Mexican leader gets small boost from Trump clash: poll

Mexico City: Mexico's unpopular President Enrique Pena Nieto got a small boost in an opinion poll published Tuesday following his confrontation with Donald Trump over the US leader's border wall plan.

The survey conducted by the polling firm BGC and the newspaper Excelsior showed that Pena Nieto's approval rating rose from a dismal 11 percent on January 11 to 16 percent on Monday.

"A majority backs the way President Enrique Pena Nieto... deals with Donald Trump's positions against Mexico," Excelsior said. "However, his popularity has barely improved."

Some 88 percent of Mexicans have a bad or very bad opinion of the US president, who took office on January 20, while 69 percent back the way Pena Nieto is handling relations with the Trump administration.

The poll found that 69 percent support Pena Nieto's decision to cancel a meeting he was scheduled to have with Trump in Washington on Tuesday.

Pena Nieto decided last week to scrap the meeting after Trump ordered the construction of the border wall and insisted that Mexico would pay for it.

The Mexican leader's popularity has nosedived in recent months due to anger over his government's inability to reduce drug-related violence, the economy's lackluster performance and a gasoline price increase that sparked violent protests in early January.

The poll was conducted by telephone among 400 adults on January 27, 28 and 30. It has a five percentage point margin of error.