Presence of the military in politics divides Brazilians -poll

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The percentage of Brazilians who negatively evaluate the military’s participation in government and politics has increased by nine percentage points since December.

A PoderData poll, conducted from April 24 to 26, 2022, shows that the Brazilian population has a mixed assessment of the military’s presence in politics. For 44%, the involvement is bad for Brazil, while 43% consider it positive.

Another 8% believe that the presence of armed forces members in positions of power has no impact on the country. Those who did not know how to answer accounted for 5%.

The percentage of those who view the military’s involvement in government and politics as unfavorable increased by nine percentage points since December. Those who view their presence positively varies from 41% to 43%.

Retired military and President Jair Bolsonaro (PL) continue to associate the image of his government with the army. Thus, he has already stated that it is very likely that he will have a general as vice president on his list in 2022.

Former minister Braga Netto is the most mentioned name. Vice President Hamilton Mourão is also a general.

Bolsonaro also proposed last week (27) a parallel vote count in the 2022 elections controlled by the armed forces. At the time, the president said Brazil did not need a printed vote to ensure the “smooth running” of the October elections.

The poll was conducted by PoderData, a company of the Poder360 Jornalismo group, using its own resources. Data were collected between April 24 and 26, 2022, through calls to cell phones and landlines. 3,000 interviews were conducted in 283 cities in the 27 states of the Federation. The margin of error is two percentage points. The confidence interval is 95%.

DEMOGRAPHIC STRATA

The following table stratifies the responses of each respondent regarding perceptions of the military in politics. Highlights of the survey:

• Gender – half of men (50%) think it is “good” to have military in politics;
• Age – young people ages 16-24 are most opposed (53%) to the presence of members of the armed forces in politics;
• Regions – in the center-west, 56% think the presence of the military in politics is “good for the country”; in the northeast, 53% say it is “bad.”

BOLSONARISTAS MORE FAVORABLE

Of those who say the president’s work is “good” or “great,” 89% think the military’s positive presence in politics. Of those who rate it as “bad” or “terrible,” 69% say the presence is negative for the country.

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