Polls: Support for Chavez government falling

Some 34% of Venezuelans surveyed said they support Chavez's government, down from a high of 67% in early 2005, to the lowest level in five years, a quarterly survey of 2,000 Venezuelans by Caracas pollster Datos found.

The poll was published by the Caracas-based newspaper El Nacional, which said it had a margin of error of 2.2 percentage points and was carried out last month in cities and towns representing 75% of Venezuela's population.

It was unclear who paid for the poll, or how the questionnaire was structured. Pollsters at Datos could not be reached for comment.

Another survey, by Venezuelan pollster Alfredo Keller, showed that 37% of Venezuelans questioned identified themselves as Chavez supporters in February, down from 50% in mid-2007.

That poll, published Tuesday in the Caracas-based newspaper El Universal, surveyed 1,200 people and had a margin of error of 2.9 percentage points. Keller said nine businesses had funded the survey, but he declined to identify them and only released select parts of the questionnaire.

Chavez's government had no immediate response.

Polls have consistently shown that rampant crime is a major concern to Venezuelans. Double-digit inflation has also accelerated, and sporadic shortages of milk and other food products persist.

Mark Weisbrot, co-director of the Washington-based Center for Economic and Policy Research, was skeptical of the polls' results, citing Chavez's longstanding popularity and the growth of the country's oil-rich economy.

"Obviously, Chavez has been affected by these food shortages," said Weisbrot, who has supported Chavez's policies.

Another Venezuelan pollster, Luis Vicente Leon, director of the public opinion firm Datanalisis, said his own recent polling suggests that after a decline at the end of 2007, Chavez's popularity has stabilized "at levels that are still high."