Sheinbaum’s 75% Approval After First Year

MEXICO CITY — As President Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo concludes her first year in office, she has solidified her position as the country's most discussed and applauded political figure in the digital sphere. The President not only governs the nation but also dominates online conversations, according to a report from MilenIA, the Data and Artificial Intelligence Center of Multimedios.

The report indicates that in October 2025, her digital approval rating reached 75%, a four-point increase from the start of her administration and 15 points higher than the day she won the election. This growth is significant in online platforms where criticism often prevails.

A Digital Thermometer of Political Passions

The analysis, which examined 8.5 million posts and videos on X, TikTok, Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram, recorded 218 million interactions during the month of September. The findings depict a scenario where the President dominates the digital landscape, while opposition political leaders are mired in ridicule, silence, and damning hashtags.

Her popularity has a political underpinning: the maxim of "continuity with change," a slogan championed by her predecessor Andrés Manuel López Obrador, is now being firmly established. Sheinbaum maintains the hallmark of the Fourth Transformation—social programs, proximity to popular sectors, nationalism in dealings with Washington—while simultaneously projecting her own style, described as less strident, more technical, but equally firm in her convictions.

Opposition Leaders: The Defeated in the Public Square

At the other end of the digital spectrum are Alejandro "Alito" Moreno and Lilly Téllez. The leader of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) carries the worst record: just 20% approval and an overwhelming 80% rejection. His name generated 12 million interactions in September, but nearly all were laden with irony, mockery, or indignation over corruption scandals and his enduring survival in politics.

The PAN senator, for her part, has become a magnet for controversy. Her conservative stances, her attacks against Sheinbaum, her fights with Gerardo Fernández Noroña, and her apocalyptic narrative earn her just 30% positive comments against 70% negative. Yet, she is the second most discussed figure with 18 million interactions, proving that in digital politics, visibility can be a punishment.

The contrast is stark: the President accumulates 53 million interactions and emerges strengthened; Téllez generates only a third of that volume, but with a toxic balance.

The highest-rated opposition leaders are Jorge Álvarez Máynez and Ricardo Anaya. Although the president of Movimiento Ciudadano (MC) has lost public exposure in the last year, he maintains the sympathy of 60% of digital citizens, against 40% rejection due to scandals, such as when he was recorded drinking beer at a concert.

The former PAN presidential candidate has managed to balance the passions he arouses. After his self-exile in the United States, his return elicits positive feelings from 50% of social media users, with an equal percentage of criticism.

Further down the ranking is PAN member Kenia López Rabadán, who, after toning down her political stridency, achieves a 40% approval rating, though she provokes jeers from 60% of the public. During the presidential campaign of Xóchitl Gálvez, she was in the basement of digital affections. The new president of the Chamber of Deputies is among the five leaders who provoked the fewest conversations in September, with just 11 million.

PAN members Marko Cortés and Jorge Romero Herrera also fail to gain traction: both generate thumbs-up from 35% of social media users but carry discredit among 65% of the digital universe. After requesting U.S. intervention in the fight against Mexican cartels, the federal deputy has been labeled a "traitor to the homeland." The national president of the PAN also fails to get people talking about him: he is the political leader who provokes the fewest interactions on social media, with 6 million. His references to "Morena's authoritarianism" and the call to 'seek legal protection' against the Amparo Law generate more memes than reflections.

Morena: Allies on Shaky Ground

Within the ruling party itself, popularity is distributed with nuances. Luisa María Alcalde, national president of Morena, divides opinions at 50%, reflecting a management perceived as more administrative and dedicated to putting out fires.

Adán Augusto López, who was once considered a presidential aspirant, carries 65% negative and only 35% positive ratings. His relationship with the former Secretary of Security of Tabasco, Hernán Bermúdez Requena, puts him under pressure constantly. Although the alleged wrongdoer has been arrested and a judicial process is underway against him, the coordinator of Morena's senators has not managed to strike a credible note to get himself out of the hole. The former Secretary of the Interior now has the same levels of disapproval as the PAN members Marko Cortés and Jorge Romero.

The case of Gerardo Fernández Noroña is peculiar: he maintains 45% positive against 55% negative, but his ability to provoke debate (15 million mentions) places him as an indispensable character in the digital conversation, even if as a necessary villain. The former president of the Senate is accustomed to rough play, but his mansion in Tepoztlán cast doubt on his commitment to austerity, a mantra that today signifies a mandate, under penalty of receiving jeers and reprimands.

The best-evaluated members of the "Fourth Transformation" are Laura Itzel Castillo and Ricardo Monreal. Although she is in the basement of digital attention—generating 7 million interactions in September—the new president of the Senate provokes 60% good vibes, while the coordinator of Morena's deputies elicits positive comments from 55% of people. The Zacatecan is a frequent subject of conversations on social media.

Electoral Strategy and the Mandate Revocation

Prominent figures of the so-called 4T, consulted by this reporter, stated that the wear and tear of some Morena leaders forces them to leverage the fact that Claudia Sheinbaum will be on the ballot in next year's elections, when 17 governorships and the entire Chamber of Deputies will be renewed, and it will also be put to a vote whether Mexicans want the president to remain in office.

Morena's electoral strategy, they say, will be based on Sheinbaum's positive image motivating votes in favor of Morena and its allies, for which it is important to downplay the leaders disapproved by the citizenry. The mandate revocation consultation appears as a golden opportunity to maintain the movement's strength in the states and in the federal Congress.

A Digital Laboratory

With the assistance of Artificial Intelligence tools, MilenIA offers a perspective that until a few years ago was not part of the public debate: Sheinbaum not only governs the country but also governs the conversation. Her teams have learned to intervene in real-time, to capitalize on hashtags, to place messages that go viral quickly. In contrast, the opposition seems trapped in the logic of complaint, without a clear strategy to connect with audiences.

The hard data summarizes it all: Sheinbaum concentrates 53 million interactions; the five most mentioned opponents, combined, barely reach 72 million. And even then, the vast majority of those reactions are critical.

Sheinbaum's second year appears crucial. If she can maintain her digital popularity and translate it into effective governance, she could consolidate a six-year term with political stability unseen in recent decades. The challenge will lie in fronts not dominated by algorithms: the fight against criminal violence, the modernization of the health system, global economic pressure, navigating the onslaughts of Donald Trump, and, above all, achieving the longed-for economic growth.

But for now, in the symbolic territory of the networks, the President holds the advantage. Mexican politics has become a permanent spectacle in the digital village, where reputations are played, narratives are built, and careers are torn down. In this digital battlefield, Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo positions herself as the undisputed leader, while her adversaries sink among mockery, silence, and damning hashtags. Digital applause does not guarantee governability, but in times of hyper-connectivity, it does set the pace and influences the citizen vote like never before.