Poll finds 65% of Brazilians disapprove of Rousseff administration

President Dilma Rousseff completed the first six months of her second term with the highest rejection rating since taking office in 2011. According a poll by Datafolha Institute published Saturday (June 20), 65% of Brazilians rate the government as “bad” or “terrible”, three percentage points up from the previous survey released in March.

According to the institute, the rejection rate is the highest for a president since September 1992, before former President Fernando Collor de Mello was impeached over corruption allegations. According to the survey, 10% of respondents rated Rousseff's administration as “good” or “excellent”, down three percentage points compared to March; 24% rated it as “average”, and 1% were undecided.

The rejection is fairly evenly distributed across all income levels. In the population group earning up to two times the minimum wage ($512), approval of the president stands at 11%, as against 62% rejection. Among high-income voters earning above ten times the minimum wage ($2,560.00), Rousseff is approved of by 12% and rejected by 66%. According to Datafolha, similar results are observed based on gender, age, and education.

Among Brazilian regions, the poll found some variation. The lowest approval ratings were found in the Southeast, 7%. The least negative rating was found in the Northeast, where 14% of respondents rated Rousseff's administration as “good” or “excellent”.

In a simulated 2018 election scenario, Senator Aécio Neves would have 35% of the vote, followed by former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, with 25%, and former Senator Marina Silva, with 18%. In a second scenario, former President Lula would lead with 26% of the vote, followed by Marina Silva with 25%, and the current São Paulo state governor, Geraldo Alckmin, with 20%.

Datafolha polled 2,840 respondents in 184 municipalities last Wednesday (17) and Thursday (18). The margin of sampling error was plus or minus two percentage points.

Translated by Mayra Borges