The majority of Brazilians say they don’t remember or don’t know how to name a sitting senator. Unpublished questions asked by show that 68% do not mention a member of the , and 75%, none of the .
Most also say they don’t remember who they voted for four years ago — 67% in the case of federal deputy and 66% in the case of senator and state deputy.
The survey’s margin of error is plus or minus two percentage points. Datafolha interviewed 2,004 people aged 16 or over in 139 cities on June 17th and 18th. The survey is registered with the (Superior Electoral Court) with number BR-09956/2026.
For the specific questions about voting in 2022, 1,898 voters aged 20 or over were interviewed, that is, those who were already of the minimum age to vote in the past elections.
The institute asked interviewees whether they remembered the name of any parliamentarian who is currently part of Congress. If the answer was yes, they should answer who and if they would name anyone else.
In total, 36% said they did not remember any name of a federal deputy, and another 32% said they did not know.
Only 6 of the 513 federal deputies were cited. The most remembered was (-MG), with 6% of responses, followed by Érika Hilton (-SP), with 4%. The others got 1%: Gustavo Gayer (PL-GO), (Missão-SP), (-RJ) and (PSOL-SP).
(-MG) was also mentioned, although he is a senator. (PL-SP) too, but his term as federal deputy last December, after moving to the United States and being accused of coercing Brazilian authorities.
The same question about remembering a name was asked about the senators: 40% responded that they did not remember any, and 35% said they did not know.
Of the 81 senators, 15 were remembered. In first place, with 3%, comes (PL-RJ), which is in full pre-campaign for the Presidency. With 2%, they are tied by former player (PL-RJ), who currently comments on the World Cup, Cleitinho and (PL-PR).
In the 1% group are (Republicanos-DF), (União Brasil-AP), Eduardo Braga (-AM), (Novo-CE), Esperidião Amin (PP-SC), (Republicanos-RS), Jader Barbalho (MDB-PA), (PL-SP), (PSD-BA), (MDB-AL) and (PL-RN). Like Cleitinho, Nikolas was misquoted, as if he were a senator.
For , political scientist and researcher at the University of Lisbon, there is no awareness work in Brazil about the role of the Legislature, which helps voters to focus more on candidates for the Executive — Datafolha shows who voted for governor and president.
“These data reflect the culture of valuing presidential elections and the undervaluation of legislative elections due to a lack, perhaps, of clarity about who is defining the direction of politics in the country, even with an increasingly powerful Congress”, he says.
According to Datafolha, only 7% of those interviewed do not remember in 2022. Rey observes that the number of positions in the Legislature contributes to greater confusion among the population.
In these elections, candidacies for the Senate gained greater weight in public discussions after Bolsonaro supporters nominated the House, as senators can consider the impeachment of ministers of the (Supreme Federal Court) for crimes of responsibility.
Another theme that permeates the Legislature is the large release of amendments. As shown by Sheetonly in May did the government (PT) ask deputies and senators to approve the end of before the elections.
clippings
The lack of memory about the legislative vote is greater among women (75% in the case of choices for the Senate and 74% for state and federal deputies) and among voters who have a preference for the PT (70% in the case of votes for senator and 69% for deputies).
The rate of forgetfulness is lower among men (59% for state and federal deputies and 56% for senators) and among those interviewed who identify most with the PL (63% for federal deputies, 61% for state deputies and 56% for senators).
Governor and president
More than a third of the Brazilian population says they don’t remember who they voted for governor in 2022, a survey shows.
According to the institute, 38% of voters say they do not remember the choice for the state Executive, 9% say they did not vote for anyone, and 54% say they remember their respective votes in the last election. The margin of error is plus or minus two percentage points.
A smaller group of interviewees said they did not remember who they voted for president in 2022: 7%. Another 85% said they remember, and 8% said they had not voted for anyone.
The survey shows that forgetting to vote for governor is greater among women (46%) than among men (28%) and also greater in the age group between 20 and 24 years old (45%).
The age group with the highest rate of remembering the vote for the state government is those aged 45 to 59 (63%).
Among voters who declared a preference for , the former president’s party, 76% said they remembered voting for governor, compared to 52% who expressed a preference for , President Lula’s party.
In 2022, the state government in 12 of the 27 federative units.
97% of PL supporters and 90% of PT supporters said they remembered their choices for the Presidency.
The last elections were marked by strong polarization between Lula and Bolsonaro, with the PT member winning by a tight result of 50.9% to 49.1%. The current president had to face the opponent.
Of those interviewed who said they intend to vote in 2026, 87% said they remember who they voted for in 2022. The rate is 93% among those who declared their vote for the senator (PL).
According to research released by Datafolha last week, Lula ran for President in the first round, against 31% for Flávio Bolsonaro.
