44% of Argentinians would vote for Lionel Messi if the presidential election were held today

The Giacobbe Consultores institute carried out an original poll on the next presidential election in Argentina, which will take place on October 29, 2023 and published the results of its study on Tuesday, December 27.

After Argentina won the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, this pollster included Lionel Messi as a candidate for the 2023 presidential election along with nine other potential candidates including two former presidents - Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner (2007-2015 ) and Mauricio Macri (2015-2019) - and the current president of Argentina, Alberto Fernandez.

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Lionel Messi would collect 44% of the votes cast, relegating far behind him his main competitors, who would not obtain more than 15% of the votes.

Obviously, the chances of Lionel Messi running in the next presidential election in Argentina are close to nil.

The PSG player should also extend his contract with the Parisian club and has never expressed the wish to invest in the politics of his country.

Nevertheless, this poll is indicative of the extraordinary importance accorded to football in Argentine culture and the euphoria that accompanies victory.

While the annual inflation rate is one of the highest in the world, with a rate of 92.4% in November 2022, the population thus says it is ready to give the keys to the country to a footballer, who has certainly had the merit of helping his country win its third world title thirty-six years after Argentina's last crown in 1986, but who has no political experience.

Finally, even if this poll only gives a precise snapshot - ten days after Argentina's victory against France in the World Cup final - of public opinion in Argentina, it could offer some perspectives to the six-time Ballon d'Or, after his retirement.

In Liberia, the former Ballon d'Or and former PSG player, George Weah, was thus elected in December 2017 president of his country with 61.5% of the vote, twelve years after a first failure in 2005.