Argentine President Javier Milei, one of Israel's most prominent supporters on the world stage, is facing a deepening image crisis about a year before the country's presidential election. A new poll conducted for Bloomberg and published on Friday, November 13, found that nearly two-thirds of Argentines view him unfavorably.
The survey, carried out by AtlasIntel, found that 62% of respondents hold a negative view of Milei and 36% a positive one. That is a deterioration from the previous poll, which put his unfavorable rating at 59%.
Milei took office in December 2023 promising a fundamental overhaul of Argentina's economy. He now faces mounting public criticism amid a prolonged economic slowdown and a weakening job market.
The poll's most striking finding is a sharp shift in how Argentines see the economic crisis. Inflation sat at the center of public concern for years, and taming rising prices has been the flagship goal of Milei's government. Now, for the first time in more than a year, unemployment has become the issue that worries citizens most. About half of respondents named it as the country's main problem, compared with about a third who pointed to inflation.
Around 70% of those surveyed described the state of the labor market as bad. Bloomberg data support that view, showing that the number of formal private-sector jobs has fallen almost every month since Milei took office.
As Milei has weakened, the poll also shows some movement in the favorability ratings of his political rivals. These include Buenos Aires Province Governor Axel Kicillof and former President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner. A majority of the public still views both of them negatively.
The signs of weakness extend beyond politics to the financial markets. Argentina's government bonds have been among the worst performers in emerging markets over the past three months. The yield on the bond maturing in 2035 jumped from under 9% in July to more than 13% in November. That rise reflects falling bond prices and growing anxiety among Wall Street investors about the country's economic future.
