In recent days, opinion polls have been published by pointing out the negative impact on Javier Milei’s image since the $ Libra cryptocurrency scandal, when the president made a post on his social networks on February 14, promoting the unknown digital tool. Milei wrote, then, that at $ Libra would be beneficial for small and medium businesses.
Investigations indicate that a small group would have earned millions and other investors of different sizes, lost millions of dollars in Argentina, the United States and other countries. Milei took office a year and three months ago and this is undoubtedly the most challenging moment for his credibility since he took over Casa Rosada.
The case affected the heart of what Milei argued to be. “That is, the opposite of politicians who work for themselves and not to the population,” said Atlas Intel’s executive director, Andrei Roman, in conversation with Clarín in Portuguese on Tuesday.
The president’s image recorded a strong drop in February this year, according to the Atlas Intel survey, which agreed to forecast Milei’s election in 2023.
According to the survey, held ten days after Milei’s post, between 24 and 27 February, with more than two thousand interviews, Milei’s negative image went from 41% in January to 50% in February – an increase of almost 10% in one month. At the same time, in the same period, Milei’s positive image fell from 55% to 45%.
“Milei’s image is in a strong fall. But government approval did not fall. There are different views between Milei’s image and the government’s image. Basically, people feel things are getting better in the country, but they have worse assessment of the president because of the token ($ pound case), ”said Roman.
He noted that Malei “sailed like an antidote in everything in Argentine politics.”
Milei was seen as the opponent of local politics addictions. Milei wouldn’t it be a “myth” anymore? “The episode was quite toxic to Milei. He did not shake Milei’s myth, but attacked the position he was putting on, ”he said. In the campaign, with the chainsaw that he carried to the motorcade, and at Casa Rosada, with speeches filled with insults against politicians, entrepreneurs and journalists, Milei sought to be the symbol of traditional antipolytic. But the $ Libra shook her image especially among those who voted for him and trusted him in the final stretch of the election campaign. “Milei’s voter is still resilient,” noted Roman.
Faced with a fragmented opposition with worn opposing sectors, Malei advanced without obstacles. Now, however, and still in the face of a divided opposition and without an attractive representative for the electorate, the perception between voters is that Malei, with that post, has privileged certain groups, which sought to enrich.
The voters’ eyes on Milei’s acts and management has become more rigorous. If the economic course does not work, Milei will be much more questioned. The honeymoon for those who already had caveats about it may have been over or at risk. “Now this doubts are added – its economic sustainability and its character,” said Roman. And what would be the departure to Milei, since he has no one to blame for his own promotion on his social networks.
“Perhaps arguing that making mistakes is human,” said the director of Atlas Intel. The opposition, however, does not forgive the presidential gesture and will try to establish a kind of CPI in the House of Representatives to find out what Milei’s participation in the plot he himself called the “casino” when he sought to explain the losses and gains of those who believed in $ Libra. The Argentine and United States justice also investigate the case.