(06/15/10) -

President Morales Sees Sharp Drop in Bolivia

(Angus Reid Global Monitor) – Bolivian president Evo Morales has alienated many of his supporters, according to a poll by Ipsos, Apoyo, Opinión y Mercado. 44 per cent of respondents approve of Morales’s performance, down 22 points since December.

(Angus Reid Global Monitor) – Bolivian president Evo Morales has alienated many of his supporters, according to a poll by Ipsos, Apoyo, Opinión y Mercado. 44 per cent of respondents approve of Morales’s performance, down 22 points since December.

In 2005, Morales—an indigenous leader and former coca-leaf farmer—won the presidential election as the candidate for the Movement to Socialism (MAS), with 53.7 per cent of the vote. He was officially sworn in as Bolivia’s first indigenous head of state in January 2006.

Morales’s tenure has been focused on "re-founding" Bolivia through a new constitution. The new document was ratified in January 2009.

The revamped constitution includes a bill of rights and an entire chapter dedicated to Bolivia’s 36 indigenous nations. It also put the economy in the hands of the state, limited landholdings, redistributed revenues from gas fields in the eastern lowlands to the country’s poorer areas, and included a compromise that will allow the current president to seek only one additional five-year term.

Under the terms of the new body of law, a general election took place in December 2009. Morales secured a new term in office with 64.22 per cent of the vote.

Earlier this month, Bolivian government official Juan Ramón Quintana called for the creation of "border cities" to properly deal with crime, adding, "The problem of the borders will not be resolved by military or police coverage. The only sustainable policy over time and which will allow the sovereignty, institutions and borders of the state to be guaranteed is economic activity."

Polling Data

Do you approve or disapprove of Evo Morales’s performance as president?