More Colombians opposed than supportive, but the direction does not change
En los últimos compases de su mandato, el presidente colombiano Gustavo Petro ocupa el decimocuarto lugar entre dieciocho líderes latinoamericanos, con una aprobación de 36,5 por ciento y un rechazo que roza el 61. Lo que comenzó el año con un repunte cercano al 49 por ciento —alentado en parte por un aumento histórico del salario mínimo— se ha ido diluyendo mes a mes, hasta dejar a Petro en el umbral de los mandatarios menos respaldados del continente. Es el arco familiar de los gobiernos que agotan su energía transformadora antes de agotar su tiempo: la promesa inicial se mide, al final, contra el peso acumulado de las decisiones tomadas y las expectativas no cumplidas.
- En un solo mes, Petro perdió 3,5 puntos de aprobación y cayó dos posiciones en el ranking regional, señal de que el desgaste se aceleró justo cuando el reloj de su presidencia marca la hora final.
- El optimismo de febrero —cuando rozaba el 49 por ciento tras el mayor aumento del salario mínimo de su gobierno— quedó como un destello lejano: la recuperación no resistió el peso de los meses siguientes.
- El pesimismo ciudadano va más allá del presidente: el 52,2 por ciento de los colombianos cree que el país va por mal camino, una sombra que envuelve el cierre de su mandato.
- Las distintas firmas encuestadoras arrojan cifras que oscilan entre el 36,5 y el 46 por ciento, pero todas apuntan en la misma dirección: más colombianos desaprueban que aprueban a su presidente.
- Petro y el argentino Milei comparten una trayectoria descendente en sus tramos finales, retrato de dos líderes que concluyen sus ciclos con más detractores que seguidores y el impulso inicial ya consumido.
En junio de 2026, el seguimiento mensual de CB Global Data ubica a Gustavo Petro en el decimocuarto lugar entre dieciocho presidentes latinoamericanos, con 36,5 por ciento de aprobación y 61 por ciento de rechazo. Un mes antes ocupaba el duodécimo puesto con 40 por ciento de respaldo: la caída de 3,5 puntos y el retroceso de dos posiciones en treinta días dibujan una erosión visible a pocas semanas del final de su mandato.
El contraste con el inicio del año es elocuente. En febrero, Petro rozaba el 49 por ciento de favorabilidad —el segundo registro más alto de toda su administración—, impulsado en parte por un incremento del 23 por ciento en el salario mínimo. Ese impulso se fue diluyendo entre febrero y mayo, y las cifras de junio sugieren que el deterioro se aceleró. Su piso histórico sigue siendo el 34 por ciento, alcanzado en mayo de 2023 cuando disolvió su coalición de gobierno y exigió la renuncia de su gabinete. El 36,5 actual está por encima de ese mínimo, pero refleja a un presidente incapaz de sostener la recuperación en su recta final.
Las diferencias metodológicas entre encuestadoras producen resultados distintos: mientras CB Global Data registra 36,5 por ciento, Invamer sitúa la aprobación entre 43 y 46 por ciento. Sin embargo, todas las mediciones coinciden en lo esencial: más colombianos se oponen que apoyan al presidente. A ese panorama se suma que el 52,2 por ciento de los encuestados por Invamer considera que Colombia va por mal camino, frente a un 43,3 por ciento que cree lo contrario.
En el contexto regional, el contraste es marcado. Nayib Bukele lidera el ranking con 69,1 por ciento de aprobación, seguido de cerca por Claudia Sheinbaum con 65,5 por ciento. En el extremo opuesto, José María Balcázar de Perú cierra la lista con apenas 20,5 por ciento. Petro comparte el tramo bajo con Javier Milei, ubicado un peldaño por debajo en el puesto quince con 34,8 por ciento. Ambos presidentes encarnan un patrón reconocible: mandatos que concluyen con el impulso inicial agotado y el balance final escrito, sobre todo, por el peso de las decisiones acumuladas.
President Gustavo Petro's standing in Colombia has contracted sharply. In June 2026, according to CB Global Data's monthly tracking of eighteen Latin American leaders, Petro ranked fourteenth with an approval rating of 36.5 percent and disapproval at 61 percent. The measurement places him among the five least popular heads of state on the continent—a position that tightened considerably in just thirty days. In May, he had held the twelfth spot with 40 percent approval. The single-month drop of 3.5 percentage points and the two-position slide downward mark a visible erosion of public confidence as his presidency approaches its final weeks.
