Javier Milei’s improvement in the polls, after the overwhelming electoral result of La Libertad Avanza in the 2025 legislative elections, also had its impact at the regional level. According to the latest measurement by CB Consultora Opinion Pública, the Argentine president came first in the ranking of positive image of South American leaders.
The survey corresponds to the monthly survey carried out by the consulting firm directed by Cristian Buttié, which for some time now added a regional table to its usual rankings of governors and mayors. The December edition was prepared from surveys carried out between December 9 and 13, with samples of between 1,030 and 1,579 cases per country and a margin of error of between 2% and 3%.
Milei and Maduro, at the extremes
In this measurement, an unprecedented combination occurred: Milei topped the ranking and Nicolás Maduro was in last place, something that had not been recorded in previous editions, despite the fact that both are usually located on the margins of the table.
According to the report, the three highest-rated presidents in December were:
Javier Milei (Argentina), with 48.3% positive image
Rodrigo Paz (Bolivia), with 47.6%
Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (Brazil), with 47.1%
At the other extreme, the presidents with the lowest level of approval were:
Nicolás Maduro (Venezuela), last with 24.3% positive image
Gustavo Petro (Colombia), with 34.9%
José Jerí (Peru), with 37.2%
Advances and setbacks compared to November
The report also compares the results with the November measurement. In that sense, the president who grew the most in positive image was José Jerí, from Peru, with an increase of 4.7 percentage points. In contrast, the biggest drop of the month corresponded to Rodrigo Paz, from Bolivia, who fell 4.1 points.
Milei, first but with negative balance
One of the peculiarities of the ranking is that, as frequently happens in Argentine polls, the best-placed president presents more rejection than support. Milei leads the table with 48.3% positive image, which represents an improvement of 1.1 points compared to November, but maintains a negative balance.
Their level of support is made up of 27.6% “very good” image and 20.7% “good”, while the negative image reaches 49.5%, divided between 13.6% “bad” and 35.9% “very bad”.
The other side is the case of Nicolás Maduro, the only president in the ranking with less than 30 points of positive image and more than 70 points of rejection, with a negative image of 72.1%.
