MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Bolsonaro's support rapidly eroding shows Ibope opinion poll

The number of respondents lacking confidence in Bolsonaro rose to 51% from 46% in a previous poll, pollster Ibope said in a survey

More than half of Brazilians say they lack confidence in President Jair Bolsonaro, whose support has steadily eroded since winning a commanding victory in October’s election, according to an opinion poll released on Thursday.

The number of respondents lacking confidence in Bolsonaro rose to 51% from 46% in a previous poll, pollster Ibope said in a survey commissioned by industry group CNI.

A range of other measures also pointed to rising negative sentiment toward Bolsonaro’s administration.

After assuming office on Jan. 1, Bolsonaro’s government has lurched from one scandal to the next, including internal conflicts leading to a string of ministers resigning or being fired.

The economy has also been slower than expected to recover from a deep recession as Bolsonaro’s flagship pension reform bill, aimed at closing a huge shortfall in public finances, inches its way through Congress.

On Thursday, the central bank slashed gross domestic product growth predictions for 2019 to 0.8% from 2.0% previously, and the government announced that the economy added less than half as many jobs as forecast in May.

About 32% of those surveyed by Ibope said the government was doing a “bad” or “terrible” job, up from 27% in the previous poll.

The Bolsonaro government’s “good/great” rating was 32%, down from 35% in April and 49% in January, shortly after assuming office.

Ibope surveyed 2,000 people across Brazil from June 20-23. The poll’s margin of error is 2 percentage points.