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The mayors of the Metropolitan Region have taken the agenda of the Covid-19 pandemic by appearing daily in the different matinees of Chilean television, either to talk about what happens in their commune or the country situation. In fact, according to the latest Criteria Research survey, citizens have them very well evaluated, with 69% importance, only after the Medical College, with 71% and Public Hospitals, with 87%.
The faces that are repeated in the traditional media -television, radio and written press- are counted on the palm of one hand: the mayor of Las Condes, Joaquín Lavín (UDI); that of Santiago, Felipe Alessandri (RN); that of Providencia, Evelyn Matthei (UDI); that of La Florida, Rodolfo Carter (exUDI), and that of Recoleta, Daniel Jadue (PC). Therefore, it is not surprising that at least three of these names – Lavín, Jadue and Matthei – appear as possible presidential candidates in the survey.
But there is another name that, although it is not as popular as a panelist in the morning, for example, it has managed to make itself known in the midst of the pandemic: the mayor of Maipú, Cathy Barriga (independent Chile Vamos). In the last two months, it went from not even being mentioned, to sixth in the open question of who should be Sebastián Piñera’s successor in the Presidency, with 3%.
Much better is his percentage of knowledge, ranking second with 97%, tying Evelyn Matthei for second and being overcome by one point for Joaquín Lavín. And despite having 33% disapproval, 52% endorse what they are doing.
What are you doing? Populist things, according to social networks. Barriga, unlike other politicians, has adopted a contested message to the Government – as when a deceased by Covid-19 revealed earlier that the Minister of Health, Jaime Mañalich – and close to the people, as when he appeared dancing with his team of work.
Is what you do populist? Under the prism of Cristián Valdivieso, executive director of Criteria, there is something of a populist in Cathy Barriga. “Since it emerged in politics, an identity was defined, to itself, which is in contrast to traditional politicians. Therefore, everything she does has a code that is not of traditional politics but is different. It is in a code that is much more connected to people’s daily dynamics. It is a much more visual code. That generates another level of evaluation, “he said in an interview with The counter.
“Traditional politics considers this to be a very populist way of doing politics, because it is not traditional, and also because it does not speak about relevant issues but rather speaks in a different audiovisual language,” he adds.
“In that logic, it can have a populist dimension, because being political, it uses codes that are totally outside politics. It uses those codes to hide its political vocation. No one who is mayor and who is recognized is not a politician. The criticism has to do with how it is codified differently from politics, “he explains.
In Valdivieso’s opinion, “populist” is “someone who says he can solve very complex things with easy solutions. Who is populist? He is someone who says he is against politicians and is with the people, when he is finally equal politician” . In this sense, Barriga “is not offering easy solutions. What she does is draw herself and have a different platform from traditional politics, but to achieve political objectives the same. And she achieves them.”
Similar opinion is shared by the director of the Central University School of Government, Marco Moreno, adding the “emotional” content that Barriga communicates, which has made it rise in the polls: “Appeal to the key of emotion and try to connect from the emotion with the citizens, especially with those of her territory. She understood that what prevails are the emotions more than the reason and that is why she appeals and manages those emotions, so she does all these shows and is close, because ultimately what people are trying to look for are responses to those emotions and that shelter of not knowing what will happen in the future ”.
“She tries to connect with that key from emotion and that is why she has this, which for many people is a bit irrational, but when you talk to the people of that municipality, they do not find it fatal, it is contradictory, since one thinks that what they are doing is very bad, nevertheless, many people in their territory, and in that municipality, they do not consider what they are doing to be wrong, “he stressed.
“In a context of prestige and political credits, effectively many actors what they are trying to do is to distance themselves from the traditional style of interrogation with citizens,” he says, so his plan is to try “to emulate his father-in-law-Joaquin Lavin. – in some way also, how Lavín connects with citizens “.
“Somehow they trigger that key, that of emotion, the key of non-rationality. That is why there are people who do not find it wrong, since there are people who have the chip of that rather republican political actor of a different era, but today the rulers and especially those of local governments, are, in addition, using all the media, and especially social networks, where Lavín and Barriga are strong. They skip the traditional media and do not call the written media or television but do all their performances on social networks, so that from there they go viral and from there they become the topics on the agenda. They break with traditional media, “says Moreno, in an interview with The counter.
Note that the key to emotion is very important in this context, because that audience that sees the morning is an audience that connects mainly from emotion and does not connect from rationality, that is, they do not invite a politician to a morning or a mayor so that he talks to you rationally about how the pandemic is going to affect him, but they do it so that he talks about how there are people who do not have resources in the commune or who are suffering and that is pure emotion ”, he concludes.
The boom of right-wing mayors
Barriga, along with Lavín, Matthei, Alessandri and Carter, are the faces most recognized by citizens. With few exceptions, like Daniel Jadue, they are all from the right. According to the Criteria Research survey, of the 15 most popular mayors, 10 are pro-government.
Why does this happen? According to Moreno, because “we are in the context of an ocular democracy and indeed there are editorial lines that make decisions regarding who is in charge and who is not, and in some way that influences the visibility that these actors have in the traditional media, where they are stronger this is observed in the television channels and in the two newspapers of national circulation ”.
Meanwhile, Valdivieso leaves open a question: “Do they have more exposure in traditional media because they are official? Or do they have more exposure because they represent communities that are relevant and more emblematic? If the mayors of La Florida, Maipú, Puente Stop, were they mayors of the opposition, would they have the same visibility? “
“Probably yes. And if yes, it has nothing to do with the traditional media favoring the leadership of people on the right or center right. There is always a mix of both,” he concludes.
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