Peru president slips in poll on scandal, conflict

Despite the drop, Humala, a leftist former military officer who has governed from the center since taking office in July, is still the most popular Peruvian leader in two decades.

He campaigned on promises to fight corruption, attract private investment, and spread the wealth from the country's decade-long economic boom to the one third of Peruvians living in poverty.

But his political honeymoon has started to fade, in part because one of his two vice presidents, Omar Chehade, has been tied to an illegal lobbying scandal.

Humala, 49, has called for Chehade to quit, but so far Chehade has insisted that he is innocent and vowed to stay in his post during a series of investigations he faces.

The president has also been trying with mixed results to broker an end to disputes between small towns and global mining companies over environmental and economic issues. The conflicts threaten to delay about US$5 billion in foreign investments that Humala says are crucial to keep the economy growing.

Humala's approval rating was 65 percent in September and 62 percent in October.

The latest Ipsos survey, published in the newspaper El Comercio newspaper, polled 1,200 in cities nationwide from Nov. 16-18. It has a margin of error of 2.8 percentage points.

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