Milei's voters also feel the pinch: 70% admit wages are not keeping up with inflation

The economic wear and tear no longer discriminates between government and opposition. The adjustment implemented by Javier Milei’s administration has begun to affect his own electorate as well. According to the Public Opinion Monitor by consultancy Zentrix, 70.2% of those who voted for La Libertad Avanza in 2025 admit that their wages are not keeping up with inflation. A figure that shakes the official narrative.

The data marks a turning point in the social climate. The experience of deteriorating purchasing power is no longer the exclusive domain of the opposition: it cuts across the core that brought the President to the Casa Rosada. However, there is a key nuance that sustains the government: among its voters, the majority still interpret this sacrifice as the cost of a transition, not as evidence of failure. The survey was conducted on 1,297 cases between June 15 and 22.

The numbers from the government supporters’ pockets are telling. In addition to the 70.2% who acknowledge their income is losing against prices, 45.3% of Milei’s voters admit they cannot stretch their income beyond the 20th of the month. That is nearly half of his own electorate facing the same difficulty as the rest of society.

The contrast with the opposition, however, shows that the intensity of the blow is not equal. Among those who voted for opposition forces in 2025, the deterioration is almost total: 96.6% say their wages are not beating inflation, and 71.3% cannot make it past the 20th. The gap between the two groups is more than 25 points, confirming that the adjustment is felt with varying severity depending on one’s social and political position.

The underlying reading is that it is not about two materially different countries, but rather the same economic pressure distributed unevenly. Sacrifice exists on both sides; what changes is the depth and, above all, the meaning each assigns to it.

That is where the trait that still distinguishes the government’s electorate appears. Despite acknowledging the deterioration of their pockets, Milei’s voters maintain the expectation of improvement: 55.4% believe «the worst is over.» On the other side, among opposition voters, only 3.4% share that view, while a resounding 83.6% are convinced that «the worst is yet to come.»

That gap—more than 80 points between one group and the other—is the widest in the entire report. And it explains why, even with their income battered, the government retains a base that supports the direction: for that portion of society, the adjustment is a temporary toll toward a recovery they still hope for. Patience, rather than comfort, sustains their support.

Among the total population, however, the mood is different: 55.1% believe the worst is yet to come, compared to 24% who think it is over. Optimism today is almost exclusively the domain of the hardcore libertarian base.

That expectation of improvement was, for months, the government’s main political asset. But the data suggest it has begun to erode. Approval of Milei’s management had risen steadily between September 2025 and February 2026, when it reached 45%—the only month it tied with disapproval. Since March, the trend reversed: approval fell again to 33.2% in June, and rejection regained ground to 56.6%.

The uptick, in practice, fizzled out before consolidating. And the social diagnosis accompanies that shift: asked about their main concern, respondents placed corruption at the top (51.3%), followed closely by income and wages (48.2%). The pocket, once again, at center stage.

The question left by the survey points forward: how long can that faith hold if income does not recover? As long as the expectation of improvement persists, the government will retain its floor; but that patience rests on a promise that, sooner or later, the pocket will want to see fulfilled. And for now, not even among its own supporters are wages beating inflation.

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