On October 1st, 2025, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum completed her first year in office, having been inaugurated on October 1st, 2024. (For more information, see my articles from a year ago, Claudia Sheinbaum Now President of Mexico and Claudia Sheinbaum’s Inauguration .)
Source: Mexican presidential website
The Mexican president has a six-year term with no reelection, which means President Sheinbaum lacks five years in her presidency, scheduled to end in 2030.
Claudia Sheinbaum is Mexico’s first woman president and first Jewish president.
During her first year in the presidency, President Sheinbaum has received high approval ratings in the polls, never falling below 75%. That’s impressive.
Here is some analysis from Spain’s El País in English: “Claudia Sheinbaum shines in her own right as president of Mexico. The first woman to hold the executive office enjoys strong approval after her first year in office, surpassing her predecessor and mentor, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, with a 78% rating. By comparison, López Obrador had a 72% approval rating in his first year and reached 77% when leaving office, according to an Enkoll survey for EL PAÍS and W Radio.”
“Not only that, Sheinbaum’s approval ratings exceed those of the last four presidents who have governed Mexico since 2000, when power alternated after more than 70 years of governments controlled by the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI): Vicente Fox, Felipe Calderón, Enrique Peña Nieto, and López Obrador.”
Sheinbaum’s highest approval rating was 83%: “Her peak popularity came in May, when she enjoyed 83% support in a month marked by constant U.S. pressure against Mexican agricultural imports, the harassment of undocumented Mexicans in the United States, and U.S. investigations into local politicians in Baja California, including Morena Governor Marina del Pilar Ávila.”
“Since then, the president’s approval has dropped five points but remained at 78% in September, with only 18% disapproval. These figures exceed the approval ratings AMLO had one year into his presidency in November 2019, when 72% approved of his performance and 22% disapproved.”
Sheinbaum gets high marks from across Mexican society, even from those of other political parties.
“The president enjoys support across all education levels, although her backing is strongest among Mexicans who have only completed basic schooling. The survey shows that Sheinbaum also has support among those who identify as opposition voters.”
“Seventy-three percent of supporters of the National Action Party (PAN), 70% of Citizens’ Movement sympathizers, and 72% of PRI supporters — a party that has fallen to fourth place nationally — approve of her first year in office. Unaffiliated voters are the most critical, with 34% disapproving. However, 66% believe that Mexico’s situation ‘is improving.’ ”
“Optimism, however, has declined by 5% since January, when U.S. President Donald Trump took office. Since then, pessimism has increased regarding the economy’s performance amid the ongoing trade war.”
Welfare programs help her popularity.
“According to respondents, the president’s success lies in continuing the extensive portfolio of social support programs initiated by Morena during the previous administration. Most survey participants mentioned transfers to senior citizens, one of López Obrador’s central policies since he was mayor of Mexico City — a program that Sheinbaum continued and expanded when she held the same office, which helped catapult her to the presidency.”
“Other programs highlighted include scholarships for young people, support for farmers, single mothers, and women in general. In fact, survey participants believe that women’s rights is the area that has seen the most progress in the first 12 months of her presidency, followed closely by social support initiatives.”
An article on Canada’s Globe and Mail compares Sheinbaum’s presidency to that of her predecessor AMLO: “Ms. Sheinbaum marks one year in office Wednesday. She made history as Mexico’s first female president, but arrived in office an unknown quantity and seemingly stuck in the shadow of her popular predecessor. She promised to ‘build a second story’ on her mentor’s ‘fourth transformation’ in her successful 2024 campaign, when she ran on his legacy and largely repeated his talking points.”
“But the President has put her own stamp on the presidency by practising a quieter style of politics. An environmental scientist by training, she has projected an aura of competence, displayed a cool demeanour and deployed a more technocratic discourse – a contrast to AMLO’s inflammatory language, improvisation and constant provocations.”
“Her approval rating sits at 73 per cent, according to the newspaper El Financiero, as middle-class Mexicans unsettled by Mr. López Obrador’s class politics and populist policies warmed to Ms. Sheinbaum’s more sober and serious style.”
“ ‘She’s more presidential than AMLO in a traditional way,’ said Luis Antonio Espino, a Mexican political communications consultant based in Toronto.”
Claudia Sheinbaum has one year down and five to go. Who knows what the situation will be like in 2030.