Approval Rate Drops For Brazilian President Rousseff

By Lise Alves, Senior Contributing Reporter

SÃO PAULO, BRAZIL – Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff’s disapproval rates have increased even further in the past month, according to polling institute Datafolha, even surpassing rates for former President Fernando Collor de Mello on the eve of his impeachment (September 1992). The survey shows that 71 percent of those interviewed stated the administration was ‘bad or terrible’, up from 65 percent at the end of June.

According to Datafolha, those who rated Rousseff’s administration as ‘good or excellent’ plummeted into the single digit numbers falling from ten percent in June to eight percent in the latest survey.

The survey also showed an increase in the number of Brazilians who now believe that the country’s Congress should start impeachment proceedings against the President, standing at 66 percent from 63 percent in April.

According to Datafolha, Rousseff is the leader with the lowest approval rate since Brazil’s return to democracy, in 1985.

Rousseff, who was re-elected to a second term in October of 2014 has been facing a weakening economy and increased inflation and unemployment since the beginning of the year.

Her administration has also been tarnished by a mega-corruption scandal involving one of Brazil’s largest state-run companies, Petrobras, and the country’s major construction and logistics companies. The scandal has spilled over into the political realm, with several important politicians being accused of taking bribes, including former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s Chief of Staff, José Dirceu.

The survey interviewed 3,358 people in 201 municipalities at the beginning of August. According to the institute there is a margin of error of plus or minus two percentage points.