Venezuela's Machado tops poll as US-backed negotiations resume

Andreina Itriago, Bloomberg News on Oct 14, 2026

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María Corina Machado holds a commanding lead in presidential voting intentions in Venezuela even as she remains sidelined from U.S.-backed negotiations between the government and opposition aimed at restoring democratic institutions.

Machado drew 52% support in a presidential voting-intention question, compared with 19% for acting President Delcy Rodríguez, according to September’s LatAm Pulse, an AtlasIntel poll conducted for Bloomberg News and published Wednesday.

Businessman Lorenzo Mendoza, who heads food and beverage giant Empresas Polar, ranked third with 8%. Mendoza recently launched a program aimed at helping create 1,000 new businesses over 15 years. Mendoza hasn’t announced any presidential ambitions.

A new round of negotiations between the interim government and a sector of the opposition are scheduled to begin Wednesday in Caracas, with elections increasingly coming into focus. Two previous rounds centered largely on rebuilding Venezuela’s judicial system, recovering state assets abroad and easing restrictions on news websites.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said last week that the negotiations “needs to end in free and democratic elections” and that Washington wants a return to democracy in Venezuela “as quickly as possible.” Dinorah Figuera, who leads the opposition delegation, said the talks would seek to establish “a clear path and road map toward holding elections.”

Rodríguez has pledged that Venezuelans will return to the polls but has yet to announce a timetable for a new presidential election.

The survey also highlights growing dissatisfaction with Rodríguez and her government as Venezuelans grapple with prolonged power outages and economic hardship. Her disapproval rating climbed to 65%, from 61% a month earlier. Similarly, about 64% of respondents rated her government as bad or very bad, nearly 6 percentage points more than in the previous month.

Machado, meanwhile, remains Venezuela’s most popular political figure despite leaving the country nearly a year ago to collect her Nobel Peace Prize. The opposition leader, currently in Panama, has vowed to return home but says she has repeatedly been prevented from doing so. The poll showed 61% of respondents viewed her positively, eight percentage points higher than in the month.

AtlasIntel surveyed 2,010 Venezuelan adults online between Oct. 2 and Oct. 7, with a margin of error of plus or minus 2 percentage points.