Mexicans approve of
President Enrique Pena Nieto's decision to withdraw from a planned summit with
U.S. counterpart Donald Trump, even as the Mexican leader's
popularity has sunk
to a four-year low, a poll showed on Tuesday.
The survey, by
polling firm Buendia & Laredo, showed that 64 percent of 1,000 Mexicans
interviewed from Feb. 2-7 approved of Pena Nieto's decision to cancel a January
meeting with the new U.S. president.
The Mexican leader
backed out after Trump said he should not attend if he was unwilling to pay for
a border wall between the two countries, a central plank of the New York
businessman's election campaign.
In addition to
arguments over the border wall, Trump has fanned Mexican anger by threatening
to levy a hefty tax on Mexican-made goods entering U.S. markets and scrap a
bilateral trade deal.
Pena Nieto has seen
his disapproval rating soar to 74 percent, up from 66 percent in November,
despite receiving plaudits for cancelling the meeting.
His popularity fell
to just 19 percent, its lowest since February 2013, when the first poll in the
series was conducted.
Pena Nieto could at
least take some consolation from the fact that more Mexicans disapproved of
Trump, with 86 percent of those polled saying they had a bad opinion of the
American real estate mogul.
Sixty percent expect
Trump to follow through on campaign promises to build the border wall, although
those interviewed were split 49 percent to 44 over whether the United States or
Mexico would pay for it.
*Reuters*
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