President López Obrador’s performance rating has declined eight points but remains strong, according to a new poll that also shows that more than six in 10 Mexicans believe that migrants are a burden on the country.
Sponsored by the newspapers Reforma and the Washington Post and carried out by the former, the poll shows that 70% of respondents approve of the president’s performance compared to 78% in a March survey.
The percentage of people who disapprove of the way López Obrador is doing his job rose from 18% to 29%.
The president’s political party also has strong support.
More than half of those polled said they would vote for the National Regeneration Movement, or Morena, if a presidential election were held today, more than three times the support garnered by the National Action (PAN) and Institutional Revolutionary (PRI) parties.
Asked what impact the changes being implemented by the president will have on the country, 44% of respondents said they will improve it, while 22% said that Mexico will get worse.
Four in 10 respondents said that Mexico is generally on a good path, while 27% said that the country is heading in the wrong direction.
Insecurity was cited by 55% of respondents as the biggest problem in the country, while 45% said that they felt safer since the deployment of the National Guard.
Unemployment, corruption, the economy and poverty were cited by 10%, 9%, 7% and 4% of respondents respectively as Mexico’s No. 1 problem.
Asked how the president is dealing with a range of different issues, poll respondents rated López Obrador best on education. Half of those polled said he was dealing with the issue well, while 21% said that his performance was poor.
The president’s response to drug trafficking and organized crime was considered the worst aspect of his performance. Just 24% of respondents said that he was doing a good job in the area, while 45% said that his performance was poor.
More than half of respondents said that López Obrador has been successful in improving the economic situation of the nation’s poor and just under half said that he has done a good job in the crusade to end corruption.
However, just one-quarter of those polled said the economy has improved since the new government took office and 35% said that the security situation has worsened compared to 21% who said it has improved.
The navy is considered the most trustworthy institution in the country followed by the army and the National Guard, while less than a third of respondents expressed confidence in the nation’s judges and attorney general’s offices.
Three in 10 people said that Carlos Urzúa’s resignation as finance secretary will negatively affect the economy, 43% said they support the construction of the Santa Lucía airport and 86% expressed the belief that former president Enrique Peña Nieto committed acts of corruption while in office.
Less than a quarter of respondents said that Mexico has a good or very good relationship with the United States, while 77% said that they have a bad or very bad opinion of U.S. President Donald Trump.
Opinion was divided about López Obrador’s management of the bilateral relationship, with 47% saying that they approved and 41% responding that they disapproved.
Just over half of respondents said the president has defended Mexico’s interests in the face of Trump’s threats while 34% said that he hasn’t.
Only 49% of respondents said that they were aware that Mexico reached an agreement with the United States to introduce stricter enforcement against undocumented migrants.
Just over four in 10 respondents said they were in favor of the pact, which has resulted in the deployment of federal forces at the southern and northern borders, while 33% said they opposed it.
The agreement that ended Trump’s threat to impose tariffs on all Mexican exports was imposed on Mexico by its northern neighbor, according to 55% of poll respondents.
Asked about migrants in Mexico, 64% of poll respondents said they are a burden on the country because they take jobs and benefits that should go to Mexicans. Only one in five people said they strengthen the country.
A majority of 55% said that migrants should be deported, while 33% said they should be given temporary residency while waiting for the outcome of their asylum claims in the United States. Seven per cent said migrants should be granted permanent residency.
The survey was carried out nationally between July 9 and 14 with 1,200 people.
Reforma said the poll has a margin of error of +/-4.9%.
Mexico News Daily
