Some Optimism

I believe I've alluded to this before, but it's always struck me how (apologies for the upcoming generalization; I assure you that it's unavoidable) Mexicans' optimism and cynicism exist side by side. This is a bit simplistic, but many seem to think all politicians are dirty and Mexico will never make the developed world, but they don't feel like the world is coming to an end and have no hope for improvement. This dichotomy naturally leads to polling schizophrenia. On the one hand, Mitofsky reveals a Mexico all but apoplectic about the economy and crime, with overwhelmingly negative right track/wrong track figures. On the other, the Pew Global Attitudes Project shows Mexicans with a relatively high degree of understanding And neither poll strikes me as wrong or misleading.

Anyway, these Imagen polls offer evidence of the optimistic Mexico: more than 75 percent of respondents said they could view 2010 as a positive year, and 64 percent said they were ending 2009 on a good note.