He has swept away checks and balances. His government has made mass arrests. And his lawmakers just rewrote the Constitution to let him lead indefinitely, raising fears that the man who once jokingly called himself the world’s “coolest dictator” isn’t kidding anymore.

But for many Salvadorans, President Nayib Bukele has been a godsend.

By cracking down on gangs, which not long ago gave El Salvador a reputation as the world’s murder capital, Mr. Bukele has instead made his country one of the hemisphere’s safest. Average Salvadorans can walk the streets without fear, let their children play outdoors and run businesses without threats of extortion.

Homicides have dropped from several thousand a year to just over 100, according to the government — a rate lower than Canada’s.

So when lawmakers in Mr. Bukele’s party abolished presidential term limits late last week, Salvadorans were far from uniformly opposed. Mr. Bukele’s success in restoring safety has made him enormously popular, even as his tactics have raised alarms among human rights groups. But the question he seems to face, experts say, is how long that support can last as problems mount beyond the gangs.

“Maybe I’ll feel differently if you ask me in 10 years, I don’t know,” said Cecilia Lemus, who runs a nail salon in San Salvador. “But for today, I have no problem with him being re-elected.”