Poll Notes

An interesting poll from Pew Research casts light on the relationship between Venezuela and the United States in the eyes of Latin America. An article in the Santiago Times gives some good analysis on the opinions of Chileans as the battle for the affections of the western hemisphere continues.

According to this poll, Chileans hate Chavez the most and Bush the least of the 7 countries included in the survey. Only 14% of Chileans approve of Chavez, though this stacks up pretty evenly with the rest of the region. Brazil, Mexico, and Peru all rate Chavez under 20% popularity, and even politically-close Bolivia gives him 30% approval.

The low approval of Chavez is likely a result, in part, of his inflammatory rhetoric toward Chilean leadership. He has compared their congress to the oppression of the Pinochet coup, following a vote in which the congress condemned Venezuela for shutting down opposition media.

The Bush numbers, however, don't match up with the numbers from the rest of the region. Only 35% of Chileans disapprove of Bush, practically inverting his domestic approval ratings. Further, the rest of Latin America seems to agree with the domestic opinions: Argentina led with 72% disapproving, with the rest of the countries somewhere in between. One notable exception is Venezuela, where a full 56% actually approve of Bush, despite the anger of their leader.