Poll: Brazilians reject Bolsonaro’s coronavirus approach

Brokerage firm XP has released a new opinion poll, showing that Jair Bolsonaro’s coronavirus denialism is a risky political bet — not to mention the catastrophic health hazards that scientists have pointed out, time and again.

In line with every other major opinion poll published after the outbreak reached Brazil, the XP/Ipespe survey shows that support for the government has eroded over the past month. The rate of voters who consider that Mr. Bolsonaro is doing a “good” or “great” job has dropped from 34 percent in February to 30 percent in March, and 28 percent in April. Those who believe the president’s performance is “bad” or “terrible” jumped from 36 to 42 percent.

Meanwhile, governors’ approval ratings swung from just 26 to 44 percent in the space of a month. State administrations have staged a tug of war with the federal government over social isolation measures — which the president opposes. 

A data collection effort from website Nucleo, a partner institution of The Brazilian Report, shows that Mr. Bolsonaro has lost support during the pandemic — while many of his foreign counterparts have gained prestige with voters. And that list includes countries such as the U.S. and Italy, where governments failed terribly in their initial responses to the outbreak — which turned their countries into the world’s biggest Covid-19 hotspots.

• #health
• #polls