The current pandemic challenged political leaders. As governments introduced containment policies, presidential approvals in several countries started to rise. This phenomenon brought back the discussion on the Rally-’round-the-Flag effect, which refers to the public's propensity to put aside political differences and support presidents during episodes of international crises. By focusing on four Latin American presidents, we analyze such effect and the conditions that mediate it, considering its significant variation in the region. We propose that the change in presidential popularity is short-lived and ultimately conditioned by the timing and stringency of the policy responses, the pandemic's framing, and the opposition's opportunities for policy criticism.

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Health care system preparedness did not correlate consistently with policy performance during the COVID-19 pandemic. In Brazil and Peru, the preparedness of health care systems was inversely related to the perceived political risks associated with the spread of COVID-19. Lack of preparedness of the Peruvian health care system heightened fears of a system crash and thus encouraged a more stringent initial response by President Martín Vizcarra, the political actor both most accountable and able to act. In Brazil, the combination of a robust health care system and the highly fragmented political system enabled President Jair Bolsonaro to politicize the pandemic and prioritize economic growth while blaming his opponents for what he considered excessively costly public health measures. La preparación del sistema de atención de salud no se correlacionó de manera consistente con el desempeño de las políticas durante la pandemia de COVID-19. En Brasil y Perú, la preparación del sistema de salud estaba inversamente relacionada con los riesgos políticos percibidos asociados a la propagación de COVID-19. La falta de preparación del sistema de salud peruano aumentó los temores de un colapso del sistema de atención médica y, por lo tanto, dio lugar a una respuesta inicial más estricta por parte del presidente Martín Vizcarra, el actor político más responsable y capaz de actuar. En Brasil, la combinación de un sistema de salud robusto y un sistema político altamente fragmentado permitieron que el presidente Jair Bolsonaro politizara la pandemia y priorizara el crecimiento económico mientras culpaba a sus oponentes por lo que consideraba medidas de salud pública excesivamente costosas.

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The adoption of SOGI policies depends on the strategies activists choose to support or oppose them. Nevertheless, the conditions that explain why some strategies are prioritised over others are not evident. In Peru, the 2013 debate over civil unions prompted a strategic shift in which the conservative wing started to benefit from intensive street mobilisation strategies. Why did this change occur? We argue that a deeply divided electoral competition and the decay of the Catholic Church's moral authority favoured this outcome. This article analyses the trajectory of these strategies over time to identify the conditions that contributed to the shift.