With a 90 percent approval rating, Ecuador’s president Rafael Correa is considered the most popular leader among 19 continental heads of state included in a report released by the Mexican polling firm Consulta Mitofsky.

The firm says their yearly survey provides a method to evaluate each leader’s performance over time. Last year, Correa had an 80 percent approval rating.

The leaders on the top rung of approval, according to the firm, are Correa, followed by Danilo Medina (Dominican Republic) with 89 percent, and the deceased president of Venezuela, Hugo Chávez, who scored 84 percent before his death.

According to the report, this is not only Correa’s highest approval score since his presidency started in 2007: it is the highest score registered in Ecuador since Mitofsky started the studies in 2003.

The leaders of El Salvador, Guatemala, Nicaragua and Brazil also scored well. Hovering between 45 percent and 55 percent approval ratings are Perú, the U.S.A., and Uruguay. In the bottom group, with approval ratings below 45 percent, are the leaders of Canada, Colombia, Chile, Honduras and Argentina. Costa Rica’s Laura Chinchilla scored the lowest on the continent, with only 12 percent approval.

The average approval rating is 55 percent, up six points from last year’s average.