Bolsonaro’s Government Approval Rises from 41 to 47.8 Percent in Five Months

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The approval of Jair Bolsonaro’s government has increased from 41 to 47.8 percent over the past five months, according to a CNT/MDA survey released yesterday in Brasília.

The government’s rejection dropped from 53.7 percent in August to 47 percent in January. The CNT (National Confederation of Transport) survey was commissioned to the MDA Institute. The study interviewed 2,002 people, from January 15th to 18th, in 137 municipalities of 25 Federation Units. The error margin is plus or minus 2.2 percentage points, according to the Institute.

The assessment of the government showed that 34.5 percent of respondents considered the government excellent or good, another 32.1 percent said the government is average and 31 percent said it is poor or terrible.

Among respondents, 30.1 percent considered that the area performing best in the government is the fight against corruption, followed by the economy, 22.1 percent, and 22 percent declared it to be safety. The areas with the worst assessments are health at 36.1 percent, education at 22.9 percent and the environment at 18.5 percent.

The study found that the data show positive prospects of improvement in the country and a rebound in Bolsonaro’s personal ratings.

“There was an increase in approval in all socioeconomic strata (gender, age, income, schooling, region, size of municipality and region). The improvement of the economy’s performance is much desired by the population and health is the greatest challenge,” the study reported.

Access to FGTS funds helped improve perception

The researchers assess that the improved assessment may be related to the release of  FGTS (Severance Premium Reserve Fund) withdrawals and the payment of the 13th month of the Family Grant.

“In addition, the economy is beginning to grow. The indicators point to this. Perhaps the fact that the 13th month of the Family Grant was paid has led to a better perspective for these people. Political factors adopted by the government are what lead to a change in perception. But in our opinion, it is a trend of change. It’s not a situation that one can say is defined [the improvement],” said Vander Costa, president of CNT.