The low levels of trust in institutions such as the Judiciary and the dissatisfaction with the quality of democracy in practice, identified in recent research, need to be addressed to guarantee and preserve the regime, in the opinion of experts heard by the Sheet.
They point out the relationship between the current context, marked by crises in democratic regimes not only in the country, and the scenario in which Brazilians.
The situation draws attention when considering the recent coup attacks remembered in , when Bolsonaro supporters vandalized the headquarters of the three Powers, in Brasília.
According to the Federal Police, the episode is related to an attempted coup that was aware of () and even predicted the death of the president (), his vice, (), and the minister of the (Supreme Federal Court). The former president denies participation.
According to Leonardo Avritzer, retired professor of political science at UFMG (Federal University of Minas Gerais) and coordinator of the Democracy Institute, governments need to deal with the institutions’ low levels of trust, as this directly interferes with the ability to preserve the democratic regime.
“What is posed to the Brazilian State is, firstly, that it has to generally increase the quality of the political system and governability”, he states.
He recalls that research by the institute — which has the collaboration of different universities, such as Unicamp (State University of Campinas), UnB (University of Brasília) and Uerj (State University of Rio de Janeiro), in addition to UFMG — indicates that there is a significant number of Brazilians willing to support a dictatorship in certain circumstances, such as in cases of high corruption or violence.
These same surveys also indicate a high distrust towards institutions and dissatisfaction with how democracy happens, in practice, in the lives of Brazilians.
The data also appears in the survey, carried out in 2024 by the institute, with more than 2,500 people interviewed in person in 188 cities in all regions of the country. The study was carried out between June 26 and July 3, with an estimated margin of error of plus or minus 2 percentage points.
When asked about their satisfaction with the functioning of democracy, the largest percentage of respondents, 46%, said they were dissatisfied. The number was followed by those who said they were satisfied (36%) and very dissatisfied (10%).
The survey also measured the discredit of Brazilian institutions, which is generally high.
Avritzer states that, although trust in the National Congress has grown compared to other years, the majority of those interviewed say they do not trust the Legislature (41%), while 31% trust it more or less and 7.5% trust it a lot.
Notably, the professor points out, distrust of the Supreme Court, a target of former president Bolsonaro during his term, increased. Currently, the largest percentage of Brazilians, 37.2%, say they do not trust the Supreme Court. In 2018, it was 31%.
In the case of , also attacked by the former president, 32.3% say they do not trust it. In 2022, the first year they asked the question in the survey, the value was 29.4%.
Datafolha research also indicates Congress, STF and political parties.
For Fabíola Brigante Del Porto, a researcher at Unicamp, the Brazilian population signals, in general, a formal adherence to the democratic regime, but registers a high level of dissatisfaction with its functioning in practice.
Therefore, it is important for the State to reverse the situation by actually listening to the demands of the population and improving the performance of institutions, she says.
Fernando Meireles, professor of political science at Uerj, states that the challenge of maintaining democratic institutions in the face of a context of .
For him, the scenario is also noticeable in other countries, with the rise of politicians contrary to the rules of the democratic game and with the questioning of electoral results and counter-majoritarian institutions, such as the Judiciary.
“The truth is that our democracy is recent and has not been put to much test, at least not in this recent period since redemocratization”, says Meireles, for whom it is still not clear whether Brazilian institutions are really capable of resisting attacks. scammers.
