After his first three months in office Chapala Mayor Joaquin Huerta has earned a fairly favorable approval rating among his constituents, according to newly released results of an independent public opinion poll.
The survey was conducted December 26 through January 4 by Guadalajara-based DI Market and Consulting Group, with data gathered through telephone interviews with 400 registered voters in the municipality.
Asked to qualify their general opinion of Huerta, 38 percent of respondents answered “very good,” 30 percent said “good” and another 30 percent said “excellent.” The other two percent replied “so-so.”
Graded on a scale of one to 10, Huerta’s job performance to date measured as average, with a 6.8 score. That put him at three-tenths of a point above the final score for his predecessor, Jesus Cabrera.
As for expectations about the probability that the current government will do better than the previous administration, 52 percent chose the response “somewhat likely,” while 36 percent selected “very likely” and the rest said “not at all likely.”
Ironically, in terms of Huerta’s management abilities, 52 percent opined that he has good intentions but doesn’t know how to govern. Just 36 percent answered “prepared and capable of governing,” and 14 percent replied “he doesn’t have good intentions and doesn’t know how to govern.”
In regard to the community’s greatest problems, lack of security topped the list at 78 percent of responses, ranking way above lake and Malecon maintenance, the issue that came in a distant second at eight percent. No other problem, including corruption, water service, employment, highways and traffic, came in above one percent.
The most pressing service and infrastructure needs citizen perceive include road paving, ranked first at 34 percent, hospitals, placed second with 22 percent, and universities, third at 20 percent. All other topics came in at 10 percent or less.