Financial Times: Venezuelans turn more optimistic after Maduro’s capture
The poll suggests opposition leader María Corina Machado would win decisively if a new vote were held this year: 67% said they would back Machado versus 25% for interim president Delcy Rodríguez
A face-to-face poll reported by the Financial Times points to a sharp swing in public mood in Venezuela following the US military intervention and the capture of former president Nicolás Maduro. The paper said Venezuelans are “much more optimistic about the future”, while the same findings also show heightened concern over security.
The survey was carried out by Gold Glove Consulting — run by Mark Feierstein, a former Latin America adviser to ex-US president Barack Obama — based on 1,000 in-person interviews conducted from January 24 to 30, with a 3.1 percentage-point margin of error, according to the report. The work was sponsored by the US-based legal non-profit Pragmatic Panic and the Geneva-based Zampa Foundation.
According to the figures cited by the FT, 72% of respondents said Venezuela was moving in a positive direction after Maduro’s capture, contrasting with polling in 2024 in which the dominant view was that the country was on the wrong track. At the same time, 58% said security had worsened, indicating that improved expectations are not yet translating into a stronger sense of safety.
On elections, the poll suggests opposition leader María Corina Machado would win decisively if a new vote were held this year: 67% said they would back Machado versus 25% for interim president Delcy Rodríguez, the FT reported. On Rodríguez’s performance, 37% rated it good or excellent, 41% bad or very bad, and 22% said they did not know. Feierstein argued some voters may be reassessing the interim leader: “They do seem to be giving her a second look, a reassessment,” he told the newspaper.
Respondents were evenly split on who is now running the country — the US or Rodríguez — but the FT said most support Washington’s stated priorities, including cracking down on drug trafficking, releasing political prisoners and holding free elections. The report added that 62% approve of an arrangement under which Washington holds veto power over payments to Caracas from oil revenues.
The FT also said more than three-quarters of respondents support US military strikes on drug traffickers and other criminal groups operating from Venezuela, a policy it noted has been condemned by Democrats and human rights experts on international law grounds. Even so, the poll indicates the public’s biggest concerns remain economic: the cost of living, healthcare and jobs.
Energy policy is part of the backdrop. This week, US energy secretary Chris Wright met Rodríguez in Caracas and called for a “dramatic increase” in Venezuela’s oil output, according to international reporting.
