68% of Chileans do not approve of President Piñera’s administration – survey

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – According to a survey conducted by the Chilean Center for Public Studies (CEP), 68 percent of the population rejects the administration of the country’s president, Sebastián Piñera, while only 16 percent approves it.

These data, despite showing a wide majority of detractors of the government, reduce by 14 percentage points the discomfort with the president, since in the last poll under the same conditions, developed in December 2019, the rejection was of more than 80 percent of the population, reports the Chilean newspaper ‘La Tercera’.

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Similarly, support for the president and his administration has also increased, from six percent 21 months ago to 16 percent in this survey.

This figure is similar to the one received by former president Michelle Bachelet in the period between July and August 2016, when she received the support of only 15 percent of the population while the president was being stained by the ‘Caval’ case referring to an alleged influence-peddling by Bachelet’s own son.

The survey has detailed that insecurity is the aspect worst valued by Chileans, with 42 percent of those surveyed mentioning crime, assaults, and robberies as a negative point of Piñera’s administration. This is followed by pensions (41 percent) and health (38 percent) as the most criticized issues.

Thus, this Wednesday, the Minister of the Interior, Rodrigo Delgado, has responded to these surveys and, specifically, to the security issue and has recognized that “this only ratifies a trend that has been going on for many years.”

“The priorities of the people must be the obligation of the government,” said Delgado, who highlighted the delivery of new Carabineros vehicles and the creation of police units. In this sense, he added that the government would “continue to review the police force” so that the citizens know that the police are “doing an important job”.

In the same line, he recognized that “the priorities are also on the health side” and that Piñera’s government “has faced with great courage and dedication” the Covid-19 pandemic crisis.

Finally, the head of the Ministry of the Interior emphasized that “the priorities that appear in this survey are also the priorities of the Government and more than priorities they should be obligations” “To work for and with the people”, he concluded.