THE BATTLE FOR PUBLIC OPINION AND THE IMPEACHMENT OF DILMA ROUSSEFF

Abstract

Studies on the impeachment of Dilma Rousseff emphasize the role of the media, the parties, the political elites, the poor performance of democracy and the street protests as explanatory factors for the interruption of her term. The article contributes to these analyses by discussing the role of public opinion in the process, focusing on the first three months of 2015, based on data produced by the Secretariat of Social Communication of the Presidency of the Republic (Secom/PR), such as weekly telephone surveys responsible for monitoring the “pulse” of public opinion in relation to the Federal Government. It was in this period that she lost more than 30% of popular support and reached 62% of bad and terrible evaluation, levels from which she never left until she was removed from office. By losing the support of public opinion, the former president also lost one of the most important shields against the interruption of mandates, becoming hostage of the political elites and parties represented in the National Congress.