Unpopular Presidencies

New update:

Fernando Lugo (Paraguay) 95% (new)
Alvaro Uribe (Colombia) 82% (-2 from last measurement)
Luiz Ignacio Lula Da Silva (Brasil) 64% (+9)
Hugo Chàvez (Venezuela) 62% (+8)
Felipe Calderón (Mexico) 59% (-2)
Evo Morales (Bolivia) 59% (+4)
Antonio Saca (El Salvador) 56% (+1)
Leonel Fernàndez (Dominican Republic) 55% (+9)
Rafael Correa (Ecuador) 54% (+1)
Martín Torrijos (Panama) 50% (-1)
Michelle Bachelet (Chile) 42% (-2)
Tabaré Vázquez (Uruguay) 40% (-5)
Alvaro Colom (Guatemala) 39% (-10)
Stephen Harper (Canada) 36% (+2)
Manuel Zelaya (Honduras) 34% (-4)
George W. Bush (USA) 33% (+3)
Cristina Fernández (Argentina) 29% (+3)
Oscar Arias (Costa Rica) 28% (-16)
Alán García (Peru) 22% (-10)
Daniel Ortega (Nicaragua) 18% (-3)

New update, just in time for Obama's inauguration


Alvaro Uribe (Colombia) 70% (-12 from last measurement)
Luiz Ignacio Lula Da Silva (Brasil) 70% (+6)
Rafael Correa (Ecuador) 70% (+16)
Hugo Chávez (Venezuela) 64% (+2)
Felipe Calderón (Mexico) 62% (+3)
Fernando Lugo (Paraguay) 60% (-35)
Evo Morales (Bolivia) 56% (-3)
Antonio Saca (El Salvador) 56% (=)
Tabaré Vázquez (Uruguay) 49% (+9)
Martín Torrijos (Panama) 46% (-4)
Michelle Bachelet (Chile) 46% (-4)
Alvaro Colom (Guatemala) 45% (+6)
Oscar Arias (Costa Rica) 44% (+16)
Leonel Fernàndez (Dominican Republic) 38% (-17)
Stephen Harper (Canada) 36% (=)
Daniel Ortega (Nicaragua) 36% (+18)
Cristina Fernández (Argentina) 28% (-1)
George W. Bush (USA) 27% (-6)
Manuel Zelaya (Honduras) 25% (-9)
Alán García (Peru) 25% (+3)

Tangent, tangent -- I seem to remember Lugo is a big name in California history, got to look that up.


Answering self, yes, it was a land grant family (Rancho San Antonio).

New update, Obama's first measurement.


Luiz Ignacio Lula Da Silva (Brasil) 70% (= from last measurement)
Alvaro Uribe (Colombia) 69% (-1)
Felipe Calderón (Mexico) 68% (+6)
Antonio Saca (El Salvador) 66% (+10; his party lost the presidency, so it's also an acknowledgment of commitment to democracy)
Barack Obama (USA ) 61% (new)
Rafael Correa (Ecuador) 60% (-10)
Fernando Lugo (Paraguay) 60% (=)
Michelle Bachelet (Chile) 59% (+13)
Evo Morales (Bolivia) 58% (+2)
Tabaré Vázquez (Uruguay) 53% (+4)
Oscar Arias (Costa Rica) 49% (+5)
Martín Torrijos (Panama) 48% (+2)
Alvaro Colom (Guatemala) 45% (=)
Leonel Fernández (Dominican Republic) 38% (=)
Daniel Ortega (Nicaragua) 38% (+2)
Alán García (Peru) 34% (+9)
Cristina Fernández (Argentina) 29% (+1)
Manuel Zelaya (Honduras) 25% (=)


Who would have said that, in the midst of the economic crisis, most of the presidents got a better rating now?

Don't we tend to cling to our presidential daddies/mummies more in hard times? (unless we think they MADE 'em bad.)

Recent Measurements:

Mauricio Funes (El Salvador) 84% (new)
Luiz Ignacio Lula Da Silva (Brasil) 81% (+11 from last measurement)
Michelle Bachelet (Chile) 76% (+17; she's gone from 46% to 76% in a year)
Ricardo Martinelli (Panama) 77% (new)
Alvaro Uribe (Colombia) 70% (+1)
Felipe Calderón (Mexico) 62% (-6)
Tabaré Vázquez (Uruguay) 61% (+8)
Evo Morales (Bolivia) 60% (+2)
Barack Obama (USA ) 52% (-9)
Rafael Correa (Ecuador) 51% (-9)
Fernando Lugo (Paraguay) 50% (-10)
Alvaro Colom (Guatemala) 46% (+1)
Oscar Arias (Costa Rica) 37% (-12)
Alán García (Peru) 27% (-7)
Cristina Fernández (Argentina) 23% (-6)


Interesting to note that the President in the last place in popularity on this list, last April, was Manuel Zelaya, ousted by a military coup in Honduras.

