Good morning! Today, a series of polls paint an unwelcome picture for President Bolsonaro. Tax reform in jeopardy as right-leaning parties announce their opposition. Brazil’s improving pandemic scenario.
New polls show Bolsonaro faces uphill re-election battle
At least three new polls have confirmed an alarming trend for the government: rejection rates to the Jair Bolsonaro administration have reached new highs. According to Datafolha, a majority of Brazilians see the president as unprepared, incompetent, indecisive, authoritarian, unintelligent, and someone who favors the rich.
- According to the latest Ipespe poll, commissioned by major brokerage firm XP, 52 percent of Brazilians rate the government’s performance as ‘bad’ or ‘terrible.’
- PoderData shows that one-quarter of people who voted for the president in the 2018 runoff now support his ousting.
Why it matters. Polls suggest that economic problems, coupled with corruption scandals unveiled by the Senate’s Covid hearings committee, have severely dented the president’s popularity.
Our take. Mr. Bolsonaro’s approval ratings have fallen consistently since the turn of the year, when the coronavirus emergency salary program expired. The government did bring it back, but only in April 2021 — allowing poverty rates to jump back up at the beginning of the year.
- Moreover, inflation...