A survey conducted by market research firm AtlasIntel found that U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio ranks as the most popular politician in Venezuela, with 57 percent of respondents holding a positive image of the secretary.
The results, published on Thursday, were part of a broader survey that AtlasIntel carried out for Bloomberg between February 19-25. The study found that a majority of Venezuelans hold better expectations for their country following the United States’ arrest of socialist dictator Nicolás Maduro in January.
Fifty-eight percent of respondents said that they expect improvements in Venezuela’s economy and job market within the next six months as a result of “acting President” Delcy Rodríguez’s ongoing cooperation with the administration of President Donald Trump to attract foreign investment and as the U.S. eases sanctions on the Venezuelan socialist regime. The same number of respondents also expressed hope that the expected improvements will allow them to purchase more goods as the economy improves.
The AtlasIntel study also found that 52 percent of respondents said they perceive an increase in civil liberties following Maduro’s arrest and the start of the regime’s cooperation with the United States. Bloomberg noted that the sentiment coincided with a surge in peaceful protests in Venezuela in January, as local non-governmental organizations told Bloomberg that protesters appear “less fearful” of Venezuelan authorities, who have largely stopped persecuting protesters in light of the increased U.S. and international scrutiny on their actions.
The survey asked participants their opinion on several Venezuelan and American figures — notably finding that Sec. Rubio stands at the top of the ranking, with 57 percent of respondents expressing that they have a favorable image of him.
Anti-socialist opposition leader and Nobel Peace Prize laureate María Corina Machado ranked in a very close second position, with 56 percent of participants holding a positive image of Machado. Equally notable as Sec. Rubio’s ranking, President Donald Trump came in third place, with 53 percent of Venezuelan respondents reporting a positive image of Trump.
Venezuelan former diplomat Edmundo González, who rightfully defeated Maduro in the sham July 2024 presidential election before the now-deposed dictator declared himself the “winner,” came in fourth place with 51 percent expressing a positive image of him.
Asked for their opinion on “acting President” Delcy Rodríguez, only 29 percent said they hold a positive image of her. About 37 percent expressed approval of her performance in leadership and 44 percent disapproved. The results placed Rodríguez below opposition figures and even President Trump and Sec. Rubio. Lastly, only 22 percent said they a favorable image of Nicolás Maduro, who remains detained at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn alongside his wife Cilia Flores facing multiple drug trafficking charges. Maduro and Flores are due back in federal court for a hearing on March 26.
“Despite the improved outlook, Venezuelans continue to cite corruption, democratic backsliding, poverty and unemployment as the country’s most pressing problems,” Bloomberg reported.
Rodríguez, who served as Maduro’s Vice President from 2018 until the dictator’s arrest on January 3, has engaged in ongoing fruitful cooperation with the United States government following Maduro’s capture.
Over the past weeks, Rodríguez has met with several U.S. officials and U.S. company representatives as she works to collaborate with President Trump and Secretary Rubio’s three-phase plan towards restoring democracy to Venezuela — a country that historically maintained friendly ties with America until the rise to power of Hugo Chávez and his “Bolivarian Revolution” in 1999. President Trump explained in January that U.S. oil companies would help Venezuela rehabilitate its rundown oil and energy sectors in return for Venezuela sharing its oil with the U.S.
This week, during his annual State of the Union address, President Trump announced that the United States had so far received 80 million barrels of Venezuelan oil from the nation’s socialist regime.
“American oil production is up by more than 600,000 barrels per day and we just received from our new friend and partner Venezuela more than 80 million barrels of oil,” President Trump told Congress.
Rodríguez, speaking at an official event on Thursday, celebrated President Trump’s friendly remarks on Venezuela and described Trump as a “partner and friend,” asserting that Venezuela “has never been an enemy country” of the United States and that “it has always had a policy and a geopolitical concept of friendship and cooperation.”
“President Trump, as a friend, as a partner, as we are opening a new agenda of cooperation with the United States, end the sanctions now and end the blockade against our homeland, because that blockade is also against the youth of Venezuela,” Rodríguez said in the company of regime youth officials — with Maduro’s son, Nicolás Maduro Guerra, standing behind her.
Christian K. Caruzo is a Venezuelan writer and documents life under socialism. You can follow him on Twitter here.
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