Politics: Crime, Graft Further Erode Gov’t Ratings
After having achieved passage of its agenda of structural reforms during the first half of its term of office, we believe that the administration of President Enrique Peña Nieto should prioritize in its final three years in office work toward concretizing and assuring the full implementation of the structural reforms it passed during the first half of its term. That includes assuring passage of the implementing laws that have yet to be adopted, (especially those related to problems of corruption), but above all the implementation of public policies that make the reforms a permanent feature of government and make their effects felt by the public. Some progress had been made in implementing a number of the reforms, but the way in which they are all perceived and recognized by the public is highly uneven, at best, according to the most recent GEA quarterly survey of registered voters conducted from March 6-8.
The government scores strongest on the two reforms that have been most visible to voters – education and telecommunications – which in the first case entailed the high drama of arrests and disclosures of widespread corruption, and in the latter immediately obvious sharp reductions most rates for most wired and cellular phone services and the heightened competition and penetration of all manner of television and data services.
At this late date the public is still unable to put its finger on what might constitute any signature administrative accomplishment, and while the president’s credibility ratings have long languished well below those of his two predecessors in office, they descended sharply lower in the last quarter. Perhaps more troubling to the administration, the percentage of respondents who found something worth applauding in President Peña Nieto’s approach to governing shrank from one-fifth or less of voters, to levels approaching the single-digit range, with those viewing the president as honest falling from 17% to a mere 11%. Disappointment is especially apparent in sharply worsening perceptions of public security, and at a time when half the public sees corruption as ubiquitous, 56% say President Peña Nieto has done little to rein it in.
Now read on...
Register to sample a report