Despite the clash between supporters of (PT) and (PL) that has dominated Brazilian politics in recent years, the majority of society is outside and adopts a pragmatic stance on the main issues, according to a survey by the think tank More in Common in partnership with Quaest.
The researchers classified Brazilian society into six segments, from progressive to conservative. A group located at one of the extremes of this division, classified as “indignant patriots” and corresponding to 6% of the population, was highlighted as a point of attention due to the high degree of distrust of institutions in Brazil.
The study is the result of the analysis of a questionnaire with 168 questions applied to 10,002 people aged 16 or over, through home interviews, from January 22nd to February 12th, with a representative sample of the population. The margin of error is 1 percentage point for general data, with a 95% confidence level.
The survey identified political views that divide Brazilians into three large groups, each with two segments. The majority of the population (54%) was in the group identified in the survey as “invisible”, characterized by being neither left nor right.
According to Pablo Ortellado, executive director of More in Common Brasil, this group also does not have the conviction of a center. It is characterized by being more pragmatic, non-polarized and more independent, including a segment of “disengaged”, slightly more to the left, and another of “cautious”, slightly more to the right. Each corresponds to 27% of the population.
Therefore, researchers understand that Brazilians are less divided than common sense might suppose. “The political debate appears to divide the entire population because minority segments are very engaged and vocal, and segments that are not polarized prefer to stay away from politics,” the study states.
The result indicates that the majority of society forms a “non-polarized invisible majority” on issues linked to the customs agenda. This majority is also less educated and less engaged, poorer and blacker.
19% of the population were classified as progressive, divided into “militants”, the most radical group (with 5%), and “traditional left” (14%).
The “militants” are the most educated (53% with higher education), richest (37% with family income greater than R$10,000) and most without religion (41%). They are isolated from other segments, including the “traditional left”, on issues related to human rights.
Only around 30% of the group, for example, agree with the statement that “minors who commit crimes should go to jail.” In all other segments, at least 70% of respondents said they agreed with the phrase, and the value for the total sample is 85%.
For this specific question, the margin of error is 2 percentage points for the total sample and 8 percentage points for the “militants”.
Conservatives represent 27% of the population, according to the survey. In addition to the most radical segment, of 6%, called “indignant patriots” in the survey, there are the “traditional” ones, who represent 21%.
Among the “outraged patriots”, the majority do not trust (61%), the mainstream press (62%), the Federal Supreme Court (71%) and (64%).
Of the “traditional conservatives”, distrust in these institutions is, respectively, 46%, 48%, 52% and 45%.
Considering the entire Brazilian population, 41% do not trust Congress, 38% in the mainstream press, 37% in , and 35% in .
The margin of error related to questions about distrust is 4 percentage points among “outraged patriots”, 2 points for “traditional conservatives” and 1 point for the total sample.
Although the most radical conservative group makes up just 6% of Brazilians, Ortellado says that the “traditional conservatives” segment tends to follow the “indignant patriots”, forming a group of more than a quarter of the population with a high rate of distrust.
According to him, the main difference between the two conservative segments is that patriots are more radical, go to protests more and share more content on the internet. Still, both “present a certain continuity of perception and behavior.”
“Indignant patriots” are more educated, with 24% of them having higher education, compared to 16% of traditional conservatives. The two have the highest rate of evangelicals per segment, each with around 40%.
This more extreme group is also quite mobilized, with 49% considering it important to participate in political demonstrations. Regarding parties, 37% have more sympathy for , 70% classify themselves as Bolsonarists, and the majority find out about politics mainly through WhatsApp (58%) and YouTube (59%).
“Traditional conservatives”, the second most suspicious group, are little mobilized, with only 27% of them talking about politics.
