Kast’s Approval Sits at 35% as Chileans Sour on the Country’s Direction

Chile · Politics

A sobering first-semester scorecard for Chile’s conservative president, with pessimism about the country’s direction and economy outweighing his security-focused agenda.

For anyone following Latin America’s most stable economies, the latest Criteria poll offers a stark reminder that electoral mandates can evaporate quickly: the Kast approval reading of 35% against 52% disapproval, published in early August, marks a difficult opening chapter for a president who took office in March with promises of order and growth.

The numbers and the pollster

Criteria, a Santiago-based firm known for its rigorous panel methodology, published the survey online on 9 August 2026. The headline figure is unambiguous: 35% approve of President José Antonio Kast’s government, while 52% disapprove. The remaining 13% declined to answer or said they did not know, a non-trivial share that suggests some voters remain undecided or disengaged rather than firmly opposed.

More telling than the approval split is the country-direction question. Nearly half of respondents — 47% — said Chile is “retrocediendo” (going backward), compared with 33% who see things staying the same and just 20% who believe the country is advancing. Criteria noted that the backward-looking share jumped from 31% in March to 47% in August, a rapid deterioration in public mood within a single semester. Economic expectations are equally bleak: 42% anticipate the economy will worsen over the next six months.

Kast’s early presidency

Kast, a former legislator and two-time presidential candidate, won the 2025 runoff on a platform of tough-on-crime policies, tax cuts, and a rollback of what he called the “progressive excesses” of previous administrations. His March 2026 inauguration was seen by supporters as a decisive break from the centre-left coalitions that had governed Chile for most of the past decade. The early months of his term have been dominated by a legislative push on organised crime and terrorism, including proposals to expand police powers and create new a new constitutional state of exception allowing the Armed Forces to support police in zones controlled by organised crime.

That security agenda has been the centrepiece of his administration’s public messaging, and it was being debated in Congress during the same period the Criteria poll was in the field. Yet the survey suggests that the emphasis on security has not translated into broad public confidence. While crime remains a top concern for many Chileans, the poll’s economic pessimism points to a disconnect between Kast’s priorities and the everyday anxieties of voters, who are grappling with sluggish growth, high living costs, and an uncertain jobs market.

What is driving the disapproval

Several factors appear to be feeding the 52% disapproval figure. First, the economy: despite Kast’s promises of a business-friendly reboot, there is little evidence in the survey that Chileans feel better off. The 42% who expect further deterioration suggests that inflation and stagnant wages remain painful, and that the government’s early focus on security has not addressed bread-and-butter concerns. Second, the security push itself may be polarising. While some voters welcome a firmer hand, others worry about civil liberties and the militarisation of public safety, a debate that has animated opposition media and civil society groups.

Third, there is a broader sense of national drift. The jump from 31% to 47% in the “going backward” category between March and August is striking, and it implies that Kast’s first months have not merely failed to inspire hope but have actively deepened pessimism. This could reflect a combination of unmet expectations, a perceived lack of legislative progress, and the normal wear-and-tear of governing in a fragmented Congress where Kast’s coalition lacks a majority. The 13% undecided share also matters: if those voters lean negative, the true disapproval could be even higher than the published figure.

Context and caveats

It is worth noting that Criteria is not the only pollster tracking Kast’s numbers. A separate survey by Cadem, fielded around the same time, reported a different set of figures — 40% approval and 56% disapproval — which shows that while the direction of public opinion is consistently negative, the precise magnitude varies by methodology and sample. Neither poll should be read as a definitive verdict on Kast’s presidency, which is barely five months old. Approval ratings at this stage often reflect inherited conditions as much as a new leader’s own actions.

Still, the consistency across pollsters is hard to ignore. Kast’s approval is below the historical average for Chilean presidents at a similar point in their terms, and the economic pessimism is particularly worrying for a government that promised to revive growth. The security agenda may yet produce tangible results, and legislative victories could shift the narrative. But for now, the Criteria data suggests that Kast’s early presidency is struggling to convince a sceptical public, and that the next few months will be critical in determining whether he can build on this still-weak base — approval actually ticked up a point in this wave — or watch public patience thin, with 47% already saying the country is going backwards.

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Sources: Criteria; La Tercera; BioBioChile; Ex-Ante; Emol.

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