The City is a relentless political laboratory: when management works, it shows quickly; when it gets stuck, too. That is why the most interesting political data at the beginning of 2026 is not a specific work or a bombastic announcement, but something more laborious: Jorge Macri start to improve public perception after a complicated start under the scrutiny of the porteños. The PRO read that curve as a sign of take-off and, as it turned out, the head of government has already warned behind closed doors that he will go for re-election in 2027.
The survey of Aresco that circulated in Uspallata worked as a thermometer of this turn: the Buenos Aires Government highlights that the management image “has been growing since June” (after the defeat in the elections) and that it would have risen 13 points since then. Even more: expectations for 2026 improve and the underlying political indicator moves – continuity or change –, with a shift towards the idea of “continuing the PRO.”
Behind the number there is a tactical decision: order as a flag. It is not new in the PRO DNA, but it is a return to centrality after months in which the administration seemed to discuss its identity more than its execution. In that grid, it is not surprising that the areas that grow the most are security (more than 15 points positive, according to the official reading) and public order in streets and sidewalks (almost 10 points). That is to say: what is seen.
There come three policies that, whether you like it or not, produce immediate perception: evictions and fights, urban cleaning and control of public space. The equation is linear: fewer occupations and fewer symbolic “liberated zones”; more capacity of the State to say “this far.” At the same time, cleaning is not limited to aesthetics: when the incidence of homeless people decreases—or when their presence is ordered—the daily “mess” around garbage cans, mattresses, open bags and the waste circuit is reduced. It is not a moral discussion: it is management in its most pedestrian version. The Buenos Aires voter can forgive an ideological debate; It is less forgiving of smell, grime and feelings of lack of control.
The “street” chapter is completed with two decisions that reorder the map: persistence in picket removal and the advance against manteros. These are measures that have a cost—they always do—but also a clear political benefit: they reestablish a hierarchy of authority. In a City that has become accustomed to living with exceptionalism as the norm, Jorge Macri’s political merit is not in promising order, but in sustaining it without the system getting out of hand.
This turn also has a key collateral effect within the PRO: Mauricio Macri He begins to look at his cousin with better eyes. It is not a minor fact. The former president did not spare criticism, intervened in cabinet meetings and let run, during the impasse, versions about alternatives for 2027. Today, however, the climate changed: they speak of a “reconciliation” that was finally sealed with internal movements and with an actor who is once again weighing on the Buenos Aires army: Daniel Angelici. Family peace is not sentimental; It is functional. If Mauricio stops “sawing”, Jorge can govern with less noise and plan.
In the middle, another piece of information from the survey appears that explains why the PRO seeks to de-dramatize its relationship with the Casa Rosada: 60.2% rates as positive the link between Jorge Macri and Javier Mileiand the 61.2% He believes that the City has a good relationship with the Nation “but maintains independence.” It is a perfect formula for the average porteño: cooperation without submission. After the political blow of the electoral split—a move that ended up favoring La Libertad Avanza and leaving the PRO third—that “balance” becomes essential.
The flip side is that, while Jorge breathes, Horacio Rodríguez Larreta it deflates. The “we came back, I came back” with which he sought to seal his return as a legislator had a media impact, but his electoral performance remained in the range of tactical damage rather than a strategic project: around 8 pointsenough to complicate his former partners, insufficient to build a competitive power alternative. Larretismo, for now, sounds more like management nostalgia than the future.
That’s why the real contender for 2027 doesn’t seem to come from the PRO past, but from the libertarian present. And there appears a name that, until recently, was discussed as a possibility and today is mentioned as an explicit preference: Manuel Adorni. Karina Milei considers him as a candidate for the City and that this definition sets limits to Patricia Bullrich. The data is not only who runs: it is who decides. If Karina blesses, Adorni is not a loose leader; It is an instrument of national leadership over the most symbolic district in the country.
The conclusion, then, is political and not cosmetic: Jorge Macri improves when the City feels governed. When the street is more controlled, when public space has rules again, when cleanliness and order become visible, the PRO recovers its “brand of origin.” And that return accommodates his internal situation (Mauricio stops throwing stones), Larreta’s flank shrinks (he loses momentum) and forces him to face the most dangerous rival: libertarianism that lacks evidence of its expertise in micro management.
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