No majority on whether the military in politics is bad or good for Brazil – PoderData survey

A PoderData survey conducted from Dec. 11 to 13 shows that the opinion of Brazilians about the military in politics has remained stable since the beginning of the electoral campaign, 4 months before.

The number continues to be unfavorable to the Armed Forces: 36% think that the presence of the military in politics and government is good for Brazil, while 47% think it is not good.

PowerData asked this question to the interviewees for the first time in July 2020.

Since then, the most negative perception of the military in government was in Aug. 2021, just before Bolsonaro’s tension with the STF culminated in the Sept. 7 acts of that year, when 52% disapproved of the military’s participation in politics.

The issue reflects electoral polarization.

People who voted for Lula da Silva tend to think the presence of the military in politics is bad for Brazil. Bolsonaro voters have the opposite bias.

The result indicates that Brazilian voters continue to link the current president with the Armed Forces – and, by extension, his successor with their withdrawal from politics.

The future minister of Defense, José Múcio Monteiro, announced by Lula da Silva on Dec. 9, has the mission of rebuilding the relationship between the PT and the military.

The survey was carried out by PoderData, a company of the Poder360 Jornalismo group, with its own resources.

The data were collected from Dec. 11 to 13, 2022, through calls to cell phones and landlines. There were 2,500 interviews in 302 cities in the 27 states of the Federation.

The margin of error is 2 percentage points. The confidence interval is 95%.

With information from Poder360