President Ollanta Humala’s popularity fell five percentage points in July to 40 percent, according to a new survey by Ipsos Apoyo, which was published in daily El Comercio.
Humala’s approval rating has seen a steady decrease since February, when it reached a peak this year at 59 percent, according to the same polling firm.
In July, 51 percent of the respondents said they disapprove of the government, while 9 percent did not give an opinion.
Analysts blame the decline in the presiden’ts approval rating on the government’s handling and inability, so far, to resolve social conflicts affecting the mining sector. The biggest social conflict is that surrounding US-based Newmont Mining’s Minas Conga gold project, where five people were killed recently during protests against the development.
According to the poll, 71 percent said that Humala’s government hasn’t handled the conflict over Minas Conga well.
The poll also found that the majority of respondents believe that Cabinet Chief Oscar Valdes should be replaced. Valdes has led what critics call a “hard-line” approach against mining protests, resulting in some 15 deaths since Humala took office last July.
The poll of 1,210 people was taken from July 11 to July 13. It has a margin of error of 2.8 percentage points.
