Amid heightened corruption and crime concerns, President Claudia Sheinbaum’s approval rating has sunk to its lowest level since she took office 18 months ago, according to the results of a poll conducted for Bloomberg News.
Conducted by Brazilian company AtlasIntel between March 20 and 24, the LatAm Pulse México survey yielded a 53.9% approval rating for Sheinbaum, down from 56% in February and 62.8% in January.
Until February, Sheinbaum’s approval rating had remained above 60%, according to LatAm Pulse results. The highest approval ratings the poll has yielded for the current president since she was sworn in on Oct. 1, 2024, was 66.7% in October 2024 and 66.3% in April 2025.
The latest LatAm Pulse poll surveyed 3,263 people in Mexico using an online polling method called “random digital recruitment.” The sample size is larger than many other telephone and in-person polls that have consistently yielded an approval rating of around 70% or higher for Sheinbaum.
The president’s disapproval rating rose to 40.9% in March, according to LatAm Pulse, up from 36.1% in February and 30.5% in January.
What are Mexico’s most significant problems?
Asked to identify Mexico’s most significant current problems, 55% of survey respondents nominated corruption, an increase of nine points compared to the previous LatAm Pulse poll.
Insecurity, crime and drug trafficking were the second most commonly cited problems, nominated by 49% of those polled. That percentage rose 10 points compared to February.
The next three most commonly cited problems were:
- High prices and inflation: 27%
- Weakening of democracy: 18% (According to the director for Mexico at the Washington Office on Latin America, a “growing consolidation of political power to the detriment of the separation of powers” has occurred during Sheinbaum’s term.)
- External threats (wars, terrorism): 17%
In its report on the poll results, Bloomberg noted that the 10-point increase in the percentage of respondents who identified insecurity and crime as a major problem came despite the killing of Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) leader Nemesio Rubén “El Mencho” Oseguera in a military operation in Jalisco on Feb. 22. The operation targeting the notorious cartel boss triggered a very violent and widespread response from the CJNG, a factor that fed into the security concerns of poll respondents. The death of “El Mencho” could possibly lead to an increase in violence in Jalisco and other parts of the country in the coming months.
The increase in the percentage of respondents who identified corruption as a significant concern in Mexico came a month after Transparency International published its latest Corruption Perceptions Index, which showed that Mexico had slid down the rankings to 141st out of 182 countries and territories.
Bloomberg reported that corruption concerns “have lingered at a time when members of Sheinbaum’s ruling Morena party have been involved in a series of scandals.”
They include the arrest in February of the mayor of Tequila, Jalisco, and other municipal officials on extortion charges, and allegations that members of the Mexican Navy and others were involved in a fuel smuggling/tax evasion scheme known as huachicol fiscal.
Bloomberg wrote that Morena officials have “denied wrongdoing and Sheinbaum has moved to aggressively combat the practice” of huachicol fiscal.
Mexico News Daily identified the huachicol fiscal scandal as one of Mexico’s 10 biggest news and politics stories of 2025.
10 other poll results
Below is a summary of 10 other results from the latest LatAm Pulse México survey.
- Around four in 10 respondents (39.5%) believe that the Sheinbaum administration is doing an “excellent” or “good” job. Almost one-third of those polled (31.7%) said the government is doing a “bad” or “very bad” job, while 28.8% rated the federal administration’s performance as “fair.”
- Almost half of those polled (47%) said that Mexico’s current economic situation is “bad,” while 26% said it is “good” and 26% said it is “normal.”
- Almost eight in 10 respondents (78.1%) said they were in favor of the military operation that resulted in the death of “El Mencho.”
- More than six in 10 respondents said they were either “concerned” (37.1%) or “extremely concerned” (25.3%) about “the violence unleashed in Mexico since the death of ‘El Mencho.'”
- Just over four in 10 respondents (42.4%) said that military operations that result in the death of cartel leaders constitute the “most effective policy” to combat drug cartels. One-third of those polled said that such operations are effective only when implemented with other policies.
- Forty-five per cent of respondents said that Security Minister Omar García Harfuch is doing an “excellent” or “good” job dealing with violence in Mexico. Only 38% said the same about Sheinbaum, even as homicide numbers trend down.
- More than six in 10 respondents (62.4%) said that the United States’ provision of intelligence for the operation against “El Mencho” was a positive thing, compared to just 8.5% who had a negative view.
- More than four in ten respondents (43.4%) said that Sheinbaum is doing an “excellent” or “good” job managing the relationship with U.S. President Donald Trump. Three in ten of those polled said she is doing a “fair” job managing the relationship, while 22.7% said she is doing a “bad” or “very bad” job.
- Just over five in 10 respondents (51.5%) said they wouldn’t support U.S. military action against cartels in Mexico “under any circumstance.” Just over a quarter of those polled (27.5%) said they would only support U.S. action in operations that are coordinated with Mexico. One in six respondents (16.7%) said they would support U.S. action against Mexican cartels, including a “prolonged deployment of troops” in Mexico. Sheinbaum is vehemently opposed to U.S. military action in Mexico.
- Around four in ten respondents (42%) believe that it is “very probable” that there will be “revelations about large frauds or corruption schemes” in Mexico in the next six months. Similar percentages believe it’s “very probable” that robberies and muggings will increase in the next six months (40%), and that “attacks or murders related to criminal factions” will increase (39%). More than one in five respondents (21%) said that a coup is “very probable” in Mexico in the next six months, although 51% said that such an eventuality is not at all likely.
With reports from Bloomberg
