Moreno’s public support remains at historically high level, poll shows; Cuenca’s mayor slumps

Six months after his election, Lenin Moreno remains the most popular president in modern Ecuadorian history according to a new poll. Seventy-eight per cent of respondents to a survey by Profiles in Opinion rate Moreno’s performance “good” or “very good.”

President Lenin Moreno

The poll results are not so good, however, for Cuenca and Quito mayors Marcelo Cabrera and Mauricio Rodas, and for jailed Vice President Jorge Glass.

Profiles of Opinion director Paulina Recalde called Moreno’s level of support “remarkable” given the length of time he has been in office. “Going back to the first political polls taken in Ecuador, we have not seen this kind of popularity for a president,” she said.

Guayaquil Mayor Jaime Nebot

On the other hand, she said the poll results are bad news for supporters of Glas and former president Rafael Correa. “Only 18% of the people we asked gave Glas a favorable rating, with just one per cent rating him ‘very good’,” she said.

Although the popularity of Correa was not rated in the Profiles poll, Recalde said informal results showed his support to be only five or six points higher than Glas’.

The poll also showed that Cuenca and Quito mayors, Marcelo Cabrera and Mauricio Rodas, could be in political trouble. Cabrera’s favorable rating was only 37% against 52% unfavorable, while Rodas’s numbers were 41% favorable and 39% unfavorable. Both mayors are saddled with large mass transit construction projects that are far behind schedule.

The news was much better for Guayaquil Mayor Jaime Nebot, who received a favorable rating of almost 88%, the highest of any elected official in the survey.