Sheinbaum leads the ranking of Latin American leaders and Delcy Rodríguez remains at the bottom

The president of Mexico, Claudia Sheinbaum, leads for the second consecutive month the ranking of Latin American leaders with the best image among their citizens in October, followed by El Salvador’s Nayib Bukele, while Guatemala’s Bernardo Arévalo and Venezuela’s Delcy Rodríguez remain among the worst rated, according to a poll by CB Global Data.

Sheinbaum obtains a 69.3% positive image and a 27.6% negative one, which represents a slight increase compared to September, when she registered a 69% favorable rating.

Bukele holds second place, with a 68.3% favorability rating and a 27.9% disapproval rating. In September, he obtained 66.2%.

CB Global Data CEO, Cristian Buttié, explains to EFE that Sheinbaum and Bukele “lead the ranking from two opposite models, but with a common logic.”

“Ideologically they are at opposite poles, but both share three keys: they addressed the demand that their society considered a priority, they maintain direct and permanent communication (the morning press conference in one case, social media in the other) and they offer a sense of a present government in a region where frustration predominates,” he states.

Other popular leaders

In third place is the president of the Dominican Republic, Luis Abinader, with a 51.9% positive rating and a 42.5% negative rating. In the previous month, his support was 50.8%.

The President of Costa Rica, Laura Fernández, holds fourth place, with a 51% favorable image and 43.3% unfavorable. She is followed by the Colombian Abelardo de la Espriella, who assumed the Presidency in August of this year, with a 49.7% approval rating and 47% rejection.

The president of Ecuador, Daniel Noboa, appears in sixth place, with a 47.5% favorable rating and a 46.9% negative one. He is followed by Keiko Fujimori, from Peru, with a 46.3% positive image and a 50.8% negative one. Fujimori, who took office in July 2026, lost 6.1 percentage points compared to September, the largest drop in the poll.

Buttié attributes Fujimori’s decline to the growing concern over crime and the government’s lack of effective responses to insecurity.

The ruler of Brazil, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, occupies the eighth position, with a 45.3% positive image and a 50.5% negative one. His favorable rating fell 3.2 percentage points compared to the 48.5% of the previous month. Lula faces a runoff election this Sunday in which he seeks reelection.

Unfavorable image

Below are the president of Honduras, Nasry Asfura, with a 44.1% favorable image and 53.9% unfavorable, and the president of Paraguay, Santiago Peña, with a 42.9% positive rating and 52.7% negative.

Bolivian Rodrigo Paz occupies the eleventh position with a 41.1% approval rating and a 53.5% disapproval rating, followed by Chilean José Antonio Kast, who took office in March of this year, with a 38.8% positive rating and a 56.8% negative rating.

Buttié links Kast’s decline to the early wear and tear of the governments that took power in 2026, from which citizens demand quick results in economy and security.

For his part, the president of Panama, José Raúl Mulino, appears in thirteenth place, with a 36.5% positive image and a 58.9% negative one, followed by Argentina’s Javier Milei, with a 36.1% approval rating and a 59% rejection rate.

Last spots

In addition, the co-president of Nicaragua, Daniel Ortega, occupies the fifteenth position, with a 35.7% positive image and a 60.3% negative one. In sixteenth place is the president of Uruguay, Yamandú Orsi, with a 35.2% favorable rating and a 62.1% unfavorable one.

Likewise, in the last two positions are the acting president of Venezuela, Delcy Rodríguez, with a 32.3% positive image and 60.9% negative, and the president of Guatemala, Bernardo Arévalo, with a 31% favorable rating and 63.1% unfavorable.

The study was conducted between October 5 and 8, 2026, in 18 Latin American countries, with samples ranging from 1,959 to 3,911 people per country, all over 18 years of age. The margin of error ranged between ±1.6 and ±2.2 percentage points, with a 95% confidence level.