Such worries relegated security and the Covid-19 pandemic, which were the dominant apprehension until last April, to third and fourth places respectively.

The gradual decline in the numbers of infections and the growing vaccination campaign caused Uruguayans to return their focus more on permanent daily inconveniences closer to normality.

This was in turn reflected in the approval levels of the country’s president, Luis Lacalle Pou, which fell from more than 60 percent to slightly above 50 percent, according to another polling firm.

Pollster and political scientist Oscar Botinelli warned that the best numbers for the president corresponded to the good handling of the health crisis in 2020, but since then he was failing in economy-related matters.

A study by the University of the Republic showed the emergence of 100,000 more poor people in the first year of the right-wing coalition government, and the Ministry of Labor recognized the loss of at least 60,000 jobs.

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