Rousseff Administration Has 57% Approval After 8% Decline, Says Datafolha

06/10/2013 - 08h24

The approval of President Dilma Rousseff's administration declined for the first time since she took office two years ago. A Datafolha survey held on June 4 and 5 shows that 57% of Brazilians believe her administration is good or very good. It is 8% below that registered in the previous study in March.

Rousseff's approval declined among men and women, in all the country's regions, in all income, age and school years groups, says Datafolha.

The biggest differences occurred among Brazilians who earn more than ten times the minimum wage (a 24% fall), those with a college degree (16%), residents of Brazil's South region (13%) and people between ages 25 and 34 (13%).

The Datafolha figures show that Rousseff's declining approval is a reflex of Brazilians' pessimism regarding the country's economic situation, conveying that people are more worried with inflation and unemployment.

Although only 11% said Rousseff's administration is bad or very bad in the economic area, all the expectation indicators fell.

51% believe inflation will rise. In March, 45% said the same. The same tendency can be observed regarding the issues of unemployment, purchasing power, the country's and the own person's economic situation.

Pedro Ladeira/Folhapress

Brazil's president Dilma Rousseff

Data on the recent past are more eloquent: 80% say the noticed prices rose in the past month. Only 3% said prices went down. The same occurs with personal hygiene and cleaning products.

The news might have had an influence. Two problems received a lot of attention: the turmoil during the payment of the Bolsa Família - Rumors that the program would be suspended made thousands of people form long lines at Caixa Econômica Federal bank- and the tension involving Indians from the North and Mato Grosso do Sul.

The period also coincides with the campaign advertising on radio and TV of the government's two main opposing parties: the PSDB and the DEM.

HISTORY

Before this decline, the approval of President Rousseff had only oscillated in the margin of error in June 2011 and August 2012.

But, despite the fall, she cannot be considered a president with low approval. First because her current approval level is 10% above that observed on the first survey of her administration in March 2011.

Also the decline was not followed by an increase in disapproval. The number of people who said her administration is bad or very bad oscillated only two points, from 7% to 9%.

Finally, Rousseff is still ahead of her predecessors when comparing the same time in office.

In June 1997, a year and four months after his reelection, Fernando Henrique Cardoso (PSDB) had a 29% approval. That is, 18% less than Rousseff.

Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who was reelected in 2006, had a 36% approval in a survey after the same time in office.

The study which showed that Lula had a 36% approval occurred in June 2005, a few days after the interview Congressman Roberto Jefferson (PTB-RJ) gave to Folha, revealing the mensalão scheme.

Datafolha heard 3,758 people in 180 cities for this study, which ended on June 5. The margin of error is 2%.

Translated by THOMAS MUELLO

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