Public support for Bachelet reaches 59%

Public support for Chilean President Michelle Bachelet’s government now stands at 59%, according to the latest survey carried out by the Center for Studies of Contemporary Reality (CERC). This represents a 2% increase in support since August.

CERC director Carlos Huneeus explained, however, that the survey of 1,200 people was carried out in early October, before news of the Chiledeportes scandal broke on October 19. The survey has a 2.34 percent margin of error.

Secretary-general Ricardo Lagos Weber said government policy is not to comment on surveys, but went on to say that the level of support for Bachelet is “fantastic.”

“We’ve come up against some difficult situations,” said Lagos Weber, “but the important thing is that when you go around planting seeds, bit by bit you start to see the forest growing.”

The survey also showed an increase in support for the governing Concertación coalition, the four-party alliance that has ruled Chile since the nation’s transition to democracy first began in 1990.
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