Brazil President Temer Faces 55 Percent Disapproval

By Nelson Belen, Contributing Reporter

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – On Tuesday, October 4th, the polling agency, Ibope, released the results of its latest survey showing that 55 percent of Brazilians disapprove of the administration of President Michel Temer. The survey, commissioned by the Confederação Nacional da Indústria (National Confederation of Industry), is the first conducted by Ibope since the impeachment and removal of former president, Dilma Rousseff.

Thirty-nine percent of Brazilians who participated in the survey characterized the Temer administration as “poor” to “very poor.” Almost the same amount, 34 percent, found the Temer government to be “average.” Only fourteen percent of those surveyed assessed the current administration as “good” to “excellent.” The remaining percentage of respondents said they did not know or could now answer the question.

Additionally, among the participants, 55 percent disapprove of how President Temer has governed so far, with only 28 percent saying they approve of the President’s performance. With respect to the issue of trust, an alarming 68 percent indicated they do not trust President Temer.

The survey also asked respondents to compare the efforts of President Temer and his predecessor, Dilma Rousseff. Only 24 percent of respondents considered the current Temer government better than Dilma’s, compared to 31 percent who indicated that they thought the Temer government was worse than Dilma’s. Thirty-eight percent rated them both as equal, with seven percent not knowing or not able to answer.

Despite several significant events, such as the removal of Dilma, the weakening of PT in Sunday’s municipal elections, and the mostly positively received Rio 2016 Olympics and Paralympics, the results of this latest survey are almost identical to the last poll conducted by Ibope in June.

In the June survey, during the suspension of then-President Dilma, with Temer, at the time, standing in as interim-President, 39 percent considered the government “poor” to “very poor,” 36 percent “average,” and thirteen percent, “good” to “very good.” At that time, 66 percent of participants indicated they did not trust then-interim President Temer.