Recent Measurements:

Ricardo Martinelli (Panama) 91% (+14 since last measurement)
Mauricio Funes (El Salvador) 88% (+4)
Luiz Ignacio Lula Da Silva (Brasil) 83% (+2 )
Michelle Bachelet (Chile) 81% (+5)
Alvaro Uribe (Colombia) 64% (-6)
Tabaré Vázquez (Uruguay) 61% (=)
Evo Morales (Bolivia) 60% (=)
Felipe Calderón (Mexico) 55% (-7)
Fernando Lugo (Paraguay) 50% (=)
Barack Obama (USA ) 48% (-4)
Alvaro Colom (Guatemala) 46% (=)
Oscar Arias (Costa Rica) 42% (+5)
Rafael Correa (Ecuador) 42% (-9)
Stephen Harper (Canada) 32% (-4 from 1 year ago)
Alán García (Peru) 29% (+2)
Daniel Ortega 26%(-12 from April 2009 )
Cristina Fernández (Argentina) 19% (-4)

I thought Bachelet got voted out recently..

Bachelet is very popular. Herself.
There is no inmediate reelection in Chile.
The candidate who lost in the second round, Eduardo Frei, was the candidate of "Concertación", the same Socialist-Christian Democrat coalition that led Bachelet into power.
Bachelet (like her predecesor Lagos) is a member of the Socialist party; Frei (like first President from Concertación Aylwin), a Christian Democrat.
Internal bickering within Concertación (and the election of a candidate with little or no charisma) was enough for a soft Chilean turn to the right.

I must be mixing her up with someone, will have to look around for who that could be. Is/was she a doctor? a person who tends to get groups to compromise, compromise maybe not being the right word?

This isn't the article I'm remembering - it's on frey not making it -
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/18/world/americas/18chile.html?scp=3&sq=michelle%20bachelet&st=cse

This not it either - but she is whom I'm remembering - I remember liking her from afar..
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/29/world/americas/29bachelet.html?_r=1&scp=2&sq=michelle%20bachelet&st=cse

So why didn't she run again - other things to do? Not eligible? I might have read why but I forget.

oops, Frei.

Ah, I see. No consecutive term under the constitution.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/13/world/americas/13chile.html?scp=8&sq=michelle%20bachelet&st=cse

Whatever article I read however many months ago elaborated on some criticisms against her - in terms of lack of progress because of all the effort to forge some kinds of consensus.

My friend and colleague Fransink noticed that 3 on the top 4 are moderate leftists and 3 on the bottom 5 are populist leftists.

And what does economics have to do with all this? (I am econ stupid, but figure it matters.)

I'd guess that responsible income re-distribution policies are aprooved by the majority and irresponsible social polarization of society is not (except in the case of Evo Morales, which would leave us a lot to think about Bolivia's peculiarities).

That makes immediate sense to me - is this reflected in the chart, or list?

In a sense.
We have Funes, Lula and Bachelet among the top (with Vázquez doing very well), and Correa, Ortega and Fernández sharing the bottom with hapless Harper.

Much for me to look at, and I will, thanks for the clues.

I just read Updike's Brazil.. which was a construct around a construct around more constructs, which is why I wasn't a lit major, no patience for all of it. I made it to the last page, but gnashing teeth.

Recent Measurements:

Mauricio Funes (El Salvador) 83% (-5 since lasst measurement)
Luiz Ignacio Lula Da Silva (Brasil) 76% (-7 )
Ricardo Martinelli (Panama) 69% (-22)
Evo Morales (Bolivia) 66% (+6)
Alvaro Uribe (Colombia) 63% (-1)
Tabaré Vázquez (Uruguay) 61% (=)
Leonel Fernández (Dominican Rep.) 57% (+19 from one year ago)
Felipe Calderón (Mexico) 53% (-2)
Fernando Lugo (Paraguay) 50% (=)
Barack Obama (USA ) 48% (=)
Alvaro Colom (Guatemala) 43% (-3)
Oscar Arias (Costa Rica) 42% (=)
Rafael Correa (Ecuador) 41% (-1)
Cristina Fernández (Argentina) 35% (+14)
Stephen Harper (Canada) 26% (-6)
Alán García (Peru) 26% (-3)
Daniel Ortega (Nicaragua) 26% (= )

The popularity of Hugo Chávez has been increasingly difficult to measure, since Venezuela has become an increasingly difficult country for pollsters.