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Are the recent public surveys by Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum authentic?
Mexico’s president-elect, Claudia Sheinbaum, has presented a series of surveys commissioned by her party which indicates widespread approval of controversial judicial changes.
FILE PHOTO: Mexico City’s former Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum speaks during an interview with Reuters in Mexico City, Mexico September 22, 2022. REUTERS/Raquel Cunha/File Photo
Mexico’s president-elect, Claudia Sheinbaum, has presented a series of surveys commissioned by her party which indicates widespread approval of controversial judicial changes.
According to the report by the Associated Press, Sheinbaum defended the surveys as solely “informational”. She stated that they were conducted via face-to-face interviews across Mexico over the weekend.
“These results should prompt everyone to conduct their own analysis,” Sheinbaum is reported to have said while echoing the sentiment of transparency.
Critics, on the other hand, see these polls as a ploy copied from outgoing President Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s playbook, while describing the move as a potential public relations plan to boost legislative momentum. López Obrador is known for using public consultations to support the ruling government’s which includes cancelling the Mexico City airport project and advancing the Maya Train.
Despite Sheinbaum’s claim to independence for pollsters, scepticism prevails. The surveys, done by Enkoll and De Las Heras Demotecnia, among others, polled 1,000 to 1,500 people apiece, with margins of error of three percentage points.
Questions were centred on popular awareness of proposed judicial changes and perceptions of corruption inside the system, with apparently substantial support for reforms such as an independent anti-corruption organisation to oversee judges.
Meanwhile, the United States has raised concern about potential repercussions on openness and investor trust. The Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs, Brian Nichols, emphasised the need of transparency in Mexico’s judicial reforms, emphasising the need for clarification on potential repercussions for US interests.
