Uruguayan President Luis Lacalle Pou has 59% approval rate – Cifra study

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The study, conducted by the polling firm Cifra and which was released Tuesday (6) through a local TV station, credited the government’s positive image “at least in part, to the fact that the worst moment of the pandemic in Uruguay coincided with the moment when vaccines were available.”

However, the new figures are one percentage point below April’s data and six additional points less than in July 2020, when 66% of Uruguayans supported Lacalle Pou’s policies.

The new survey was conducted between June 24 and July 3, 2021, with 1,003 interviewees nationwide.

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Lacalle Pou “continues to have a lot of support from Uruguayans, both regarding his administration in general and especially how his government is facing the pandemic,” Cifra said.

The percentage of Uruguayans who disapprove of his administration stands at 30%, two percentage points above April’s survey.

Among Lacalle Pou’s National Party supporters, 95% still endorsed the president in July 2020. However, that number has fallen to 89% this month, while within the other parties of the ruling coalition, approval also dimmed from 90% to 85%.

“Two weeks after taking office, Lacalle had to face the pandemic. His government, therefore, is judged above all by how it is perceived to be managing this crisis. Until now, a large majority of the population supports the government in its management of the pandemic,” Cifra explained.

“This survey was conducted in the last two weeks, when cases and deaths began to decline, after the highest peak recorded in the country, which occurred between late May and early June,” the study adds.

In July 2021, “when health indicators suggest that ‘the worst is over, 29% consider that the government is handling the pandemic very well, and an additional 39% that it is handling it well.”

Overall, “seven out of every ten Uruguayans have a positive opinion, and less than three” of them every 10 have a negative view.

Cifra also pointed out that this configuration of opinions ”is not as unanimously positive as the one the population had a year ago. Still, it is almost identical to the one registered three months ago.“

The consulting firm maintained that “the administration’s added value is that it had all organized so that [vaccines] were distributed effectively to all those who required them.”

At any rate, the level of disapproval is increasing steadily, from 16% last year to 30% in this last survey, although it remains a minority.

When the most recent study was carried out, the decrease in coronavirus cases and deaths was notorious, compared to the highest point recorded between April and May.

“The large increase in cases in recent months, which placed Uruguay in one of the first places in terms of infections and deaths by inhabitants worldwide, does not seem to have affected Lacalle Pou significantly,” said Cifra’s report.