Mexican president’s polls fall to near-record lows

Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto. AP FILE PHOTO

MEXICO CITY — New polls show approval ratings for Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto falling to some of the lowest levels in recent memory.

Just nine months after Pena Nieto appeared on the cover of Time magazine with the headline “Saving Mexico,” scandals and crises have pushed his approval rating down to around 40 percent.

It’s one of the lowest levels for a Mexican president since Ernesto Zedillo presided over the 1994-1995 economic crisis.

A Buendia & Laredo poll for the El Universal newspaper showed Pena Nieto’s approval rating falling from 46 percent in August to 41 percent in November. A poll by the Reforma newspaper showed approval dropping from 50 percent in August to 39 percent in late November.

The polls had a margin of error of 3.5 percentage points or less.