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Who holds power? Puerto Ricans' distrust runs deep
Puerto Ricans share deep skepticism toward elected officials and a widespread sense of limited self-governance, according to a new study from the University of Michigan's Institute for Social Research and the University of Puerto Rico-Río Piedras.
The findings from the Laboratorio Puertorriqueño de Opinión Pública (Puerto Rican Opinion Lab)—housed within the Center for Political Studies at ISR—show a profound disconnect between residents and their government.
Half of the 1,266 residents surveyed during the study's initial wave—conducted between April and November 2025—believe the majority or all of Puerto Rico's elected officials are corrupt. Additionally, 63% of residents disagree that the government addresses their needs, and 71% feel their voices are not heard in government decisions.
LabPOP researchers are currently in the field conducting the next wave of data collection with the same panelists to track changes in public sentiment over time.
This climate of distrust coincides with low approval for Gov. Jenniffer González Colón, who is supported by just 13% of residents, while 63% indicate they disapprove of her performance, according to the study.
"This lack of economic and political sovereignty fundamentally shapes how residents view democratic possibility," said Mara Cecilia Ostfeld, principal investigator of LabPOP.
Ostfeld is also an associate research professor at the U-M Center for Political Studies and the Ford School of Public Policy.
The research highlights a sovereignty crisis: 72% of residents say the Puerto Rican government has little or no power to make independent decisions without U.S. federal intervention. Furthermore, 68% believe the federally appointed Fiscal Oversight Board holds more power over local laws than the island's elected government.
Other key findings:
- Data shows 35% support the current territorial status—officially known as the Estado Libre Asociado—while 32% support statehood and 18% support independence. The research suggests the relationship between status preference and party identity is weakening; for example, 45% of independence supporters and 34% of statehood supporters now claim no party affiliation.
- Approximately 42% of residents do not identify with any political party—a rate nearly double that of the most popular party. Among those who do identify with a party, only 18% describe their attachment as strong.
- About 43% of respondents identified as white when using U.S. Census categories, compared with 29% when using common Puerto Rican terms.
The report suggests that the relationship between political status preferences and party identity is weakening, with large shares of statehood, ELA and independence supporters now say they have no party affiliation.
"Even the parties most closely tied to a status position don't come close to monopolizing that position's supporters," Ostfeld said, pointing to a shift in which voters are increasingly distancing themselves from traditional party labels while still viewing the status issue as a high priority in their electoral choices.
The study was led by co-principal investigators Luis Raúl Cámara Fuertes and Mayra Vélez Serrano of the University of Puerto Rico-Río Piedras, along with Viviana Rivera Burgos of Baruch College, City University of New York, and Ignangeli Salinas-Muñiz of the University of Michigan.
More information
Report: Puerto Rico Public Opinion: 2026 Key Findings on Governance, Autonomy, and Identity
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Citation: Who holds power? Puerto Ricans' distrust runs deep (2026, July 23) retrieved 24 July 2026 from https://phys.org/news/2026-07-power-puerto-ricans-distrust-deep.html
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