Colombians Increasingly Pessimistic about Government, FARC Deal

A recent Gallup poll finds increasing pessimism about the Colombian government (Flickr).

Pessimism about government is on the rise in Colombia, a situation only accelerated by the events of recent weeks. Cases like Odebrecht, tax reform, and the peace deal do not help to improve the image of Colombian politicians in the public’s eyes. That is why the last survey carried out by the pollster Gallup shows a deterioration in the image of current president Juan Manuel Santos, ex-president Alvaro Uribe, Vice-President Vargas Lleras, and the peace process.

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With regard to President Santos, his image has taken a significant hit. 71% have an unfavorable image of their government, a figure that increased by 11% since the last poll in December when registered a 60% unfavorability. Former president Alvaro Uribe also had an increase in his unfavorability, but this was only by three points, rising from 46% to 49%.

Vice President Germán Vargas Lleras saw his unfavorability rise from 24% to 44%, which can be explained by episodes such as his fight with members of the Venezuelan government, and an incident in which he struck one of his bodyguards, in which he was subsequently forced to apologize.

The peace process is not going well either. According to the Gallup poll, 62% of those questioned consider that the FARC guerrillas will not comply with the agreements they reached with the Colombian government. At the moment they are in the so-called “pre-concentration zones”, where they will be obligated to turn over their arms; nevertheless, there are several dissidents within the FARC ranks, and uncertainty remains regarding the actual number of arms in their possession, and their current number of fighters.

However, the favorability of the FARC was the highest in its history, reaching 19%, while its unfavorability is 77%. Finally, the Colombians surveyed gave their support to the negotiations with the ELN by 68%.