White and Rich Fans Are Majority in World Cup Stadiums

06/30/2014 - 09h04

A Datafolha survey with fans who attended the match between Brazil and Chile in Belo Horizonte on Saturday, June 28, confirms the idea that fans in the World Cup stadiums are the "white elite."

Among the 693 people interviewed at the entrance of the arena, 67% said they were white and 90% said they belong to classes A or B.

The figures contrast with the profile of the Brazilian population - most say they are mixed-race (41%), while those who said the same in the stadium totaled 24%. And the number of those who declared themselves black (6%) is less than half of the population at large (15%).

The survey has a 4% margin of error. The level of reliability is 95%.

Datafolha also measured the fan's perception regarding the Dilma Rousseff (PT) administration and verified that it is below that of the general population.

Fans who attended the match on Saturday consider the administration bad or very bad (55%). That is nearly twice the number in the survey held at the beginning of this month - 38% said the administration is regular and 33% said it is good or very good.

But the federal government's low figures don't mean support for the insults that the president received at the opening match in São Paulo: 61% say they don't agree with the attitude.

The link between the booing and the "elite" came from former president Lula, who tried to downplay the weight of the insults by stating that the fans didn't represent the Brazilian people.

On the following day, he said that "there was no one who looked poor" in the stadium. "It was the handsome part of society."

The World Cup atmosphere might have affected the nation's sense of pride: 91% say they feel more pride than shame of being Brazilian, in comparison with the 77% who said the same during the survey held at the beginning of May.

MORE SCHOOLING

Fans in the stadium also have more schooling - 86% have a college education, compared with just 16% of the population at large. They are also younger (34) than the national average (42). And they are mostly men: 3 in every 4 fans are men.

The Brazilian middle class, which rose in the Lula administration, had little representation in the stadium. Only 9% of the fans were part of the C class, while 49% of the Brazilian population is part of that class.

B Class fans were the majority (61%), followed by A Class fans (29%).

Nearly 9 in every 10 Brazilian fans are part of the so-called economically active population: 48% are wage earners, 13% are businessmen and 10% are public employees. Among the 12% not economically active, 8% are students.

In terms of income, the profile of the fans is similar to that of the residents of the rich neighborhoods of São Paulo, such as Moema (South Zone) and Jardim Paulistano (West Zone).

But the fans have more schooling and are more ethnically diverse. Blacks and mixed-race represent less than 15% of those neighborhoods - half of those at the stadium.

REGIONAL FANS

At the match in Mineirão stadium, nearly half of the fans were from Minas Gerais. One fourth was from São Paulo and 9% from Rio.

Most were Cruzeiro and Atlético-MG fans – 22% said they supported the first, and 18% the latter. The teams with most fans in the country, Flamengo and Corinthians, tied with 12%.

Translated by THOMAS MUELLO

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	Diego Padgurschi/Folhapress
	Among the 693 people interviewed in Belo Horizonte, 67% said they were white and 90% said they belong to classes A or B