Who will be the worst President?

The time puts everyone in place.

Thomas Osborne
Thomas Osborne
14 February 2023 Tuesday 03:51
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Who will be the worst President?

The time puts everyone in place. When it seemed that Jordi Pujol would remain as the most valued president of the restored Generalitat in 1980, the entire history of his mandate has overshadowed his figure to such an extent that Pasqual Maragall, the former Olympic mayor who only governed Catalonia for one legislature, has snatched that rank from him .

And when it seemed that the socialist José Montilla would obtain the most discreet qualifications of all the presidents, the outbreak of the procés has eroded the image of the Catalan leaders in such a way that Montilla's average grade is now above those of Artur Mas, Joaquim Torra or Pere Aragones. The data is from the ICPS and the CEO.

The struggle between Pujol and Maragall always kept the CiU candidate ahead, although the Socialist mayor managed to reap better marks than the President on occasion. Specifically, in various CIS surveys between 1992 and 1995, Maragall got a grade close to 7, while Pujol did not reach 6.5. But in their respective roles at the helm of the Generalitat, the best score for the CiU leader was close to 6.6 in 1997, compared to 5.9 for Maragall in 2004. And the average score in the ICPS records is Pujol at 6.2, while the socialist leader gets 5.5.

However, the subsequent revelations about the background of Pujol's management (the CDC commissions and the fiscal irregularities of the former president) have devalued his mandate, so that, according to a study by the CEO, Maragall's legacy at the helm of the Generalitat he is judged positively by almost 60% of Catalans, while Pujol's approval remains at 42%. Only Junts voters value Pujol's management better (76%) than Maragall's (68%). And as a curious fact, the voters who best rate the socialist President are those of Esquerra (more than 80%).

What is significant about this retrospective vision of the image of the successive presidents of the Generalitat is that it reflects some paradoxes. For example, Pujol's best score (6.6) came in 1997, just when the CiU had already begun its decline and the nationalist candidate was headed for defeat in votes against Maragall in 1999.

However, the evaluation of the leaders of the Generalitat has become notably complicated since the reform of the Statute and, above all, after the start of the sovereignist process. Montilla, for example, started with a 4.3 in 2006, reached 5.2 in 2008 and ended with a 4.9. However, it was Artur Mas who experienced a more pronounced decline. He began his term with a fair pass (5.1) and quickly slipped into severe suspense as he combined his policy of cuts with the institutional leadership of the process.

Specifically, Artur Mas went from 4.8 in 2011 to 3.9 in 2015. Only 4.7 in 2014 –the year of the first sovereignist consultation and the tercentenary of 9/11– mitigated the dismal ratings of 2012 and 2013, at the worst moment of the crisis. But then the fissures of the process began to take their toll on the figure of the President: in 2014, Mas slightly improved his note from previous years among the pro-independence electorate, but worsened it by a third among those opposed to secession.

Only Carles Puigdemont, who began his mandate at a still peaceful moment of the process, improved the grades of his predecessors and achieved a 5.4 in 2016. However, at the end of 2017, and after the events of October and the application of the article 155, the figure of Puigdemont fell below the approved.

The explanation is simple: for the pro-independence voters, Puigdemont became a hero (and for this reason they scored him above 8), but for those opposed to the secession, he already embodied the figure of the villain (and his note dropped below 2 among the voters of the PSC, and one among those of Ciudadanos).

As for Quim Torra and Pere Aragonès, their assessment is already loaded with visible collective disappointment in the face of the sovereignist process, which is why both score below Puigdemont. Torra registered increasingly discreet evaluations among the nationalist electorate (below six) and very severe failings among those opposed to the break with Spain.

For his part, Aragonès also suffered the consequences of the division of the independence bloc. The current President has slightly improved his image among voters opposed to secession, but he garners clear suspense among Junts and CUP voters. Even so, he has half a term left to progress properly.