The decline becomes more legible when set against the year's trajectory. Petro began 2026 near 49 percent favorability in February—the second-highest mark of his entire administration, a bump many analysts attributed partly to a 23 percent increase in the minimum wage. Yet between February and May, that initial momentum dissolved. Invamer, another major polling firm, recorded a 3.2-point drop in approval over that span, with disapproval crossing back above 50 percent. The CB Global Data figures for June suggest the deterioration accelerated further. His lowest point on record remains 34 percent, reached in May 2023 when he dissolved his governing coalition with traditional parties and demanded his cabinet's resignation. Though the current 36.5 percent sits above that floor, it reflects a president unable to sustain the early-year recovery in his final stretch.
The numbers vary somewhat depending on methodology. CB Global Data conducts online surveys of roughly two thousand respondents per country, while Invamer uses in-person and telephone fieldwork with different sampling criteria. CB Global Data's most recent measurement, conducted between June 2 and 7, encompassed more than forty thousand interviews across eighteen nations. Invamer's last pre-election survey showed Petro at 45.8 percent approval and 50.4 percent disapproval—higher than CB Global Data's figure but pointing in the same direction: more Colombians opposed than supportive. Political science professor Juan Nicolás Garzón of Universidad de La Sabana noted previously that for a president in his final months, even mid-thirties approval could be considered relatively robust, and that some surveys do register higher numbers in the 43 to 46 percent range. The gap between firms matters, but the direction does not: all measures show erosion.
Citizen sentiment has darkened beyond the president himself. Invamer found that 52.2 percent of respondents believe Colombia is heading in the wrong direction, while 43.3 percent see it moving the right way. That pessimism forms the backdrop against which Petro's numbers have fallen.
Regionally, the landscape shows sharp contrasts. Nayib Bukele of El Salvador leads the eighteen-country ranking with 69.1 percent approval, with 42.1 percent of Salvadorans rating his performance very good and 27 percent good. Mexico's Claudia Sheinbaum, who held the top position in May with 67.8 percent, slipped to second in June at 65.5 percent—a tight race between the two that has defined recent months. Costa Rica's Laura Fernández occupies third place at 56.1 percent, a figure trending upward from 52.7 percent the previous month. Luis Abinader of the Dominican Republic stands fourth at 54.8 percent, and Santiago Peña of Paraguay fifth at 48.3 percent.
At the opposite end, Peru's José María Balcázar ranks eighteenth with 20.5 percent approval. Venezuela's Delcy Rodríguez registers 24.1 percent. Guatemala's Bernardo Arévalo shows 33.1 percent. Panama's José Raúl Mulino stands at 36 percent. Argentina's Javier Milei, at 34.8 percent, occupies the fifteenth position—just one rung above Petro. Milei's trajectory offers a pointed comparison: the Argentine president ranked among regional leaders a year ago but has experienced sustained decline since early 2026, including a sharp 4.5-point drop in March that sent him to eleventh place. Both Petro and Milei embody a pattern of presidents concluding their cycles with more detractors than supporters, their initial momentum spent and their final months defined by the weight of accumulated decisions and unmet expectations.
Notable Quotes
For a president in his final months, mid-thirties approval could be considered relatively robust— Juan Nicolás Garzón, political science professor at Universidad de La Sabana
The Hearth Conversation Another angle on the story
Why does the gap between polling firms matter so much here? Isn't 36.5 percent just 36.5 percent?
The gap tells you something about how people are being asked and who's answering. CB Global Data works online with two thousand people per country. Invamer sends people into the field, uses phones, different criteria. One might catch urban respondents more easily, the other might reach different demographics. Both show disapproval above approval, but the magnitude shifts. It's not that one is lying—it's that the question itself, the moment, the method all shape the answer.
He started the year near 49 percent. That's a real number. What happened between February and now?
The minimum wage increase in February probably gave him a lift—people felt something concrete. But policy wins don't sustain themselves. By May, disapproval was back over 50 percent. The pessimism about the country's direction rose to 52 percent. It's not that one thing broke; it's that the accumulated weight of governance—inflation, security, whatever else—caught up with the initial goodwill.
Is 36.5 percent actually that bad for someone in his final weeks?
That's the real question. Garzón said it's relatively high for a lame duck. But context matters. Petro came in as a transformational figure, a leftist breaking with the traditional order. The gap between that promise and where he lands—fourteenth out of eighteen, below Milei, below most of the region—that's the story. It's not just the number. It's the distance traveled.
What does Milei's presence in this ranking tell us?
A year ago Milei was near the top. Now he's fifteenth, just above Petro. Both men rode waves of change and disruption. Both are ending their cycles with more people against them than for them. It suggests something about the shelf life of outsider presidencies, or maybe just the difficulty of governing when expectations are high and resources are constrained.
Does 52 percent of people thinking the country's heading the wrong way mean Petro loses the next election?
It means the mood is sour. Whether that translates to electoral outcomes depends on who's running next, what the alternatives look like, what happens in the next few weeks. But yes—when more than half the country thinks things are going wrong, the sitting president carries that weight into any transition.