A survey conducted by the Venezuelan firm Meganálisis reveals that the approval rating of Donald Trump among Venezuelans has plummeted by more than 82 percentage points since January, dropping from 92.2% to 9.7%, according to data published this Saturday by the Spanish newspaper ABC.
The most recent trigger of that collapse is the oil agreement signed between the U.S. administration and the acting president Delcy Rodríguez.
The pact, announced on August 28, grants the U.S. control over 65 billion barrels —21% of Venezuela's certified oil reserves— through the company North American Blue Energy Partners (NABEP), linked to the businessman Alejandro Betancourt, a chavista "bolichico" aged 46, who is under investigation for corruption and money laundering in Switzerland, Spain, and the United Kingdom, and is protected by the White House.
Rubén Chirino, president of Meganálisis, explained to the Colombian network NTN24 that the deterioration is due to “the gap between high expectations for change and the lack of concrete progress toward freedom.”
The survey, conducted between August 24 and 31, reflects that in the Venezuelan collective imagination, there is a prevailing feeling that "they took Maduro away, but left chavismo".
Criticism of the agreement does not only come from the streets. The economist and former opposition deputy José Guerra stated that the pact "is not favorable for Venezuela" and quantified the losses: 17 oil fields handed over to NABEP without bidding have stopped generating 4.5 billion dollars in bonds, and selling 21% of crude oil at cost price resulted in an additional fiscal sacrifice of 1.7 billion, leading to a total loss of nearly 6 billion dollars.
The Venezuelan economy also shows no signs of recovery under Rodríguez's government. Inflation soared from 475% at the end of 2025 to an alarming 544% in July 2026, while the Central Bank of Venezuela spent $7.2 billion—more than half of the year's oil revenues—in an unsuccessful attempt to contain the exchange rate gap, according to data from the portal Descifrado.
In this context of frustration, the popularity of María Corina Machado —Nobel Peace Prize laureate and founder of Vente Venezuela, in exile for the past ten months— has only continued to grow.
79.9% of Venezuelans demand open presidential elections, and in that context, 61.2% would vote for the opposition candidate. If the contest were solely between Machado and Rodríguez, the opposition leader would secure 95.2% of the votes.
Machado reacted to the oil agreement with a video in which she expressed "sadness and anger" and warned that "the wealth of our land does not belong to an illegitimate regime," questioning the legitimacy of chavismo to commit the country's resources without consulting the Venezuelan people.
Distrust towards Washington has already become the majority view: 69.2% of Venezuelans do not believe that Trump wants what is best for their country, and 70.9% believe that he captured Maduro to seize the oil, not to free the people. Only 8.9% attribute the arrest to a democratic purpose.
Chirino concludes that, "after eight months of inconsistencies from international actors, particularly Trump," Machado "emerges stronger as the figure with the greatest popular support in the country."
The second round of the dialogue process between chavismo and the moderate opposition led by Dinorah Figuera, president of the National Assembly of 2015 and supported by both Trump and the regime, is scheduled for September 15, although the survey indicates that it does not inspire confidence among the Venezuelan population either.
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