The approval of the President of Chile, José Antonio Kast, has collapsed six points over the past week to stand at 18%, while his disapproval level has risen to 72%, according to the poll released this Sunday by the polling firm Agenda Criteria.
To find a record of presidential support so low, it is necessary to go back to Sebastián Piñera’s second term, when that same 18% was recorded in the midst of the full impact of the coronavirus pandemic, on December 2, 2021.
The survey also reflects a rebound in pessimism about the economy: 60% believe that the country’s economic situation will get worse—11 points more—and 46% fear that the economy of their own household will deteriorate, 13 points higher than the previous study.
In the labor sphere, 53% anticipate that the options of getting employment or progressing in their current position will be reduced, seven points more than in October. In the opposite direction, only 14% expect better opportunities, which implies a drop of six points.
The study also shows that 79% reject Fernando Rabat continuing at the head of the Ministry of Justice, after the Government admitted a failure in the granting of sentence reductions.
Regarding the strike called by truck drivers, 80% of those surveyed support the mobilization and its demands, 15% are against it, and 5% do not take a defined position. On the reasons for the protest, 88% say that the transport workers’ demands are very or somewhat justified, while only 9% consider them little or not at all justified.
The strike was called off last Friday after a week of protests, after an agreement was reached with the Executive to facilitate the incorporation of transport workers into a working table with the unions and confederations of the sector and after even the use of force had been raised. However, the pact does not include specific measures on the price of fuel, one of the central points of the truck drivers’ demands.