Colombia’s President Ivan Duque ends his first year in office with the disapproval of most citizens, according to the latest poll.
Pollster Invamer released its latest poll results on Sunday, confirming what other pollsters have claimed last month; the majority of Colombians believe their president is doing a bad job.
According to the pollster, 37% of Colombians approve of Duque while 56.5% disapprove.
Duque’s approval rating during his first 12 months
Source: Invamer
According to Invamer, Duque has even lost the support in the ultra-conservative coffee region. Duque’s initial 68.5% approval rating has collapsed in the stronghold of his far-right Democratic Center party. The majority of the “paisas” now have joined the rest of the country and disapprove of their president.
Duque is close to also losing support from the older population, where much of his initial electoral support came from. Only 47.1% of Colombians older than 55 still support Duque while 47% disapprove of him.
Cabinet doing no better
The majority of Colombians are unaware of the ministers in Duque’s cabinet. Of those who have hit the news and are relatively known, only Foreign Minister Carlos Holmes Trujillo can count on the approval of the majority of those who know who he is.
The least popular minister is Finance Minister Alberto Carrasquilla, whose disapproval rating of 25.2% is more than double his approval rating of 12.3%.
Defense Minister Guillermo Botero has also ruined it, according to the 37% of people who said they knew him. His disapproval rating of 18.3% is considerably higher than his 15.3% approval rating.
What’s eating Colombia?
Duque’s disapproval rating is in line with general pessimism about where Duque is leading the country to. Only 25.6% told Invamer the country was going the right way, while 68% said things were going the wrong way.
Colombians were most pessimistic about corruption, unemployment and the cost of life and were largely optimistic about literally nothing.
How is Colombia doing?
Source: Invamer
When Duque opened the new congressional year on July 20, the president announced a number of policy priorities that would further limit his ability to increase his approval rating.
Colombia opposes aerial fumigation and is pro-peace
For example, the majority of Colombians are against Duque’s intention to resume the aerial fumigation of coca to reduce drug trafficking.
A slight majority of 51% want Duque to resume the peace talks he suspended with the rebels in August. This while a more convincing 58.6% believes the only way to resolve Colombia’s armed conflicts is through negotiations, not war, contrary to the president and his party.
Generally, 62% of Colombians disapproves how the government is dealing with the ELN, FARC dissident groups and paramilitary organizations.
A record 73.7% said that the peace process with the FARC is going wrong against 55.6% in September last year.
Colombia turning against Venezuelan immigrants
Last but not least, Colombians seem to be losing their patience with the ongoing crisis in Venezuela and the mass migration is it causing, while Duque has toned down on Venezuela to allow talks between the disputed President Nicolas Maduro and his rival Juan Guaido.
A 54.1% majority of people wants the government to close the border as aversion against immigrants from the neighboring country is growing. A convincing 62.2% said to have a negative opinion about Venezuelan immigrants, 12.8 percentage points more than in November last year.