We’re covering today Jair Bolsonaro’s soaring approval ratings, the legal setbacks for the First Family, and a bill to ‘outlaw communism.’
Bolsonaro’s approval ratings go up …
Just days after Brazil topped the mark of 100,000 coronavirus deaths (the second-worst in the world), President Jair Bolsonaro posted the highest approval ratings he has ever had since he took office in January 2019. The rate of voters who consider his performance as either good or great jumped from 32 to 37 percent — while the group which rates him as bad or terrible shrunk from 44 to 34 percent, according to Brazil’s most-renowned pollster, Datafolha.
Why it matters. The institute claims that of the 5 percentage points Mr. Bolsonaro gained, at least 3 come from informal or unemployed workers with family incomes of up to BRL 3,000 (USD 559) per month. That’s the demographic eligible to receive the government’s BRL 600 monthly emergency salary.
Effects of the emergency salary. While BRL 600 does not go a particularly long way, it is a much heftier aid program than renowned cash transfer initiative Bolsa Família — and it is more money than millions of people in Brazil have ever seen within a single month. The...