Brazilians Face Confidence Crisis Ahead of Election.
Byline: RJ Reinhart
Synopsis: Ahead of their crucial general election next month, just 14% of Brazilians are confident in the honesty of their elections.
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- With their faith in their current government mired at record lows, Brazilians are primed for change ahead of elections next month that could chart the future of democracy in the region. In national surveys conducted in late July and August, fewer than one in five Brazilians (17%) expressed confidence in their national government.
The current situation is a far cry from what it was before the presidential elections in 2010 that brought former President Dilma Rousseff to power. That year, Brazilians' confidence in their national government was at a record high of 51%. Brazilians have endured years of political and economic turmoil since then, including vast corruption scandals that resulted in Rousseff's impeachment in 2016 and the country's worst recession in decades.
Rousseff, at the time, inherited a surging economy, but the government was facing severe fiscal difficulties. By 2011, the Brazilian economy was beginning to sputter and Rousseff's government sought to bolster it with a series of tax cuts. By 2014, the country was in a full-blown economic crisis, which contributed to the decline in confidence in the government.
The financial crisis was coupled with a corruption crisis that year, which featured allegations of millions of dollars of bribes to Brazilian political leaders. That year, Rousseff was re-elected by a thin margin. But her administration was cut short by impeachment in 2016, following Rouseff's implication in the corruption scandal. Rousseff was succeeded by her vice-president Michel Temer, who has also faced allegations of corruption.
Given the onslaught of corruption scandals since 2014, including the involvement of two current candidates for the presidency, it's not surprising to see that more than three in four Brazilians have said corruption is widespread throughout their government in the past few years. But even before the 2014 scandal, majorities of Brazilians had seen corruption as widespread in their government every year that Gallup asked the question.
Coupled with their lack of faith in their government and their belief that corruption is rampant throughout it, few Brazilians see the country's elections as honest. Less than a third of Brazilians have seen the country's elections as honest at any time that Gallup has asked the question.
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