Brazilian president riding high in approval ratings despite economic slowdown
Thursday, August 16th 2012 - 04:40 UTC
Brazilian president riding high in approval ratings despite economic slowdown
Rousseff's government was described as “excellent” or “good” by 62% of those surveyed in a poll by Datafolha, a research institute associated with the Folha de S. Paulo, one of the country's biggest newspapers. The rating declined only two points from a Datafolha poll in April and the drop remains within the poll's margin of error.
The high ratings for Rousseff come despite the fact that Brazil's economy, which had grown by as much as 7.5% as recently as 2010, slowed to a near halt for the past year. A weekly Central Bank survey released on Monday predicted Latin America's largest economy will grow by less than 1.81% this year.
But voters' wallets, analysts say, remain unaffected, in part because of tax breaks, lower interest rates and other government measures to spur consumer demand.
“The approval remains high because the population still hasn't perceived the effects of the economic crisis,” said Mauro Francisco Paulino, Datafolha's director. In particular, he added, the slowdown has yet to erode the purchasing power of low-income Brazilians, the largest part of the electorate and the main base of support for Rousseff's Workers' Party.
More:
http://en.mercopress.com/2012/08/16/brazilian-president-riding-high-in-approval-ratings-despite-economic-slowdown