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 News Around the Republic of Mexico | December 2005 
Mexican Leader's Popularity Climbs After Hurricanes
 Reuters
| | Mexican President Vicente Fox smiles as he listens to a question during a news conference at the Presidential residence Los Pinos in Mexico City. (Andrew Winning/Reuters) |
Mexico City - Mexican President Vicente Fox's approval rating has jumped to near-record levels, despite his government's failure in the last five years to deliver on promises of major reforms and economic growth.
Two opinion polls published on Thursday, exactly five years after Fox was sworn in, showed the president's popularity climbed sharply in recent months, helped by his strong lead on disaster relief when Mexico was hit by major hurricanes.
In a poll conducted by El Universal newspaper, Fox received an approval rating of 68 percent, up 7 points from August and close to the ratings he scored when he first took office, ending seven decades of one-party rule in Mexico.
A separate poll in the Reforma newspaper showed Fox with 62 percent approval, his highest rating since mid-2003.
Fox is serving the final year of his term. He remains a popular figure even though many Mexicans feel his government failed to create millions of new jobs every year and economic growth of 7 percent per year, as he promised it would.
Fox's proposed labor and energy reforms have also been halted in the opposition-dominated Congress.
His popularity slumped this year when his government tried to put on trial the country's most popular politician, leftist presidential candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, in an obscure land dispute.
The charges were dropped when it became clear that Fox's political legacy was in danger. The former Coca-Cola executive is widely seen as honest in a country with a history of corrupt politicians.
Fox was widely seen as moving quickly and decisively when hurricanes Stan and Wilma battered southern Mexico in October.
Under Mexico's constitution, Fox is barred from seeking re-election in July. His conservative National Action Party's presidential candidate, Felipe Calderon, is expected to use Fox's high approval ratings to his advantage and promise better results on the economy and reforms.
Lopez Obrador, the leftist former mayor of Mexico City, is the presidential front-runner, although his lead has narrowed as Calderon moved into second place in recent polls. |
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