Kast at Six Months: Chileans Give Their President a Failing Grade
CHILE · POLLING
Key Facts
- —The country Chile, a copper exporter of 20 million people, generally the steadiest economy in South America.
- —The president José Antonio Kast, a hard-line conservative who won on a promise to stop crime and migration.
- —The occasion He passed six months in office on 11 September.
- —What Chileans were asked To mark him out of seven, the scale their children are graded on at school.
- —The mark 3.4. In a Chilean classroom, four is the lowest passing grade.
- —The harder number 62% say his government has turned out worse than they expected. In April it was 52%.
Chilean pollsters asked the country to grade its president the way a teacher grades a pupil. He failed, and half the respondents gave him a three or lower.
Six months after José Antonio Kast took office promising order, Chileans were asked to mark him out of seven. The average came back at 3.4.
A Grade Every Chilean Understands
Cadem, the country’s most-quoted pollster, runs a weekly survey. For the six-month mark it added one question.
Kast had completed six months in office, respondents were told. What grade would you give him, on a scale of one to seven?
The scale is not an abstraction in Chile. It is the one used in every school in the country, and four is the line between passing and failing.
The average came back at 3.4. More than half of those asked, 51%, gave him a three or less.
The Gap Between the Promise and the Delivery
The sharper question was the second one. Has this government been better than you expected, the same, or worse?
In September, 62% said worse. Another 27% said it had been about what they expected, and 8% said better.
What gives that number weight is where it started. In April, in his first full month, 52% already said worse.
Ten points in five months is not a bad news cycle. It is a slow, steady withdrawal of the benefit of the doubt.
A separate finding in the same survey puts it plainly enough. Some 41% now expect nothing to improve at all.
Approval Has Been Flat, Which Is Its Own Problem
Kast’s approval sits at 34%, with 62% disapproving. The disapproval figure is the highest of his term.
The approval number itself has barely moved for a fortnight. It was 34% on 2 September, 36% on the 6th, 35% on the 9th and 34% again on the 11th.
For a government six months old, stability at 34% is worse than a bad week. Presidents recover from bad weeks.
Cadem interviewed 1,000 people online on a single day, Friday 11 September. The sample is weighted by age, region, social group and how people voted in last year’s runoff.
Why It Turned
Kast won on two promises, crime and migration, and inherited a third problem he did not campaign on.
The Chilean economy stopped growing. Output fell 0.2% in the second quarter against a year earlier, after falling 0.3% in the first.
In July the monthly activity index dropped 1.5% against a year earlier, the sharpest fall in three years. Mining took the blame, through poorer ore and bad weather.
The security reform that was the centrepiece of the campaign has not passed. The central bank halved its growth forecast for the year.
What a Six-Month Mark Is Worth
Chilean presidents serve four years and cannot immediately stand again. Six months is early, and approval in the thirties at this stage is not unknown in recent Chilean history.
What is unusual is the expectations line. Approval measures whether people like what a government is doing today.
The expectations question measures something slower and harder to reverse. It asks whether voters think they were sold something that has not arrived.
That number has moved ten points against him since April, and it has moved in only one direction.
The Next Reading
Cadem publishes weekly, so the approval line will be tested again within days.
The six-month grade will not be asked again. It is the kind of question a pollster puts once, and the answer stands.
No other Chilean pollster has published a comparable mark. That leaves 3.4 as the number following him into the second half of the year.
More: Chile news and analysis, every day from The Rio Times.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who is José Antonio Kast?
A hard-line conservative who became Chile’s president in March 2026, elected on promises to curb crime and migration.
What grade did Chileans give him?
An average of 3.4 out of 7. In Chilean schools four is the lowest passing mark.
Who ran the poll?
Cadem, in its weekly Plaza Pública survey, published on 13 September 2026.
What is his approval rating?
34% approve and 62% disapprove, the highest disapproval of his term.
How does that compare with April?
In April, 52% said the government was worse than expected. That has risen to 62%.
How is the Chilean economy doing?
Output fell in both of the first two quarters, and July activity was down 1.5% against a year earlier.
Sources: Cadem Plaza Pública 689, Banco Central de Chile, La Tercera, T13, Cooperativa, Diario Financiero.
This article was produced by The Rio Times’ automated newsroom system. How we use AI · Report an error · Editorial responsibility: Matthias Camenzind, Editor-in-Chief