MEXICO.- According to a survey published today, the President of Mexico, Enrique Peña Nieto, continues to have a 60% approval rating among the population, which would suggest that the current administration is keeping up with expectations, but they highlight a few variables that could alter this perception.

Since Peña Nieto has been in Office, there has been an increase in his approval rating, as citizens are actually approve of the work he has been doing, according to the firm "Parametria" who published the results of a survey done in July and August, were 1,600 voters gave their opinion.

The first bi-monthly survey from Parametria, which was done in December-January, indicated an approval rating of 55%, which increased to 61% over the period of Febuary-March.

"The announcements and a greater level of information regarding initiatives like "Pact for Mexico", "National Crusade against Hunger" and "Social Programs for the Prevention of Violence" quickly affected public opinion, and generated a greater expectation which was expressed with improvements in the Presidential approval rating", The firm Parametria informed.

The next surveys showed a similar rating with 62% (April-May-June) and the most recent one of 60% (July-August).

"These numbers would suggest that the current administration is keeping up with the expectations voters have"

However, they did highlight the facts that recent announcements from "Banco de Mexico" and Banamex about the expectations of economic growth, may actually be the biggest threats to the presidents approval rating.

The expectations of economic growth went from 3.5% to 1.8% according to "Banco de Mexico" and 1.2% according to Banamex.

Parametria pointed out that the economy is the most important variable when it comes to explaining the citizens satisfaction with their governments. "If the citizen doesn't see an expectation of improvement in this area, they could quickly change their mind".

The firm Parametria also noted when it comes to the areas of the government, education is what is evaluated the most, and considers that "It will be interesting to observe if this evaluation shifts after the dispute over the educational reform has been settled" which the secondary laws that evaluate Congress and faces a strong opposition from a sector of the Magisterial guild.

In this initiative Peña Nieto counts with the support of a lot of the population: an 88% of Mexicans agree that teachers should be evaluated as well as a higher level of education required for the teaching staff. "This could be an area where good evaluations could improve".

The areas that are very scrutinized are Economy and Insecurity. The economic guild is criticized in particular on issues regarding fighting poverty and generating jobs, areas where only 1% to 2% actually consider Peña Nieto's peformance as acceptable.

In this area the voter's perception is consistent with the actual growth numbers in the country.

However in the evaluations on the war on drugs and crime fighting, where 2% was the highest rating on both cases, there is a discrepancy with the achievements the Federal government has informed upon recently.

Without getting into controversy of how precise the numbers are when it comes to public safety, "the fact is the average citizen is not perceiving any improvement"

"To sum up, we can assure that the expectations that citizens have about the actual administration and President Enrique Peña Nieto are being met, and the increase in the approval rating seen in the first two months continues to stay that way, but there are some very important variables that could alter these perceptions in a not so distant future".

Editorial@sandiegored.com