Bolsonaro used health scare to garner sympathy. He failed

Brazil’s far-right President Jair Bolsonaro spent his first working days of 2022 in a private São Paulo hospital, treating a bowel obstruction. The head of state has faced a number of digestive issues ever since he was stabbed in the abdomen during the 2018 election campaign — and, last week, Mr. Bolsonaro sought to make use of his ailment to garner sympathy from the population. 

Though the strategy has worked in the past, this time it seems to have been backfired.

Mr. Bolsonaro’s already low approval ratings are unlikely to increase at the beginning of the year, while a survey by AP Exata showed that the president’s hospital visit did nothing to increase his popularity on social media.

Taking advantage of health woes

During a campaign rally in 2018, Mr. Bolsonaro was stabbed in the abdomen by Adélio Bispo de Oliveira, whom the Federal Police later concluded was acting alone and was not mentally fit to stand trial.

At that point in the election race, Mr. Bolsonaro was leading all...