Brazilians tend to defend democracy in principle, but view the regime with dissatisfaction and distrust institutions such as the Judiciary. These are trends highlighted by research carried out on a large scale and representative of Brazilian society in recent years.
69% of those interviewed said they preferred democracy, a number that represents a drop of ten percentage points when compared to the 2022 survey. The survey showed that 8% would find a dictatorial regime acceptable in some circumstances, while 17% said they were indifferent about the form of government.
Despite the regime’s initial defense in responses to broader questions, the percentage of those who relativize the possibility of a coup is relevant in some circumstances.
The scenario is particularly worrying when considering the recent coup attacks that will be remembered in , when Bolsonaro supporters vandalized the headquarters of the three Powers, in Brasília.
Leonardo Avritzer, retired professor of political science at UFMG (Federal University of Minas Gerais) and coordinator of the Democracy Institute, considers that presenting different scenarios to interviewees brings more precision to Brazilians’ real perception of democracy.
When this happens, two contexts stand out among those who defend a coup d’état.
According to the 2024 “The face of democracy” research, carried out by the institute coordinated by Avritzer and in which researchers from UFMG, Unicamp (State University of Campinas), UnB (University of Brasília) and UERJ (State University of Rio de Janeiro) participated ), 49% of Brazilians say a coup would be justifiable in the case of “a lot”. In this scenario, 47% of those interviewed rejected the possibility, 3% could not say and 1% did not respond.
In a context with many crimes, 45% of people said that a coup would be justified, compared to 50% who said no — 3% did not know, and 2% did not respond.
In a general question on the topic, however, the majority of Brazilians say they understand that democracy is preferable to any other form of government. 58% of those interviewed responded this way, followed by those who said “whatever” (17%) and those who endorsed dictatorships in some circumstances (13%).
The study was carried out with more than 2,500 people, interviewed in person in 188 cities in all regions of the country. The survey was carried out from June 26 to July 3, 2024, with an estimated margin of error of plus or minus 2 percentage points.
The significant percentage of Brazilians who are willing to support a democratic rupture in certain scenarios has been identified as high since the first year that scholars carried out the survey, in 2018, says Avritzer.
The expert highlights other issues raised by the survey, such as dissatisfaction with the functioning of democracy in Brazil and distrust of institutions such as the National Congress, the (Federal Supreme Court) and the Electoral Court.
The different opinions heard in the surveys, as well as their nuances, are present in statements from residents interviewed by the report in .
Lawyer and business administrator Maria Imaculada Belchior, 72, says she is “definitely against a coup” in any scenario. For her, democracy is important for guaranteeing freedoms. Maria Imaculada was approached while passing in front of , a place that during the dictatorship was a space of resistance to the regime.
Jaqueline de Moura is 35 years old and works in the custom furniture business on Rua Tutóia, in Vila Mariana. THE Sheet He spoke to her in front of the 36th Police Station, where the former dictatorship policy operated.
For Jaqueline, a coup may be preferable in some circumstances, such as high crime rates. She says that her father lived during the dictatorship and says that the period was “more peaceful”. The idea is one that still circulates among part of the population. In fact, the period was marked by.
When questioned, Jaqueline mentioned that she was unaware that the police station, a place she frequently passes by, was a space for torture and forced disappearance of politically persecuted people.
The trends raised by the “A Cara da Democracia” survey are confirmed by the 2022 Eseb (Brazilian Electoral Study), another important survey on how Brazilians see the regime. It has been held since 2002, always after the presidential elections.
In the most recent edition, the two scenarios on corruption and violence were also those with the highest rates in favor of a democratic rupture. In Eseb, 52% said that a coup d’état would be justifiable in the event of a lot of corruption. Furthermore, 41% said the same in a context with “a lot of crime”.
The Eseb was carried out with 2,001 voters over the age of 16 between November and December 2022, in face-to-face and home interviews. The maximum expected margin of error is plus or minus 2 percentage points.
The survey shows a high rate of those who do not know how to answer what democracy is: 29% of respondents.
Despite being high, the number represented an improvement, explains Fabíola Brigante Del Porto, researcher at the Center for Public Opinion Studies (Cesop), the Unicamp research center responsible for the survey. In 2014, 51% of people who participated in the study did not know or did not give a definition for the regime. In 2018, the value exceeded 40%.
When asked what democracy is, most people link the regime to more than one right (12%) and freedom of expression and opinion (9%), according to 2022 data from the survey.
