Milei’s image sours with Argentines as jobs become top concern

Argentines view Javier Milei more negatively than his top political rivals while rising unemployment ranks as their top concern a year before the country’s presidential election.

Some 62 percent of Argentines say they have a negative image of Milei compared to 36 percent who regard him positively, according to LatAm Pulse, a survey conducted by AtlasIntel for Bloomberg News and published Friday. He had earned negative marks from 59 percent in the prior survey, when 38 percent saw him positively.

Ratings for his main political rivals, meanwhile, improved, even if they also remain broadly unpopular. Buenos Aires Province Governor Axel Kicillof, who is widely seen as a presidential challenger, earned positive marks from 39 percent, up two points, while his negative rating remained stable at 54 percent.

Former president Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, who is under house arrest and barred from political office, held the highest positive image at 41 percent, according to the survey. 

Argentines say unemployment is their top concern, with half ranking it among the nation’s chief problems – ahead of both corruption and inflation. That’s a warning for Milei, who has focused his message on progress bringing down inflation, which about a third of voters listed among top concerns. 

The formal private sector has lost jobs nearly every month since Milei took office in December 2023, and about 70 percent described the country’s labour market as bad.

Investors have gotten ahead of the election by dumping Argentina’s sovereign bonds, which have ranked among the worst performers in emerging markets over the past three months. Yields on Argentina’s bonds maturing in 2035, among its most liquid, have risen above 13 percent in November from less than 9% in July. 

Wall Street is beginning to worry that Milei is facing a difficult path to reelection amid slower growth and stalled legislative progress in Congress. Democrats’ sweeping victory in US midterm elections, meanwhile, has fuelled perceptions that US President Donald Trump may not provide financial aid ahead of the election, as he did before Argentina’s midterm vote in 2025.

Milei’s odds of victory have declined in prediction markets, falling to 43 percent in November from 56 percent last month on Polymarket.