Rousseff government approval ratings down to 8% according to Datafolha

President Dilma Rousseff's popularity levels continue to drop, according to Datafolha, a polling institute run under the same conglomerate as newspaper Folha de S. Paulo. A poll conducted on August 4 and 5 and released Thursday (Aug. 6) found that 71% of respondents rated Rousseff's administration as “poor” or “terrible”, as against only 8% who rated it as “excellent” or “good”. In the previous poll, released in June, 65% of respondents rated the government as “poor” or “terrible”, whereas 10% rated it as “excellent” or “good”.

According to the poll, which heard 3,358 people in 201 municipalities across Brazil's five regions, the ratio of people who rated the government as “average” dropped from 24% in June to 20% this month. Moreover, disapproval rates were roughly homogeneous across regions. The worst ratings were recorded in the Central-West (77% “poor” or “terrible” ratings), followed by the Southeast (73%) and Northeast (66%). The margin of sampling error in the poll was minus or plus two percentage points.

Respondents were also asked what they view as the ideal government system for the country. The presidential system was supported by 53%, parliamentarism is the preference of 28%, and 19% were undecided.

Translated by Mayra Borges