Presidential approval in Peru depends on economic outcomes. However, voters are unable to distinguish between outcomes resulting from economic policies and those caused by exogenous shocks. Estimation results from seven Fractional Cointegrated VAR (FCVAR) models suggest that presidential approval increases with the monetary policy interest rate, the terms of trade, and manufacturing employment; and decreases with the nominal PEN/USD exchange rate and in ‡ation volatility. Additionally, a Principal Components Analysis (PCA) conducted over a large set of macroeconomic indicators points to a greater in ‡uence of external over domestic factors in explaining presidential approval; i.e., economic outcomes that determine the dynamics of presidential approval are not under presidential control in Peru. It can be argued that these …ndings identify a signi…cant source of political instability and a considerable challenge to democratic governance. To the authors'best knowledge, this is the …rst application of fractional cointegration analysis to political economy in