Gustavo Petro's approval plummets: 53% of Colombians disapprove of his administration

Approval of Gustavo Petro's performance as president of Colombia plummeted after only 10 months in office, as evidenced by the most recent poll conducted by Invamer.

According to the survey published Friday, 59.4% of Colombians disapprove of the the way Petro is carrying out his duties as president, and only 33.8% approve. This represents a significant drop with respect to the last poll conducted in November, when Petro obtained the support of 50% of respondents.

By regions of the country, the highest percentage of disapproval came from the coffee-growing region (65.8% vs. 28.1% approval), followed by the central-eastern region (64.2% vs. 28.7%) and in third place was the capital of Bogotá (59.2% disapproval and only 32% approval). Of those surveyed in the southwest of the country, 55.2% disapproved of Petro's management and 38.3% approved. Finally, in the Caribbean region, 51.9% of those surveyed disapproved and 42.4% approved.

The survey also revealed that 66% of people do not believe Petro has followed through with the change he promised in his campaign. When respondents were asked whether there has been a change for the better or for the worse, 78.2% said thing had worsened.

According to the survey, the problem that generates most concern is the economy (31.6%), although safety (17.6%) and corruption (15.5%) also received an significant portion of responses. Although relations between the president and Congress, the health care system and recently announced labor reforms are other issues that are generating disapproval from the Colombian population.

It should be noted that the survey consulted 1,200 people from 57 municipalities in the country, including 16 capital cities. Responses were collected between May 26 and 29.