Datafolha: 90% do not regret voting for president – 12/19/2023 – Power

Hand in hand with the polarization of Brazilian politics goes voters’ conviction about their choices in 2022. Nine out of ten interviewed by Datafolha say they do not regret their vote in the second round of last year’s presidential election.

8% think they did not make the best choice and would change their vote, while 1% say they do not know — the result is not 100% in total because there are roundings made by the institute.

Datafolha asked the question for the second time this year. In the first, in September, the rates were similar, including the stratification by chosen candidate.

In the current survey, carried out on December 5th with 2,004 people over the age of 16 in 135 cities, 9% said they regretted voting for Lula (PT), while 7% said the same for choosing then-president Jair Bolsonaro. (PL). The margin of error is plus or minus two percentage points.

With the electorate split practically in half in the second round, with the PT member beating his rival by 50.9% to 49.1%, however, such fluctuations could be vital in future confrontations between the two camps — Lula could theoretically run for re-election in 2026 , while Bolsonaro is vetoed due to the loss of political rights because of his campaign against the electoral system.

Voters continue to trust their chosen ones. Overall, 38% say they trust their candidate more today than on election day, while 43% say trustworthiness is the same and 18% say it is less.

These are similar rates for the two rivals. Among Lula voters, 40% say that trust in him has grown, 41% point to stability and 19%, a drop in the item. The president has an approval rating, measured in the survey, of 38% of the electorate.

36% of Bolsonaro’s voters say they trust him more now, compared to 46% who maintain their opinion and 17% who trust him less. It is a remarkable stability, given the season of bad news that the former president is experiencing, from the loss of political rights to legal proceedings and scandals such as the Saudi jewelry scandal.

All of this reflects the maintenance of the polarization situation in the country, with 30% continuing to declare themselves PT members and 25% Bolsonarists, at the extremes of the table proposed by Datafolha.