increase his popularity, López Obrador will have to reverse a downward trend in his approval rating revealed by polls published in the latter half of last year.
The poll also touched on the 2020 presidential election in the United States, asking what was most likely to happen to President Donald Trump. Twenty-three percent said he would win the election, 42% said he would lose and 26% predicted he would be ousted before they were held.
The El Financiero poll also found that 49% of Mexicans believe that women’s protests against violence and femicide will increase in 2020, while 30% think that their frequency will decrease.
Several such protests were held in Mexico last year, including a performance in Mexico City in November of “Un violador en tu camino” (A rapist in your way), a choreographed feminist chant that originated in Chile and spread to cities around the world.
In addition, the poll revealed division among Mexicans about whether López Obrador should travel overseas in 2020 to represent Mexico on the world stage: 49% of respondents said the president should travel abroad, while 48% said he should stay at home to concentrate on domestic issues.
López Obrador didn’t leave the country in 2019, choosing instead to send Foreign Affairs Secretary Marcelo Ebrard to represent Mexico at international meetings such as the G20 leaders’ summit and the United Nations General Assembly.
Source: El Financiero (sp)
