A new poll in Brazil by the National Transportation Confederation (CNT) and the Sensus Institute has found that the things Brazilians are most concerned about at the moment are corruption and violence, along with crime. The CNT/Sensus poll interviewed 2,000 people in 24 states in 136 municipalities between January 25 and 29.
Almost 70% of those interviewed (69.4% to be exact) said that corruption is on the rise in Brazil. Another 21.8% said corruption is what it has always been. For the sake of comparison, a poll in 1998 found 56% of those interviewed thought corruption was increasing and 32% thought it was unchanged.
After corruption came violence and crime (22.9% of those interviewed), drugs (21.2%), a lack of employment opportunities (8%) and the healthcare system (6.7%).
Interestingly, although violence and crime were high on the list of concerns, 40.6% of those interviewed said the place where they lived was not violent.
Asked about institutions they trusted, 69.8% said they trusted the Armed Forces always; 49.8% said they always trusted the media; 40,1% trusted the government; 37.8% trusted the judicial system; 37.5% trusted the police; 36% trusted people in public service; and 9.3% said they trusted the Congress.
The poll asked people how they were going to decide who to vote for in the presidential elections this year. Most, 55.5% said they made up their own minds; 14.2% said they took into consideration the opinions of family and friends; 13.8% said they would base their decision on what they saw on TV; 6.3% said free political advertising would influence them; 3.9% cited newspapers; 2.5% what they heard on the radio; and 2.2% the opinion of a religious leader.
Asked about their interest in this year’s elections, 42.1% said they were more or less interested in the elections; 31.3% said they had no interest in the elections; 25% said they were very interested. In 2002, the same questions got these percentages: 35.9%, 45.5% and 17.9%, respectively.
So, fewer people had a little interest; many more had no interest and now many more say they are interested. A mixed bag – showing that there is more interest in this year’s election than the election of 2002, which, of course, was the landmark victory of Lula.
