CARACAS -- Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez enjoys his highest approval ratings in five years amid an oil-financed spending boom, a recent survey by local pollster Datanalisis shows.

A poll carried out between Feb 19 and March 2 put Chavez 's approval rating at 70.5%, while "confidence" in the leftist leader was slightly lower at 58.2%. Chavez 's approval rating was the highest since early 1999, when he first entered office.

Luis Vicente Leon, the head of the polling firm, said popular social programs and the absence of a political opposition have helped boost support for the president. Venezuelan opposition groups saw support wane after failing to oust Chavez in a recall referendum in August.

"There is no alternative. It is better to approve of Chavez than nobody," said Leon.

Venezuela spends billions of dollars each year on oil-financed social outreach programs, or "missions," that range from adult literacy classes to subsidized food. One program, the state-run Mercal food distribution network, sells discounted food that reaches 46% of the population.

"A large part of the population evaluates Chavez based on the missions," said Leon.

According to Leon, the poll has a 2.71% margin of error. Chavez 's approval level bottomed out at 30.8% in March 2003, when the country was suffering a recession caused partly by political unrest. Chavez survived a military coup in 2002 and two-month general strike that fizzled in early 2003.

Chavez 's favorable rating comes as the Ruling Fifth Republic Movement party, or MVR, gears up for congressional elections at the end of this year.

-By Peter Millard, Dow Jones Newswires; (58) 212-5641339; peter.millard@dowjones.com