President Laura Chinchilla’s approval rating jumped from 64 percent in July to 76 percent in September, according to a CID-Gallup survey this month.
The survey was conducted house-to-house between Sept. 1 and Sept. 15 and took into account the views of 1,224 Costa Ricans.
But while Chinchilla got a thumbs-up personally from a clear majority of the country, her government received a far more modest 54 percent approval rating.
But it’s all good news, according to her cabinet chief, Marco Vargas.
“When the president has the support of 76 percent of Costa Ricans and 54 percent say they support the work of the government, we have an important political force that we need to manage intelligently and responsibly,” he said in a statement released Wednesday.
Vargas said he realized that the support doesn’t give the government “a blank check” to do what it wants, but that it signifies people are optimistic about the administration’s plans.
The survey also found former President Oscar Arias with a 70 percent approval rating and San José Mayor Johnny Araya with the favorable opinion of 59 percent of those polled. Chinchilla’s former opponents in this year’s presidential race, Citizen Action Party leader Ottón Solís and Libertarian Movement head Otto Guevara, received approval ratings of 46 and 41 percent respectively.
