Venezuelan Poll: Chavez Enjoys 62.4% Approval Rating

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez enjoys an approval rating of 62.4% according to the results of the latest survey carried out by the Venezuelan Institute of Data Analysis (IVAD).

The survey, which was published on Thursday, also showed that 36% of Venezuelans disapprove of Chavez while 1.6% of those polled were undecided or did not answer the question.

However, while Chavez’s individual popularity remains high, support for his United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) is much lower at 32.3%, according to the poll.

The PSUV was created in December 2006 at the initiative of Chavez to unite leftist forces in support of the process of social change known as the Bolivarian revolution that he has presided over since he was first elected in 1999.

Despite the gap between support for Chavez and support for the PSUV, the PSUV remains in first place nationally with Venezuelan opposition parties trailing far behind. The Democratic Action (Accion Democratica) party enjoys 5.3% support, Justice First (Primero Justicia) 4.4%, A New Era (Un Nuevo Tiempo) 2.5%, COPEI 2.2%, while other smaller parties account for 4.8%. Meanwhile, 46.5% of respondents to the poll were undecided or did not answer the question regarding political party support.

In relation to the upcoming elections for the National Assembly scheduled for December 2010, the survey indicated a 36.8% preference for PSUV legislators and those of other parties allied to Chavez, while 25.5% prefer legislators identified with the opposition, 37.7% did not express an opinion.

The survey was conducted over September 21-29. Respondents indicated that they perceived the most important national issues to be crime (80.2%), unemployment (38.3%), health (15.7%), and the high cost of living (15.2%).

Categorised in: Article

This post was written by Tamara Pearson