 |
|
|
 News Around the Republic of Mexico | May 2007 
Calderón Gains Ten Points in Mexico
 Angus Reid Global Monitor
| | Mexico's president Felipe Calderon speaks during the opening of the Plan Puebla Panama summit in Mexico, April 10, 2007. Calderon's approval rating jumped by 10 percentage points as memories fade of last year's bitter election fight when he was accused of winning by fraud, a newspaper said on Wednesday. (Henry Romero/Reuters) |
Mexican president Felipe Calderón is more popular now than when he began his six-year term, according to a poll by Ipsos-Bimsa published in El Universal. 68 per cent of respondents approve of Calderón’s performance, up ten points since January.
Mexican voters chose their new president in July 2006. Official results placed Calderón of the National Action Party (PAN) as the winner with 36.68 per cent of all cast ballots, followed by Andrés Manuel López Obrador of the Democratic Revolution Party (PRD) with 36.11 per cent. Calderón—a former energy secretary—took over as Mexico’s head of state in December.
Since January, Calderón has placed more than 3,300 soldiers in northern areas as part of a crackdown against organized crime and drug trafficking operations. Violence related to drug trafficking has been considered as one of the president’s main challenges during his six-year term.
Drug gangs were blamed for more than 2,000 murders nationwide in 2006. Northern towns like Tijuana have shown particularly high death tolls.
In March, authorities said they have seized up to $205 million U.S. in operations related to the arrest of drug traffickers. Officials said the money would be put to good use, but the president said last month his administration will not spend any of it until criminal investigations are over. Calderón also promised that his government "will use no less than one-third of this money for the prevention and treatment of addictions."
Polling Data
Do you approve or disapprove of Felipe Calderón’s performance as president?
Approve: May 2007 68% | Jan. 2007 58%
Disapprove: May 2007 21% | Jan. 2007 27%
Neither: May 2007 9% | Jan. 2007 13%
Not sure: May 2007 2% | Jan. 2007 2%
Source: Ipsos-Bimsa / El Universal
Methodology: Face-to-face interviews with 1,050 Mexican adults, conducted from Apr. 26 to May 1, 2007. Margin of error is 3.5 per cent. |
| |
|
Vallarta Weddings
Tell a Friend
Site Map
Print this Page
Email Us