What Is Nayib Bukele Approval Rating?
/El Salvador's President Nayib Bukele maintains some of the highest approval ratings of any leader in 2025. Now nearing six years since taking office, Bukele is a polarizing but highly popular politician among Salvadorans. His leadership approach, pugnacious crime policies, and unorthodox economic trials have kept Bukele at center stage and generally popular with his constituents. Most up-to-date data and analyses show an approval percentage that remains in excess of 80% with some putting him at 91%.
Recent Polling Shows Bukele Reaching A Remarkably High 91 Percent In Approval Ratings
A January 2025 report by Morning Consult’s Global Leader Approval Ratings puts Bukele at a 91% approval rating. This puts him well ahead of leaders such as India’s Narendra Modi (76%) and Russia’s Vladimir Putin (80%). Even a regional Cid-Gallup survey that was carried all over Latin America put Bukele at 83% approval rating, which is highest in Latin America. Rodrigo Chaves of Costa Rica was second at 65%, with Dominican President Luis Abinader ranking at 59%.
These figures have been steady over time. An example is that a Statista survey between May and June 2024 indicated that over 91% of Salvadorans surveyed gave their endorsement of Bukele’s performance. He got an average rating of 8.28 from a 1-to-10 grading system.
Approval Ratings For Bukele Have Remained Consistently High Throughout His Presidency
His high ratings began early in his presidency. He began his term in June of 2019, and by January 2020, his popularity was 91% by Cid-Gallup's measure. Even amid the pandemic, when most world leaders suffered a decline in popular support, Bukele's popularity remained above 80%. His popularity peaked at 92% in early 2024 and was at 91% by November 2024, according to various regional reports.
What is particularly noteworthy is that he did not see significant drops in his ratings even in the midst of international condemnation.
Unlike many leaders whose popularity waxes and wanes with policy backlash or financial woes, Bukele retains a sustained high ranking with most Salvadorans.
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Economic Experiments And Direct Communication Strengthen Public Approval Of His Leadership
Alongside all his crime policies, Bukele launched several bold economic projects. One of the most widely reported was legalizing Bitcoin in 2021, hoping to stimulate foreign capital investment and decrease remittance costs. While the rest of the world remains doubtful, many Salvadorans welcome the president’s willingness to experiment.
He is also credited with his robust digital communication approach. Via avenues such as X (formerly Twitter), he does not use middlemen such as traditional media to communicate with citizens but rather does so personally. This digital openness only serves to enhance his stature, especially with younger generations.
Bukele’s Strong Support Is Largely Tied To His Crackdown On Crime And Gang Violence
One of Bukele’s key factors for long-term popularity lies in his firm crackdown on gang crime. Under his government’s "state of exception" policy, tens of thousands of alleged gang members were apprehended, resulting in a significant decline in El Salvador’s murder rate. El Salvador’s murder rate was among the highest in the world in 2015. By 2024, there were only fewer than 200 murders reported for the whole year, national police reports stated.
Despite human rights organizations complaining about mass detentions and reported abuse, local popular sentiment still supports the outcome. Most Salvadorans feel that personal security is improved now, which by itself guarantees Bukele's popularity.
International Criticism Has Not Significantly Impacted Bukele’s Support At Home
While Bukele has been condemned by worldwide institutions for eroding democratic institutions like the judiciary and the media, this has not decreased his popularity in El Salvador. Rather, many citizens of El Salvador perceive these acts to be essential in an attempt to counteract corruption and inefficiency. He has been rewarded with international recognition also. Late 2024 saw Costa Rica rewarding him with a national diplomatic award due to his crime-fighting accomplishments. As of 2025, President Bukele is still one of the most popular leaders globally, an oddity of contemporary politics. Internationally, his leadership is contentious, but domestically he maintains the confidence and respect of a vast majority of Salvadorans.
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Business Number: (224) 214-0145
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