Research Shows Strong Disapproval of January 8th Attacks

One year after the coup attempts of January 8th, 89% disapprove of the invasions, while 6% say they approve of what happened in the episode. Additionally, 4% did not know or did not want to respond.

This is what a survey conducted by Quaest, released on Sunday (7th), reveals. 2,012 interviews were conducted with Brazilians aged 16 or older between December 14th and 18th. The margin of error corresponds to 2.2 percentage points, plus or minus.

In the first survey conducted by the company, 94% disapproved of the coup invasion, 4% approved, and 2% did not know or did not want to respond.

The level of disapproval remains high in all regions of Brazil and in all income and education brackets. Among Lula’s (PT) voters, 94% stated that they disapproved of the attacks, while 4% approved. However, among those who voted for Jair Bolsonaro (PL), 85% are against the episode, and 11% are in favor.

Quaest also asked if the former president had any influence on January 8th, and 47% answered yes, compared to 43% who claim to not see any influence from the retired army captain. 10% did not know or did not want to respond.

In the Northeast region, there is a greater belief in Bolsonaro’s influence in the attacks—57% see influence, against 33% who do not see any connections by the former president to the event in Brasília. On the other hand, the South is the region where the least influence from the former president is seen, with 52% believing there is no influence, compared to 39% who claim to see his involvement in the attacks.

Furthermore, 51% of the participants in the invasion are viewed as radicals who do not represent Bolsonaro’s voters, while 37% believe that the coup plotters do represent the former president’s voters. 13% did not know or did not want to respond.

Investigations and Citations

The former president is being investigated for alleged involvement in the coup attempts, either as an intellectual mentor or as an instigator of what happened in Brasília. In addition to the Supreme Federal Court (STF), which included him in inquiries about the acts, he is also the target of an investigation by the Federal Police.

On other fronts, the CPI of January 8th approved a final report calling for the indictment of the former president and 60 other people, including five former ministers. The document suggests four crimes: criminal association, political violence, violent abolition of the democratic rule of law, and coup d’état.

The report refers to Bolsonaro as the “great intellectual author” of the attacks and states that he would be the greatest beneficiary of a coup. “The then president has direct responsibility, as a moral mentor, for a large part of the attacks perpetrated against all republican figures that posed any kind of obstacle to his coup attempt.”