Trump Joked He Could Run Venezuela. New Poll Suggests The Honeymoon Is Over

President Donald Trump joked last month that he could run for president of Venezuela because, he claimed, his popularity there was higher than anyone else's. A new Venezuelan poll suggests that boast may already be aging badly.

"The people of Venezuela, they say, if I ran for president of Venezuela: I'm polling higher than anybody has ever polled in Venezuela," Trump said during an April 6 press conference. "I will quickly learn Spanish. It won't take too long. I'm good at languages and I will go to Venezuela. I'm going to run for president."

However, a late-April survey by the Venezuelan polling firm Meganálisis found that gratitude toward Trump had fallen to 47.08%, down sharply from 82.9% in a February poll and 74.5% in March. The poll, conducted between April 13 and April 20, also found that 89.13% of respondents rejected Trump maintaining negotiations with or backing acting President Delcy Rodríguez.

The collapse points to a growing political problem for Trump's Venezuela strategy. His administration's January operation to capture Nicolás Maduro initially made him extremely popular among Venezuelans exhausted by years of authoritarian rule, economic collapse, and mass migration. In February, 82.9% of respondents in a Meganálisis survey said they felt grateful toward Trump, while 90.1% opposed Rodríguez leading the transition.

That gap is now driving the backlash. Trump has praised Rodríguez as a partner, calling her "a terrific person" after a January call and saying the two governments were making "tremendous progress" on oil, minerals, trade and national security.
For many Venezuelans, according to the April survey, the issue is not Maduro's removal, but who remains in power after him. Delcy Rodríguez, a longtime Maduro ally and former vice president, has been acting as Venezuela's president under U.S. oversight since the January operation.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in late March that Venezuela would need a transition phase and "free and fair elections," adding, "We have to be patient, but we also can't be complacent."

The April poll suggests patience may be running out. Meganálisis found broad support for new presidential elections and a strong preference for María Corina Machado over Rodríguez. Voz Media reported that Machado led with 71.25% in an open scenario and 84.36% in a head-to-head matchup against Rodríguez, who received 4.95%.

The shift comes as Rodríguez's government courts foreign investment and regional ties. Reuters reported that BP signed a memorandum of understanding with Venezuela to develop offshore gas fields, while Rodríguez described the company's return as a sign of the future Venezuela wants for international energy relations. Rodríguez visited Barbados to seek oil and gas investment.

That energy diplomacy may help explain why Trump's old "liberator" image is fading among Venezuelans who expected a swift democratic opening. The new numbers suggest that removing Maduro was not enough to preserve goodwill if Washington is seen as normalizing his former inner circle.