Datafolha: 90% say Brazil still has a chance; 70% are still proud of the country

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Despite the health, political and economic crises, most Brazilians say they are proud of the country and hopeful about the future, according to Datafolha.

According to the institute, 70% of respondents say they are more proud than ashamed of Brazil, compared to 26% who said the opposite. One percent could not answer, and another 2% provided other answers.

Datafolha also asked if Brazil has a chance or not. Ninety percent of respondents said yes, while 8% said there is no hope for the country, while 2% of respondents said it depends.

The error margin is 2 percentage points up or down. Datafolha interviewed 2,071 people nationwide on May 11 and 12. The survey’s reliability level is 95%.

According to Datafolha’s survey series, the figures in this round on these two questions are not much different from previous results, despite the country’s serious situation this year and the hundreds of thousands of deaths caused by the Covid pandemic.

With respect to feelings about the country, the all-time low for the group claiming to feel more pride than shame occurred in June 2017.

At that time, the country was experiencing another serious political crisis caused by plea bargains that severely impacted then-President Michel Temer. He had his post threatened and won votes in the Chamber that could have removed him from office.

At the time, only 50% of Brazilians said they were more proud than ashamed, compared to 47% in the opposite bloc. More positive answers rose again throughout 2018 and 2019.

In the preceding survey on the topic, in May 2020, the rate stood at 67%. Before the novel coronavirus pandemic, in late 2019, the rate was 76%.

According to the institute’s records, the highest rate was registered in November 2010, at 89%. In that year, Brazil recorded the highest GDP (Gross Domestic Product) growth this century, at 7.5%.

In last week’s survey, the feeling of pride was detected more among men (the rate rises to 74%), residents of the Midwest and North (77%), and students (80%).

The rate rises to 87% when only respondents who rate the Jair Bolsonaro government as great or good are interviewed. The group of respondents who say they feel more ashamed than proud is 38% among those who say they will vote void or blank in the 2022 presidential election.

The rate is also high among residents of the Southeast (31%), voters of ex-president Lula (31%). It also rises to 38% when considering only respondents who regard the Ministry of Health’s management of the pandemic as bad or terrible.

With respect to the other point surveyed by Datafolha, in which respondents are asked if the country has a chance or not, there is also a trend of more positive answers from Bolsonaro’s supporters and more negative answers from his critics.

Among respondents who intend to vote for the president next year, the positive outlook rises to 93%. The rate stands at 94% among people with higher education and among public servants. It rises to 93% in the Midwest and in the North of the country.

Conversely, the rate of respondents who say the country has no chance stands at 11% among unemployed job seekers and rises to 12% among respondents who voted void or blank in 2018.

The preceding survey on the subject, in April 2017, detected similar rates. At the time, the optimistic response stood at 89%, compared to 9% of pessimists.

Going back even further in the survey’s record, in December 1996, 86% of respondents believed that Brazil had a chance against 10% who believed the opposite.

Source: Folha