President Claudia Sheinbaum’s defense of Mexico amid threats from Donald Trump helped propel her approval rating to 80% among respondents to the latest El Universal poll.
The polling company Buendía & Márquez conducted a national poll for the El Universal newspaper between Feb. 13 and 18, not long after Sheinbaum reached an agreement with President Trump that resulted in a one-month postponement of U.S. tariffs on Mexican exports that were scheduled to take effect on Feb. 4.
Mexico’s first female president also defended Mexico’s sovereignty and emphasized the country’s refusal to be subordinated by its more powerful northern neighbor as the Trump administration prepared to designate various Mexican drug cartels as foreign terrorist organizations, which occurred last Thursday, and U.S. spy planes flew missions close to — and south of — the Mexico-U.S. border.
Last Wednesday, she declared she had no fear of Trump, who on the first day of his second term declined to rule out the possibility of using the U.S. military against cartels on Mexican soil.
Sheinbaum won significant praise for averting a crisis for the Mexican economy by reaching an agreement with Trump to stave off 25% tariffs, with The Wall Street Journal reporting that “she negotiated a deal that world leaders are studying for their own trade talks with the U.S.”
More importantly for the president — who said last Friday that what her government seeks is “the recognition of the people of Mexico” — a strong majority of her constituents endorse her, according to the results of various polls.
Sheinbaum’s best action as president? ‘Defending the country from Trump’ the top response
Sheinbaum’s approval rating rose to 80% from 77% in January and 74% in November, according to polling conducted for El Universal in recent months. Only 11% of those polled in February said they disapproved of the president’s performance, down from 13% in January.
Among students, residents of southern Mexico, Mexicans aged 18-45, housewives, people who live in rural areas of the country, women and citizens with education up to a high-school level, support for the president was even higher than the overall 80% approval rating detected this month.
The lowest level of support among all sectors of the population was a still-high 75% among those aged 46-59.
The 1,000 respondents to the most recent El Universal poll were also asked to respond to the question: “In your opinion, what is the best thing Claudia Sheinbaum has done so far as president of the republic?”
The top response was “defending the country from Donald Trump,” with 14% of those polled saying that was the president’s greatest achievement since she took office on Oct. 1.
The next most popular responses were:
- The monetary support for senior citizens (9%)
- The support/scholarships for students (9%)
- The government’s “social programs in general” (8%)
- Providing continuity to the work of former president Andrés Manuel López Obrador (7%)
Public security, the biggest concern
Asked what the “worst thing” Sheinbaum has done as president, the top response was “public security” — i.e. the government hasn’t done enough to reduce violence and other crime in Mexico.
However, only 7% of respondents gave that response, whereas more than six times that percentage — 43% — said they didn’t know what was the worst thing Sheinbaum has done or didn’t respond to the question. An additional 32% of those polled said “nothing” when asked what the worst thing the president has done.
Other poll results
Among the other results from the latest El Universal poll are the following:
- 56% of respondents believe that Mexico is on a “very good” or “good” path, double the 28% who think Mexico is on a “very bad” or “bad” path.
- 72% of respondents believe that Sheinbaum “has the reins of the country,” while 19% think that “things are getting out of control.”
- 81% of those polled believe that Sheinbaum’s public remarks help unite Mexicans, while 12% think they “serve to divide” Mexicans. The former figure rose 10% compared to before Trump took office, providing another indication of the “rally ’round the flag” effect as Sheinbaum deals with a U.S. president whose administration accused the Mexican government of having an “intolerable alliance” with cartels.
With reports from El Universal
