Brazilians live in an age of mistrust

Brazilians seem to be looking over their shoulders more than they did in the past. And the country is not only losing faith in its institutions, but citizens have also become less confident in one another. That’s what a series of surveys carried out since 2009 by Ibope Inteligência, a polling institute, shows us. Nearly all institutions have lost prestige – not exactly the best scenario before heading into a crucial election.

The deterioration of Brazilian institutions is nothing new. Last year, for instance, only 32 percent of Brazilians agreed with the statement “democracy may have problems but it is the best system of government,” which made Brazil the Latin American country with the lowest rates of satisfaction with its current democracy. 

Saying that Brazilians don’t trust democratic institutions doesn’t mean that they don’t want democracy. “For several years, the research we have conducted at USP shows that more than 70 percent of Brazilians want democratic governments. What those surveys show is a deep disenchantment with how the institutions work,” says José Alváro Moisés,...