The government’s announcement to propose a cancellation of the debt of the State Guaranteed Credit, CAE, has broken waters within the ruling party, and is on the front page of current political news. Beyond the volume of resources involved, the Signos/ElMostrador Survey directly asked about the foundations of this policy. The results are devastating for the Government.
Respondents were asked: “In relation to the forgiveness of the CAE debt, the credit guaranteed by the State to finance higher education, do you agree with this forgiveness for debtors?” 60.4% say NO; 32.5 say Yes; and 7.1% do not know.
Asked: Do you think that the remission of the CAE is a populist measure on the part of the Government or that it points to a real problem that many professionals have? 63.8% say they are populist; 34.1 a real problem; and 2.1% do not know.
And in terms of equity and responsibility, the respondents were asked: Do you consider that it is a little unfair and immoral that the CAE is waived for some people while others have made the effort to pay? 73.9% say that it is unfair and immoral towards those who pay while 26.1% say that it is not.
The feeling that remains is that La Moneda has not only a complex financial problem on its hands, but also a political hot potato, since the civil servant elite that currently governs the country surely has a high number of CAE debtors in its ranks. Therefore, any measure must pass both the scrutiny of equity, justice and responsibility before citizens, as well as the public ethics of the decision that is finally adopted.
Political distrust
The increasingly electoral tone of the political agenda is loaded with friction between the ruling party and the opposition, but also within these blocks. All for the candidacies, confirming the critical disdain of the popular saying that “a political party is a momentary association of enemies with a common objective: winning office.”
Respondents were asked about how much trust they have in the political parties in Chile? 42.6 says Nothing; 32.8 says very little; 28.1 says A little; and 2.8 answers quite a bit.
Asking about political parties and reform of the political system from April surveys in which the majority said they were not informed (70%) of the reform, but considered it mostly positive that there were few political parties (60%), the current survey confirms the perception from then on and deepens it. Asked: Do you consider that a reform of the political system is necessary and important today to reduce the number of political parties? 65.8% consider Yes, which is very important; 23.4 says Yes, which is something important; only 8.3% say it is not important. 2.5% answered Don’t know.
Those who consider political parties necessary for the functioning of democracy reach 46.8%; compared to those who consider them guilty of the country’s backwardness and wish they did not exist, 45.2% and 8% do not know. What a reputational agenda the parties have in their immediate future.
The presidential race
José Antonio Kast’s derogatory phrases against the President of the Republic Gabriel Boric during his participation in the conservative summit in Spain convened by VOX, although they are rejected by the majority of citizen opinion, do not objectively change the picture of electoral competition. Almost a sign that days of aggressive political language are coming in the coming months, and that this does not move the atmosphere of the country.
When asked “José Antonio Kast, in Spain, he referred to President Boric as a “political transvestite.” In relation to this phrase, you consider that: It is not a phrase typical of someone who aspires to be president of Chile; It represents a legitimate opinion of a political leader; It represents that Kast is an “unpatriotic” person, as response options. 58.2% said that it was not something typical of a presidential candidate; that is, the first option. 34.1% said it was a legitimate phrase; and only 4.3% who were unpatriotic. 3.4% Don’t know.
The table of adhesions to the presidential candidacies remains without movement among the first three of the group front runners in between Evelyn Matthew 30.7%; Jose Antonio Kast 18.6%; Carolina Tohá 11.3%. In fourth place for the first time appears Franco Parisi with 5.3% and Mario Marcel in fifth with 5.2%. Towards the bottom, Camila Vallejo, Axel Kaiser and Michelle Bachelet noticeably decrease.
The survey is a weekly national survey carried out by SignosAnalytics in collaboration with the electronic newspaper He Counter between May 20 and 24, 2024. It corresponds to a probabilistic sample of 1,122 surveys for a national sample with a sampling error of 3.5 percentage points. Self-applied via the Web with the support of AI instruments to improve its efficiency to a randomly selected sample and expanded according to variables of sex, age and education. To measure and/or follow weekly relevant events of the situation and permanent political variables of national events.
- The complete survey in the following link.