Research shows that nine out of ten Brazilians disapprove of the January 8th invasions

Survey

For 47%, Bolsonaro had influence on coup acts, according to research

Eighty-nine percent of Brazilians do not approve of the invasions of the Three Powers buildings that took place on January 8 last year in the federal capital. The acts, which resulted in the depredation of public assets and damage to the Treasury, were approved, however, by 6%. Four percent did not know or did not want to answer.

The data, made public this Sunday (7), comes from an opinion survey carried out by the company Quaest, between December 14th and 18th, 2023, through 2,012 face-to-face interviews with structured questionnaires among Brazilians aged 16 or over, in 120 municipalities. The margin of error is 2.2 percentage points, and the confidence level is 95%. The survey was financed by the Genial Investimentos platform, which operates in the financial market.

According to the investigation, the attitude of terrorism in Brasília is mostly rejected in all major regions of the country, by people with different levels of education and family income, both by voters of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and former President Jair Bolsonaro.

The survey results reveal the disapproval of 94% of those who declared their vote for Lula in the second round of elections in 2022 and 85% of those who declared their vote for Bolsonaro; by 87% of respondents in the South (lowest percentage) and 91% in the Northeast (highest percentage). 88% of those interviewed with up to primary education were rejected, 90% of those with secondary education (incomplete or complete) and 91% of those with higher education (incomplete or complete). 89% of those with a family income of up to five minimum wages and 91% of those who live on an income of more than five minimum wages also disapprove of the acts.

Bolsonaro’s influence

According to the survey, opinions are divided on the question “Did Bolsonaro have any type of influence on January 8?” 47% of those interviewed say yes and 43% believe no. Ten percent did not know or did not want to answer.

All data presented above are close to the percentages found for the version of the Quaest survey carried out in February last year. “The rejection of the 8/1 acts shows the resistance of Brazilian democracy. Faced with so much polarization, it is to be celebrated that the country has not fallen into the trap of the politicization of institutional violence”, points out Felipe Nunes, director of the company, in a press release.

In his opinion, unlike what happened in the United States – which suffered with the invasion of the Congress building (Capitol) on January 6, 2001 – in Brazil, opinions regarding acts of vandalism are little influenced by the choices of political parties. “It is imperative that this debate is not contaminated by partisan colors, because it is a problem of the Brazilian State. It is the defense of the rules, the Constitution and democracy itself that is at stake in this case.”

Recent book

Felipe Nunes is a political scientist and also works as a professor at the Federal University of Minas Gerais (UFMG). At the end of the year, he released the book Biography of the Abyss – How Polarization Divides Families, Challenges Companies and Compromises the Future of Brazil (publisher HarperCollins), written in partnership with journalist Thomas Traumann.

The publication describes that political positions have become part of the identity of each Brazilian, and in the last presidential election the country “experienced the consolidation of a process of extreme polarization” – when the vote choice mechanism was “calcified”, “in that interests have lost strength to passions.”

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