Huck and Lula Supporters Have Similar Profiles, Points out Datafolha Poll

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – On one side, Lula (PT) and Luciano Huck. On the other, Sérgio Moro and Jair Bolsonaro (no party).

According to a Datafolha survey that assessed the degree of confidence of the population in 12 personalities in the political scenario, the TV host Huck and the ex-president
Lula have support in similar sectors of society. The same is true of former judge Moro and current president Bolsonaro.

Datafolha asked respondents to determine, on a scale of 0 to 10, their level of confidence in each of the members on the list. Scores up to five are considered low, from six to eight, average, and from nine to ten, high. The index takes into account the grades awarded by those who claim to know the personality in question.

On average, Lula enjoys 30 percent high confidence (16 percent average and 53 percent low). Huck, on the other hand, has 21 percent (22 percent average and 55 percent low). Both have a higher percentage of high confidence in segments that traditionally support leftists. They are considered more reliable in the Northeast (Lula has 49 percent high confidence; Huck, 28 percent) and among those who studied until primary school (46 percent for Lula, 32 percent for Huck).

A total of 2,948 people were interviewed in 176 municipalities in all regions of the country on December 5th and 6th. The error margin is two percentage points plus or minus, and the reliability index is 95 percent. Both Lula and Huck enjoy greater credibility among those who reject Bolsonaro’s government.

Among those who evaluate the president as poor or terrible, 50 percent have high confidence in Lula, and 26 percent in Huck. A potential candidate for the presidency in 2020, Huck has less rejection than the ex-president.

Within the groups of respondents with complete higher education and those earning more than ten minimum wages, where the two see little credibility, the TV host is seen as unreliable (he scored zero) by 21 percent and 19 percent, respectively. In the general average of respondents, he has 16 percent.

Lula, on the other hand, was rated unreliable by 35 percent of the most highly educated and by 48 percent of the wealthiest – on average, the rate was 25 percent.

Huck is also better scored among those who support the government.

Forty-eight percent of those who rate the Bolsonaro management as optimal or good say that Lula is entirely unreliable (they awarded the leftist with a zero rating). In the same group, Huck gets 21 percent.

Like Lula and Huck, Minister Sérgio Moro and President Jair Bolsonaro are also better rated in similar strata.

Moro is the most trusted public figure by Brazilians among the 12 assessed by Datafolha. The list includes, in addition to those already mentioned, Vice President Hamilton Mourão, ex-presidental candidates Ciro Gomes and Marina Silva, ex-president Fernando Henrique Cardoso, the governor of São Paulo, João Doria, former vice-presidential candidate Manuela D’Ávila and congressmen Rodrigo Maia and Davi Alcolumbre.

A third (33 percent) said they had high confidence in Moro, 23 percent, average confidence, and 42 percent, low confidence. Bolsonaro, on the other hand, has 22 percent high confidence (22 percent average and 55 percent low).

The two do better among entrepreneurs (57 percent high confidence in Moro, and 41 percent in Bolsonaro) and among those who declare themselves white (41 percent and 27 percent, respectively). Residents of the South of Brazil are also a prominent group: 43 percent have high confidence in the minister, and 27 percent in the president.

On the other hand, the two have a high rejection by indigenous people. Moro is seen as unreliable by 24 percent (on average, 14 percent) and Bolsonaro by 36 percent (23 percent on average).