March 12, 2007

Abstract: (Angus Reid Global Monitor) - Álvaro Uribe maintains a high level of public support in Colombia, according to a poll by Gallup. 72 per cent of respondents approve of the president's performance, down one point since January.

(Angus Reid Global Monitor) - Álvaro Uribe maintains a high level of public support in Colombia, according to a poll by Gallup. 72 per cent of respondents approve of the president's performance, down one point since January.

Uribe has been Colombia's president since August 2002. In the May 2006 election, he won a new four-year term with 62.2 per cent of all cast ballots. Uribe was able to run again after the House of Representatives and the Constitutional Court officially sanctioned a plan to allow presidential re-election in the South American country.

In July 2003, Uribe and leaders from the paramilitary United Self-Defence Forces of Colombia (AUC) signed an agreement in which the latter committed to gradually demobilize its factions and cease to exist by December 2005. Both sides have failed to reach a final deal.

In recent weeks, eight Uribe allies in Congress, as well as former intelligence chief Jorge Noguera, have been arrested for alleged ties with paramilitary groups.

On Mar. 8, Uribe called for the continuation of Plan Colombia—a joint venture of the United States and Colombia launched in 2000 to fight left-wing guerrillas and curb their activity in global drug trafficking—declaring, "People should ask what would have happened to our country without Plan Colombia. It would be an immense error, in an effort that is being won, to abandon it and leave it half accomplished."

Polling Data

Do you approve or disapprove of Álvaro Uribe's performance as president?

	Mar. 2007	Feb. 2007	Dec. 2006
Approve	72%	73%	70%
Disapprove	22%	22%	24%

Source: Gallup
Methodology: Telephone interviews to 1,000 Colombian adults in the cities of Bogotá, Medellin, Cali and Barranquilla, conducted from Feb. 27 to Mar. 1, 2007. Margin of error is 3 per cent.