The growing rejection of Boric in Chile

By Nehomar Hernández*

The President of Chile, Gabriel Boric, completed his first year in the La Moneda Palace on March 11, a period in which Chile has deepened pre-existing problems and seen new ones emerge.

At the end of his first 365 days in office, the president accumulated discreet popular support of around 35%.

As published a couple of weeks ago in LGI (La Gaceta de la Iberosfera), a series of economic inconveniences have severely hit the waterline of the Executive headed by Boric.

Among them, the increase in inflation, the depreciation of the currency, the skyrocketing unemployment rates, foreign policy errors, the emergence of problems derived from citizen insecurity, and the setback that the defeat in the Constitutional Plebiscite last year meant for the Government.

If this panorama seems not hopeful, things have become even more complicated for the leftist leader in the last weeks.

The poll “Pulso Ciudadano”, carried out by Activa Research at the end of March, clearly shows a new drop in the approval of the Chilean head of state.

Thus, at this point, Boric has only 25.4% support, while the disapproval of his administration rises to 61%.

13.6% of Chileans do not know how to evaluate the Government.

If the study is reviewed in some detail, why the president is so severely hit by public opinion comes to light.

Among them, Chilean society’s fear of a crime wave outbreak in some areas of the country, especially in the north, stands out.

Thus, the problems that most burden the inhabitants of the South American nation at present are crime (44.8%), inflation (34.2%), immigration (28.6%), and drug trafficking (23.5%).

In January, similar studies showed the broad rejection that Boric has decided to confront criminals was generating among Chileans.

At that time and according to the firm Cadem Research & Estrategia, up to 78% of the country’s citizens disagreed with the Government’s security policies.

And the numbers are there, and they do not fail to bring to the table a bleak perspective.

Official figures show that, at the end of 2022, Chile had an increase of 43% in registered homicides compared to those during the previous year.

Additionally, 42.6% of those surveyed said they had been the victim of at least one robbery during the last three months.

Elections are expected to be held again in November of this year to determine whether or not to proceed with a constitutional change in the South American nation.

But, before that, next May, the 50 drafters of the eventual new Magna Carta will be chosen.

These two milestones will be fundamental to determining the sustainability of Boric’s Government in the future, in a context in which he has not stopped losing popularity since he took office in March 2022.

*Venezuelan journalist (Universidad Central de Venezuela) and Master in Political Science (Universidad Simón Bolívar). He is working on his doctoral thesis in Political Science and hosts the “Y Así Nos Va” radio program on Radio Caracas Radio.

With information from LGI