Is Trump Helping Other World Leaders Gain Popularity Back Home?
Is Trump Helping Other World Leaders Gain Popularity Back Home?
As Mexico faces threats of tariffs and military action, "Mexicans have rallied around their leader and country," said AS/COA's Carin Zissis to Al Jazeera.
From tariffs to the Ukraine war, United States President Donald Trump has picked diplomatic squabbles with leaders worldwide since his January 20 inauguration.
However, while Trump has framed his combative approach as putting “America first”, many of these leaders have benefitted politically, too. [...]
In some ways, Sheinbaum inherited her approval rating from her predecessor Lopez Obrador, Sandra Pellegrini, a senior analyst on Latin America and the Caribbean, for independent non-profit Armed Conflict Location and Event Data (ACLED), said.
Lopez Obrador assumed office in December 2018, and by February 2019, had an approval rating of 83 percent. Sheinbaum belongs to his Morena party and was his handpicked successor. “Despite the pandemic, economic stagnation and security challenges, Lopez Obrador remained popular throughout his six-year term, earning him the nickname ‘the Teflon president’,” Carin Zissis, a fellow at the Mexico Institute of the Wilson Center in Washington said.
Lopez Obrador had a rating of about 74 percent near the end of his term in September 2024. Consistently high approval ratings for the Morena party leaders have been attributed to their social welfare policies, started by Lopez Obrador and continued by Sheinbaum.
This includes the Sembrando Vida program which aims to promote afforestation and eliminate poverty. But Zissis told Al Jazeera that Sheinbaum’s handling of the relationship with the Trump administration was also “a contributing factor” to her high approval ratings. “As the country faces threats of tariffs and military action from Washington, Mexicans have rallied around their leader and country,” Zissis said.
“While other leaders have responded quickly to tariff threats, taking reciprocal measures, she has exercised a patient approach that, given the Trump administration’s decision to delay tariffs, appears to have proven effective and resulted in global and domestic accolades for the country’s first woman president.”...
Carin Zissis is editor-in-chief of AS/COA Online and fellow at the Wilson Center's Mexico Institute.
