Uruguay: Support for Democracy Falls to 64%, Latin America Survey Finds
URUGUAY · POLITICS
Key Facts
- —The country Uruguay, a small South American nation between Argentina and Brazil, is widely seen as Latin America’s most settled democracy.
- —The survey Latinobarómetro, a polling organisation based in Santiago, Chile, has measured attitudes to democracy across the region since 1995.
- —Why it matters Its 2026 report says no Latin American democracy is consolidated, “perhaps with the exception of Uruguay”, so any slide there stands out.
- —What happened The report, released on Friday 2 October, found 64% of Uruguayans prefer democracy to any other system, down from 70% in 2024.
- —The numbers Support stood at 74% in 2020. Now 45% say they would not mind a non-democratic government if it solved problems.
- —What it means for you Uruguay still ranks second in the region, but trust in its parties, Parliament and the state’s use of taxes is low.
- —Still open Whether the drop is a verdict on President Yamandú Orsi, in office since March 2025, or part of a longer slide.
Support for democracy in Uruguay has dropped to 64%, according to the Latinobarómetro 2026 report released on Friday 2 October. The figure was 70% in 2024 and 74% in 2020, in a country often held up as the region’s model democracy.
Uruguay still ranks second in Latin America, behind Argentina, and 12 points above the regional average of 52%. Yet 45% of Uruguayans said they would not mind a non-democratic government taking power if it solved the country’s problems.
What the Survey Measured
Latinobarómetro is a polling organisation based in Santiago, Chile, that has tracked Latin American opinion on democracy since 1995. This year it carried out 19,207 face-to-face interviews in 17 countries between 7 May and 17 June 2026.
In Uruguay it interviewed 1,200 adults aged 18 and over, with a margin of error of three percentage points. Nicaragua was left out because interviewers can no longer work there without risk of repression.
Its measure of support for democracy asks whether democracy is preferable to any other form of government. In Uruguay, 64% chose that answer, six points fewer than two years earlier.
A Slide That Began Before Orsi
The longer series points the same way. The Montevideo daily El Observador puts the figure at 74% in 2020 and 70.1% in 2024, before this year’s 64%.
Part of that decline therefore came under the previous government. The 2020 and 2024 surveys were taken while Luis Lacalle Pou, a centre-right president, governed from 2020 to 2025.
Yamandú Orsi of the left-wing Broad Front, known in Spanish as Frente Amplio, took office in March 2025. The 2026 interviews took place about 15 months into his five-year term.
Latinobarómetro groups Uruguay with Bolivia and Panama, where a change of government was followed by lower support for democracy. In Uruguay, it notes, the new left lacks the “great leadership” of the late José “Pepe” Mujica.
“In these cases, alternation seems to carry less hope,” the report says, and to be “less enthusiastic” about what can be fixed. Support fell by two points in Bolivia, six in Uruguay and nine in Panama.
Still Second in Latin America
Across Latin America, 52% back democracy, the same as in 2024 and above the 48% to 49% trough of 2018 to 2023. Argentina leads with 73%, ahead of Uruguay at 64% and Costa Rica, Chile and Venezuela at 63% each.
At the bottom sit Guatemala at 35%, Brazil at 41%, Honduras at 42% and Ecuador at 43%.
The report’s broader verdict still flatters Uruguay. “No democracy in Latin America is consolidated, perhaps with the exception of Uruguay,” it says in its opening pages.
Uruguay’s own figures point to a quieter kind of frustration.
Nearly Half Would Accept a Non-Democratic Government
The most striking number concerns tolerance of authoritarian rule. Asked whether they would mind a non-democratic government taking power if it solved problems, 45% of Uruguayans said they would not.
That remains below the regional average of 52%, up from 44% in 2002. Only Argentina at 28%, Venezuela at 38%, Chile at 43% and Colombia at 44% scored lower, according to Telenoche.
