Latin America's 'Bad Boy' Leaders Enjoy High Support, Survey Finds Tim Johnson - McClatchyDC
go to original October 14, 2013

Ecuador's President Rafael Correa (front) celebrates his virtual re-election, in Quito, capital of Ecuador, on February 17, 2013. Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa was re-elected in Sunday's elections, according to preliminary results. (Jhon Paz/Xinhua/Zuma Press/MCT)

MEXICO CITY — Being a “bad boy” in Washington’s eyes can have payoffs for Latin American politicians, while being a “star pupil” can have a downside.

A compilation of polls across Latin America released over the weekend found that the four leaders whom Washington considers the “bad boys” of the region remain among its most popular presidents, even wildly so.

The leaders of Ecuador, Bolivia, Nicaragua and Venezuela routinely lambaste the United States, concentrate power in their own hands and run roughshod over the news media but retain significant, and even strong, support.

In contrast, the pro-U.S. leaders of Chile, Colombia and Peru – countries with more open democracies – have seen their public support fall in the past six months.

That’s the result of a biannual survey of approval ratings for the leaders of the 19 largest countries in Latin America and the Caribbean. Compiled by Mexico’s Consulta Mitofsky polling firm, the survey, titled “Approval of Leaders: America and the World,” is based on independent nationwide polls in each country with similar methodologies and margins of error of about 3 percentage points.

The results offer a snapshot of how buoyant the “bad boys” are.

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