(Angus Reid Global Monitor) - The popularity rating of Chilean president Michelle Bachelet dropped slightly last month, according to a poll by Adimark Gfk. 42.1 per cent of respondents approve of the president’s performance, down 2.5 points since July.

Bachelet—a former defence minister—was elected in a January 2006 run-off as the candidate for the centre-left Agreement of Parties for Democracy (CPD) with 53.49 per cent of all cast ballots. She officially took over as president in March 2006.

Since taking office, Bachelet has faced massive protests staged by high school students complaining about the poor quality of public education, as well as street demonstrations in Santiago, the capital city, over the botched implementation of a new transportation program called Transantiago.

On Aug. 26, Bachelet expressed satisfaction with the current state of Chile’s economy, saying, "Some weeks ago, I heard some excessively alarmist and even pessimistic voices about our economy. Some people talked about crisis. (...) The Central Bank said yesterday the economy increased by 4.3 per cent during the second quarter, more than the 3.3 per cent growth in the first quarter and much better than expected."

Polling Data

Do you approve or disapprove of Michelle Bachelet’s performance as president?

Source: Adimark Gfk
Methodology: Telephone interviews with 1,074 Chilean adults, conducted from Aug. 7 to Aug. 30, 2008. Margin of error is 3 per cent.

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