Honeymoon over in Mexico?

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Mexican President Felipe Calderon is finding out what President Bush learned the hard way: People don’t like new taxes.

Calderon’s approval rating sank to 57% in an October poll taken by the national daily El Universal. That’s down from 64% in August and 68% in the first quarter of the year.

Mexicans tell pollsters they don’t like the way their self-proclaimed ‘jobs president’ is handling the economy. Employment growth is sluggish while prices for staples like tortillas, milk and eggs have soared.

But what really chaps their hides is a new 5.5% tax on gasoline that will be imposed next year. Nearly three-quarters of those surveyed said they didn’t agree with the new levy, which will go to Mexico’s states, most of whose governors belong to the opposition Institutional Revolutionary Party, which ruled Mexico for 71 years.

The poll was taken before the recent devastating floods hit the state of Tabasco, where an estimated 1 million people –- half the state’s population –- have been affected by the deluge. Calderon has been criticized heavily in the media for waiting nearly a week to accept offers from foreign countries to help Mexico deal with one of the worst natural disasters in its history.

Desperation is rising quickly in that southern state, where television and newspapers have shown images of citizens fighting over scarce food and water. Health authorities warn of the potential for outbreaks of cholera and other infectious diseases.

Calderon had better hope that pollsters skip Tabasco when they conduct their next survey of his popularity.

Posted by Marla Dickerson in Mexico City