(Buenos Aires) Seduced by his speech or just eager for change, they were Javier Milei’s core electorate: on the eve of the ultraliberal president’s inauguration on Sunday, many young Argentines are hoping for a new direction, or at least a concrete change in their lives.
“When Milei gets the economy back up and running, I have lots of business ideas to start, I have a very entrepreneurial spirit.” Sami Santa Cruz, 21, is enthusiastic about the idea of the liberal Argentina promised by the economist Milei, of whom he has been an early supporter.
Courier for a home meal delivery application, he embodies this profile that the press has baptized “vote Rappi” (from the name of a delivery company): young, precarious and/or poorly paid job, family/housing situation not stabilized, uncertain outlook.
At 21, Sami Santa Cruz shares a three-room apartment with his partner, their one-year-old baby, his parents and his younger brother, in Villa Lugano, a working-class neighborhood on the outskirts of Buenos Aires.
“When Milei won, it was such a relief! I trust him ! » he assures, convinced of a return of fortune for the country, and therefore for him, thanks to deregulation of the economy and a reform of the labor market.
“The only one who spoke of the future”
With the pro-business Argentina promised by Milei “lots of companies will arrive that have never been in the country, like Tesla, or Amazon”, and with them opportunities, the young man anticipates.
There is not yet a detailed analysis of the young vote in the second round of the presidential election won by Milei with 55.6%. But the August primaries showed a predominance of those under 30 in its electorate, and an even more marked preference among 16-24 year olds (Argentines can vote at 16).
According to a post-election survey at the end of November, more than 76% of those under 25 have a positive image of Milei, and 78% are convinced that his government will get through this.
“Milei is the only one of the candidates who spoke of the future, of hope, this is one of the reasons why he touched young people”, when the others “had a speech of reference to the past”, analyzes Pablo Vommaro, sociologist specialist in youth studies at the University of Buenos Aires.
However, many young Milei voters approached by AFP throughout the campaign did not express, far from it, their agreement with all the positions of the ultraliberal candidate, such as his opposition to abortion, or the dollarization of the economy. But the desire for change was the strongest.
“He said ‘everything that has happened is bad, and what comes in the future is necessarily promising, since we are going to make a clean slate of everything that exists’,” adds Mr. Vommaro.
“Give him time”
This awareness of a deleterious panorama, with inflation at 143%, and according to the sociologist 13% of young people unemployed, 20% others in precarious or informal employment, generates a form of impatience among Milei’s young supporters, but also of indulgence.
“I would like him to start working on his proposals from the first hour,” hopes Luna Block who, at 20 years old, juggles like many Argentines between two jobs, gym teacher and helping out at the newspaper kiosk. his mother near the Central station. “Economically I’m doing pretty well, but not as well as possible either,” she breathes.
She is willing to give Milei some time before judging him, “because the situation is not easy.” But “it arouses positive expectations in me”.
“Just if he realized 50% of what he said, it would change our future a lot,” says Franco Propato, a 23-year-old cycle salesman in the south of the capital who also says he is ready to give a little patience to the new president.
“Because obviously, the policy we have been pursuing for 40 years has left us in quite a mess, and that cannot be fixed overnight,” he reasons.
How far will his patience go when the future president himself declared that inflation could not be brought under control for “18 to 24 months”?
“I don’t think it will be that long,” the young man wants to believe, resolutely optimistic.