What Venezuelans Want Versus What Venezuelans Have

As Francisco Toro has pointed out, the Venezuelan Supreme Tribunal has ruled all National Assembly decision null. This is a self-coup, such as the 1993 and 2000 efforts in Guatemala and Peru, respectively. The new twist is that Congress is not dissolved, but rather ignored. This comes on the heels of pretty much countless anti-democratic measures by the government, which have intensified after the death of Hugo Chávez.

According to the new Latinobarómetro poll, support for democracy in Venezuela is the highest in the region at 77%. This has dropped during Nicolás Maduro's term but is still higher than in the pre-Chávez era.

Meanwhile, only 31% of Venezuelans believe that it's OK to have a anti-democratic government as long as problems get solved, which is the second lowest in the region.

72% of Venezuelan believe that democracy can solve the problems they have, which is the highest in the region.

Where Venezuela is low is government approval (20%, second lowest), satisfaction with life (58%, lowest in Latin America), image of progress in the country (6%, second lowest), satisfaction with the economy (7%, second lowest), ear of remaining unemployed (62%, second worst), and problems with hunger (72%, by far the worst).

What do we take from this?

Venezuelans feel like their country is falling apart, but they believe in democracy and want it to work. Their government is anti-democratic, which they don't like. Now they don't even have a functioning legislature anymore. They don't want this authoritarian mess but the democratic channels are blocked and they don't want anyone trying a non-democratic solution (even if there was military support, which does not seem likely).

This means remaining stuck until the next time they can exercise their vote, which should be next year, but even victory there means Chavismo for two more years unless Chavismo itself implodes from internal dissension.