Temer is trying to push a package of spending cuts through parliament and other measures to lift Brazil out of its worst recession in decades [Xinhua]Brazil’s embattled interim president, Michel Temer, is expected to get a boost from the findings of a new poll that shows many Brazilians do not want more changes at the helm for the next two years.
Half of Brazilians would like to see Temer continue as president until the next election in 2018, according to a Datafolha poll published Saturday on the Folha de S.Paulo website.
However, a not-so-inconsequential 32 per cent want suspended President Dilma Rousseff to be reinstated.
Complicating the analysis, the poll finds Temer’s approval rating is only 31 per cent.
Temer is trying to push a package of spending cuts through parliament and other measures to lift Brazil out of its worst recession in decades. Inflation is in double digits and unemployment has hit a record high of 11.4 million workers.
The poll, conducted on July 14 and 15, showed just 3 per cent of people are in favor of holding early elections.
The poll was conducted before the report of a federal prosecutor in Brazil found that the accounting maneuvers that form part of the request to impeach Dilma Rousseff are not a crime, though they do represent an “abuse of power,”
Brazil’s Senate temporarily removed Rousseff from office to face an impeachment trial, which is expected to conclude in August.
Rousseff’s critics say she broke the law when she delayed payments to state banks in order to mask the size of the budget deficit. Rousseff says her actions don’t justify her removal from office.
Meanwhile the new Datafolha poll also showed rising confidence in the economy. The Datafolha Index of Confidence registered 98 points, the highest since the end of 2014 and 11 points higher than the last poll in February.
TBP and Agencies
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