Datafolha Poll: Majority of Brazilians Question Bolsonaro’s Intelligence

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The majority of the population considers President Jair Bolsonaro to be unintelligent and he is negatively rated on other personal traits, according to a recent Datafolha survey.

According to the survey conducted by the institute on Tuesday and Wednesday, June 23rd and 24th, as many as 54 percent of respondents said the President was “not very intelligent,” compared to 40 percent who considered him “very intelligent”. A total of six percent did not know how to answer.

The error margin is two percentage points plus or minus. Datafolha interviewed 2,016 people from across the country by telephone, a model that prevents personal contact between researchers and respondents and demands shorter questionnaires.

The figures show a reversal of rates compared to the last time this question was asked – April of last year – when the President was into his fourth month in office.

In that survey, 58 percent said they thought the President was very intelligent, compared to 39 percent with the opposite assessment.

The electorate’s perception of a President’s intelligence was surveyed in former governments by the institute. The other two presidents elected before Bolsonaro, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and Dilma Rousseff, did not see a majority questioning their intelligence.

The percentage of those who rated Lula as very intelligent ranged from 52 and 69 percent in polls conducted between 2003 and 2006. In relation to Dilma, the rate of those who considered her very intelligent ranged between 66 and 85 percent between 2011 and 2015.

After the publication of the survey conducted last April, Bolsonaro ironically challenged the voters’ perception of intelligence and the comparison with the results obtained by his leftist predecessors.

Bolsonaro’s poor assessment on this issue is further aggravated among some sections of the population who are opposed to the President. One of the highlights is his critical outlook among 16 to 24-year-olds: 67 percent consider him to be rather unintelligent. Among voters with a college degree, a group now far from the President, 61 percent distrust his intelligence, although they rated him well in the past.

Elsewhere, the presidential figure is well regarded among voters in the south of the country, who since the time of the election campaign have been included among the Bolsonarism bases. In the region, 48 percent consider him to be very intelligent, a rate that drops to 35 percent among Northeast region respondents.

The pro-Bolsonaro rate jumps to 65 percent when only respondents who claim to be “living as usual” during the Covid-19 pandemic are considered, while not avoiding leaving home or isolating themselves.

Datafolha’s most recent survey showed that the President continues to be rated positively by about one-third of the electorate. Thirty-two percent consider his government outstanding or good, compared to 44 percent who consider it bad or terrible. Since last year, the trend has been for an increase in negative reactions.

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