Cadem: Kast's Approval Steadies at 38% as Judiciary Trust Collapses to 17%

The Cadem Plaza Pública wave fielded Sunday August 30 and published August 31 put President Kast's approval at 38% (+1pp) against 59% disapproval, closing out August with a 39% monthly average — two points above July. The same wave measured historic distrust in Chile's justice system: 75% graded the Judicial Power 1-4 (failing), 83% said it 'no da confianza' (does not inspire confidence), 82% disagreed it 'ensures equality before the law,' and 81% said it was not impartial, though 76% of respondents said they had had no direct contact with courts in the past year. On the same day, Kast defended his security reform's contested state-of-exception clause in a Radio Cooperativa interview, calling it 'no renunciable' ('not negotiable') for his government while acknowledging Congress 'puede hacerle modificaciones' (can amend the proposals). He described organized crime as functioning like a 'parallel state' with its own economic and operational logic, rejected 'illiberal' characterizations of the reform, and defended Security Minister Martín Arrau's dismissal of critics as mere 'opinion-mongers.'