by Facundo Iglesia and Martina Jaureguy

Argentine President Javier Milei’s popularity has taken a steep drop after months of steady support, according to a number of surveys published over the past couple of weeks.

Consulting firms have placed Milei’s government approval ratings between 46% and 63% since coming into power in December 2023. Despite taking severe austerity measures, his promise of ending the country’s persistent inflation was the main reason voters expressed their support. Recent findings, however, signal that the tide might be changing.

“Approval ratings for President Milei’s administration have been dropping for at least six months — between 1 and 1.5 points a month,” Paola Zuban, co-director of Zuban-Córdoba consulting firm, told the Herald. 

A survey conducted by the firm published last week shows that 57.3% of respondents disapprove of the government’s performance. These numbers are a sharp turnaround compared to April, when 52.5% disapproved of the administration — a 4.8-point growth in five months. From April to September, people who “fully supported” the government fell from 38.2% to 20.3%.

Zuban added that Milei’s image has not suffered from “an abrupt drop, but a very sustained deterioration.”

The report also showed that people no longer believe some of Milei’s assertions. For instance, 70.6% of respondents said that Milei’s claims that “the purchasing power of retirees has skyrocketed” are a lie. Based on a survey among 2,300 people, 76.2% believed that Milei was also lying when he said that “water, power, and gas rates are basically free.”

She added that the low engagement with the president’s budget presentation from television viewers and social media users showed that “people are no longer interested” in what the president has to say.

“The president’s communication style worked very well in the campaign, but it began to falter once he came into office,” she added. “Lack of credibility in the word of President Milei is high.”

Similarly, a survey conducted by researchers at Torcuato Di Tella University regarding citizens’ trust in the government reached its lowest level since Milei became president — 2.16 points in September, a 14.8% drop compared to August. Milei’s trust levels had otherwise been relatively stable so far.

Argentines’ trust in the current government is 14.6% and 4.6% lower than what ex-Presidents Mauricio Macri and Alberto Fernández had respectively nine months into their terms.

The Di Tella survey also showed that the most notorious drop compared to August was trust in the government’s efficiency at handling public spending (-18%), followed by overall opinion of the government (-16.7%), honesty of government officials, and the Milei administration’s level of concern regarding the population’s well being (-15.7%).

Asked about the drop in approval ratings, Presidential Spokesman Manuel Adorni said in his Tuesday press conference that the numbers “need to be analyzed and paid attention to and listened to.”

Shila Vilker, head of consulting firm Trespuntozero, has also started to see a drop in the government’s image over the past couple of weeks, she told the Herald.

“Other indicators are moving down — hope, for example,” she said. “Feelings are also changing, predominantly more negative than positive.”

Vilker attributes the shift to a series of recent initiatives, such as price hikes in public services and transportation, the presidential veto halting an increase in retirement pensions, and Milei’s announcement that he would veto a bill improving university funding, among others. She also said that the case of the ten-year-old girl who was gassed by police while protesting against pension cuts did not sit well among the respondents. Milei even shared fake news saying that protestors were responsible for the incident.

According to Vilker, Milei’s rhetoric chastising politicians clashes with the fact that last week he hosted a barbecue in the presidential palace with opposition members who voted to uphold his veto halting an increase in retirement pensions.

Vilker also alluded to Milei’s budget presentation in Congress two weeks ago, which she said appeared to be intended as  a “second inauguration.” She added that the president repeated many concepts g like “a broken record.” 

Even if that helps to consolidate a political identity, it has the risk of wearing voters out. 

“He started with his usual guttural roar, but it had sort of an empty echo in Congress, where only his supporters were present — it was out of place,” Vilker told the Herald.

“The same words are starting to have different effects,” she said.