Paraguay tops the table at 71%, followed by Honduras at 69% and El Salvador at 62%. Representation is another sore point: only 29% of Uruguayans feel represented by Parliament and 65% do not.
That is worse than in 2024, though Uruguay still ranks fourth of 17 countries. Across the region, 76% do not feel represented by their parliaments.
Police Trusted, Parties Not
Trust in institutions follows a familiar pattern. The police lead with 60%, ahead of the armed forces at 57% and the Electoral Court, which runs elections, at 52%.
Political parties come last with 23%, behind social media at 24% and trade unions at 30%. The president scores 35% and Parliament 36%.
Three in four Uruguayans, 75%, do not trust that their taxes are well spent. Half believe the fight against organised crime and drug trafficking is being lost, and 59% fear becoming a victim of crime.
Those fears rest on experience. The report finds 32% of Uruguayans were robbed or attacked in the previous 12 months, behind only Ecuador’s 37% and level with Peru.
A State That Seems to Do Less
The survey also asks whether people feel the state does anything for them. In 2011, 51% of Uruguayans said it did “a lot or something”; in 2026 only 31% agree.
The report singles out that 20-point fall, alongside a 36-point drop in Panama. Only El Salvador and Chile improved on this measure over the same period.
Just 27% of Uruguayans think their country is heading in the right direction. Only 18% say so of the world, the lowest share in the region.
Private life looks very different. Some 87% say they and their families are on the right track, and 84% are satisfied with their lives, against 78% regionally.
Who Gets the Blame
The Montevideo daily El País read the figures as a verdict on the government. Its editorial on Sunday 4 October said Orsi’s team still shows no clear direction after a year and a half in office.
The paper argued that distrust of the state is not distrust of democracy. It called it a demand that governments show what they did with taxpayers’ money.
The data cut both ways: support for democracy was already slipping under Lacalle Pou. The loss of faith in the state since 2011 also spans governments of left and right.
The report itself stresses resilience over alarm. “Democracy resists and survives the governments that do not deliver answers to demands,” it says.
What the Figures Do Not Mean
The 45% figure measures agreement with a hypothetical statement, not backing for any party, leader or plan. Uruguayans still rank their Electoral Court among the institutions they trust most.
Nor does a six-point fall put Uruguay among the region’s fragile democracies. Its support for democracy remains 12 points above the Latin American average.
What Comes Next
Orsi’s term runs until March 2030, and Uruguay’s next general election is due in October 2029. Until then, the survey points to crime, taxes and the state’s performance as the pressure points.
Future Latinobarómetro waves will show whether 64% is a floor or a step in a longer decline in support for democracy. For a wider view of who holds power, see this guide to Uruguay’s economy and its key players.
More: Latin America news in English, every day from The Rio Times.
What is Latinobarómetro?
Latinobarómetro is a polling organisation based in Santiago, Chile, that has surveyed Latin Americans about democracy since 1995. Its 2026 report rests on 19,207 face-to-face interviews in 17 countries, taken in May and June 2026.
How much did support for democracy fall in Uruguay?
Support for democracy in Uruguay fell to 64% in 2026, from 70% in 2024 and 74% in 2020. The 2026 figure comes from 1,200 interviews with a margin of error of three points.
Is Uruguay’s democracy in danger?
The survey does not point to an immediate threat. Uruguay still has the second-highest support for democracy in Latin America, and the report calls it perhaps the region’s only consolidated democracy. The warning signs are weak trust in parties and in what the state delivers.
How does Uruguay compare with Argentina and Brazil?
Argentina leads Latin America with 73% support for democracy, while Brazil sits near the bottom at 41%. Argentina also shows the lowest tolerance of non-democratic rule, at 28%, against 45% in Uruguay.
Sources: Corporación Latinobarómetro, Informe 2026, 2 October 2026; El Observador, 2 October 2026; Telenoche, 2 October 2026; Subrayado, 2 October 2026; la diaria, 2 October 2026; El País (Uruguay), editorial, 4 October 2026.
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