Poll: Majority of Venezuelans View Opposition as Divided and Lacking Program
Over 60 percent of Venezuelans view the country’s right-wing political opposition as deeply divided, as well as lacking a program to tackle the nation’s economic difficulties, reports a new poll.
Caracas, November 8, 2016 (venezuelanalysis.com) – Over 60 percent of Venezuelans view the country’s right-wing political opposition as deeply divided and lacking a program to tackle the nation’s economic difficulties, reports a new poll.
According to a new survey released by the private polling firm Hinterlaces, 66 percent of the population agrees that the right-wing opposition coalition, the MUD, “only talks about removing [President] Maduro from power yet presents no plan to solve the country’s economic problems”.
The poll also found that 65 percent of Venezuelans view the political opposition as “very divided”, while 64 percent agree that anti-government forces lack “a strong leader that represents them”.
In a further indictment of the right-wing bloc, 62 percent of the population agrees that the opposition continues to be led by the same leaders from Venezuela’s corrupt, pacted representative democracy that preceded Hugo Chávez, known as the Fourth Republic. Meanwhile, 72 percent of Venezuelans say that the opposition needs new leaders.
Additionally, 68 percent of the country thinks that the MUD should help the government resolve the nation’s economic problems.
The poll comes amidst the opening of Vatican-mediated talks between the national government and MUD, which have fractured the right-wing coalition, with around half of opposition parties rejecting the dialogue.
Last week, the right-wing coalition threatened to break off dialogue if the government did not immediately release all those it terms “political prisoners” and set a date for new presidential elections.
Previous surveys have shown that 83 percent of Venezuelans support the Vatican-facilitated dialogue, while a clear majority prefers President Nicolas Maduro to an opposition administration, provided that he can address the country’s severe economic crisis.
The latest poll was conducted between October 22 and November 2, and involved 1580 telephone respondents randomly selected from across the country. The figures were reported with a confidence level of 95 percent.