Halfway Through His Term, Mexico's President Pena Nieto Has Tumbled in Polls Joshua Partlow and Gabriela Martinez - The Washington Post
go to original September 3, 2015

Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto greets the audience before his state-of-the-union speech at the National Palace in Mexico City. (Edgard Garrido/Reuters)

Halfway through Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto’s term, the man once considered the reformer-in-chief is now seen as the unpopular leader of a violent country with a limping economy and a penchant for corruption scandals.

On Wednesday afternoon, Peña Nieto sought to rebrand himself and his government in his third state-of-the-union address, highlighting the achievements of his administration.

He acknowledged in a statistics-laden speech that “the last year has been a difficult year for Mexico” but said that “we are going to confront these challenges with clarity, direction and absolute determination. We’re going to go forward committed to the law.”

After a fast start involving constitutional changes shortly after he took office in late 2012, Peña Nieto’s approval rating has tumbled to 35 percent, according to a recent poll. In recent months, the value of the peso has plummeted against the dollar, and the economy has elbow-crawled along at 2 percent, a rate less than half what he promised in the campaign.

The government’s struggles have left many Mexicans disenchanted with Peña Nieto’s Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), which returned to power after more than a decade with his election. Last week, he shuffled his cabinet in the clearest sign yet of his desire for a fresh start.

Read the rest at The Washington Post

Related: Mexico Government: Five Citizen Questions for Peña Nieto's Third Annual Government Report (Mexico Voices)

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