Political Power Is Slipping from Unpopular President Pena Nieto's Grasp Eric Martin and Nacha Cattan - Bloomberg
go to original June 23, 2016

Little has gone right lately for Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto, with a deadly clash Sunday between police and a union protesting his landmark education overhaul the latest reminder of the nation’s weak rule of law and the challenges facing his administration.

The violence this week between police and the CNTE teachers’ union, which opposes an evaluation system for educators, left at least eight civilians dead and more than 100 injured following a union uprising that had blocked highways and access to Mexico City’s airport. Pena Nieto’s party was ousted from governors’ offices in four traditional stronghold states earlier this month, and last week business groups blistered lawmakers from his party for watering down an anti-corruption bill. Tumbling oil prices at the start of the year, leading the peso lower, forced spending cuts and financial help for state oil producer Petroleos Mexicanos.

The result of all this: Pena Nieto’s popularity is now at 35 percent in a GEA-ISA poll published Wednesday, his lowest showing in the survey during his time in office and a drop of nine percentage points from the first quarter.

"Pena Nieto has lost political capital," said Marco Oviedo, chief Mexico economist at Barclays Plc. "The population no longer supports him in the same way they did in 2012."

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Related: Enrique Peña Nieto Receives Credentials from U.S. Envoy, Four Other Ambassadors (The News)

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