Majority of Mexicans still negative about Trump, but back talks with him - poll

Anti-Trump rhetoric seems to be growing strong in Mexico as an overwhelming majority of its people are thought to be still holding a negative view of US President-elect Donald Trump. However, most of them still believe that Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto should hold talks with the Republican to promote the interest of the country, an opinion poll has revealed on Friday (25 November).

The survey by polling firm Buendia & Laredo conducted for the newspaper EI Universal found that 74% of its respondents had a pessimistic opinion of Trump, while only 5% said they had a good view about him.

Nearly half the country (47%) is also thought to be concerned about what will happen after Trump takes charge of the White House on 20 January.

Mexicans are said to have cause for concern about a Trump presidency as no major party or its leader in modern times is reported to have directed demagoguery or fear against a neighbouring nation with which it shares close trade ties.

The Republican launched a string of verbal attacks on Mexico during his election campaign and even vowed to build a wall along the border the US shares with the country's southern region, even vowing to make Mexico foot the bill. He also announced he would carry out mass deportation of illegal immigrants. Trump had also declared he would pull out of a trade deal with Mexico and Canada.

His meeting with Pena Nieto during his campaign in August was met with strong criticism and widespread anger in Mexico. According to another recent survey by the same pollster, nearly two-thirds of Mexicans believed their president made a mistake by inviting Trump to Mexico City for talks.

However, 53% of the respondents now agree that Pena Nieto should hold talks with Trump to defend the interest of the country, while 43% maintained that the two leaders should not meet citing that Trump insulted Mexicans during his electioneering campaign.

The opinion poll also rated Democrat Hillary Clinton, who is leading the popular vote with two million votes but lost the presidential race to Trump. She received a better rating compared to the Republican, with one in two (52%) respondents saying they had a positive view of her, while 7% thought otherwise.

Around 1,000 Mexicans were interviewed for the poll between 11 and 15 November, which is reported to have had a margin of error of 3.5%.