Over 60 percent of Venezuelans view their country's situation as negative
http://english.eluniversal.com/2009/10/27/en_pol_esp_over-60-percent-of-v_27A2956931.shtml87.3 percent of the population is not satisfied with government's plans to deal with lack of safety
The negative perception Venezuelans have about their country continues to grow. According to the last Omnibus poll conducted by the Caracas-based firm Datanálisis, six out of ten people are pessimistic about a set of factors or circumstances that affect their daily life.
Venezuelans tend to view as negative the situation of their country. This trend has increased since March 2009, when 42 percent of Venezuelans deemed it poor.
Oddly enough, 66.2% consider that their personal situation is positive. However, this assessment has declined nine percentage points over the last three months.
Lack of safety continues being the main problem for 48 percent of Venezuelans, while 10.8 percent are fed up with inflation and 10.4 percent thinks that the main problem is unemployment. The latest Datanálisis' poll highlights new problems: power failures, which are considered as the main issue by 3.2 percent of the population, and troubles associated with the electrical grid (3 percent).
It is also worth mentioning the high level of dissatisfaction with public services and policies that were positively assessed recently, such as health, electricity, housing and food.
Not happy with government
According to Datanálisis, 50.6 percent of Venezuelans are not satisfied with health plans; 55.5 percent is disappointed with housing plans; 66.5 percent criticizes the policies implemented in the electricity sector; 70.4 percent is displeased with job creation policies and 87.3 percent is fed up with policies set to improve the safety of citizens.
The only issue with a positive assessment is education. While 48.6 percent are satisfied with the management of President Hugo Chávez in this area, 48.2 percent claims to be dissatisfied.
Who is responsible for these problems? According to the Datanálisis poll, Venezuelans place the blame both on the President and the people. According to 23.9 percent of the population, the responsibility should lie with "people", while 23.2 percent considers that the President is the one to blame.
This perception is not shared by 12.3 percent of the population who blames state governments. Meanwhile, 5 percent considers that the police is held responsible.
The usual suspects in political discourse are not considered the main culprits by citizens. Only 3.2 percent of the population blames opposition parties, while 2.5 percent holds ministers responsible for the crisis.
Poll specifications
Datanálisis conducted its Omnibus poll from September 23rd to October 8th. A total of 1,300 people were interviewed at home with a margin of error of +/- 2.72 percent and a confidence level of 95%.
emartinez@eluniversal.com