Research suggests that the main reason for stagnation in government popularity is the negative perception of the economy; 58% of Brazilians believe that the country is going in the wrong direction
The latest genius/Quaest survey, released on Wednesday (17), reveals a stability in the approval and disapproval of the government. After a recovery period, the president’s popularity seems to have hit a plateau. The research points out that the government’s evaluation is linked to the population’s perception of the country’s economic situation.
The September survey shows that Lula government approval remained at 46%, while disapproval remained at 51%. These numbers are identical to those of August. This stability breaks a cycle of improvement in popular perception that has been noticed since July.
Regarding the general evaluation, perception was also stable:
- 38% of the population considers the government negative.
- 31% classifies it as positive.
- 28% evaluate it as regular.
This stability is a sign that improvement in popularity, which was driven by the perception of the fall in food inflation, was not continued this month.
Economy
The research suggests that the main reason for stagnation in government popularity is the negative perception of the economy. The data show a growing pessimism among the interviewees:
- Country direction: Most Brazilians, 58%, believe the country is going in the wrong direction. This percentage was 57% in the previous survey.
- President’s performance: Half of respondents, 50%, consider that President Lula’s performance is worse than expected, an increase of 5 percentage points compared to August.
- Worsening of the economy: The share of voters who evaluates that the economy worsened rose to 48% after staying at 46% in the previous two rounds.
*Report produced with the aid of AI
