Argentina’s Leader Is Americas’ Most Popular. Brazil’s Lula Comes in 10th

Argentina's president Nestor Kirchner together with the presidents of Colombia Alvaro Uribe and Mexico's Felipe Calderon rank as the top of the list of Latinamerican leaders in performance support according to Consulta Mitofsky a respected Mexican public opinion consultant.

Kirchner figures with 71% support and Uribe and Calderon with 66%. The list follows with Panama's Martin Torrijos 60%; El Salvador, Antonio Saca; Honduras Manuel Zelaya and Bolivia's Evo Morales with 57% approval.

Ecuador's Rafael Correa is sixth and sliding with 56%. Uruguay's Tabare Vazquez figures with 51% support, one percentage point ahead of Venezuela's controversial Hugo Chavez 50%

Brazil's Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva is ranked tenth with 48%, ahead of Canada's Stephen Harper, 44%; Guatemala's 42%; Chile's Michelle Bachelet, 39% and Dominican Republic Leonel Fernandez, 38%.

Bottom of the list are Peru's Alan Garcí­a, 32%; Nicaragua's Daniel Ortega, 26%; George W Bush, 22% and Paraguay's Nicanor Duarte, 11%.

The overall ranking shows Central America as the region where presidents average the highest approval, followed by South America, 48% and North America, 44%. However the continental average stands at 47%.

The Mitofsky ranking also publishes the ranking of six European leaders: Germany's Angela Merkel figures with 76% approval; Russia's Vladimir Putin, 75%; France's Nicolas Sarkozy, 64%. The lower half includes Britain's Prime Minister George Brown, 56%; Italy's Romano Prodi, 44% and Spain's Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, 40%.

The information is based on interviews and public opinion polls done last July, August in all the countries involved.

Mercopress