Brazil's Rousseff enjoys record high approval rating

Source:Xinhua Published: 2013-3-20 14:48:52

Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff's government has scored a record high approval rating of 63 percent, showing Brazilians agree with the way she is handling the country's sluggish economy.

The survey conducted by polling firm Ibope Tuesday said it was not only Rousseff's highest approval rating so far, but the highest ever for a Brazilian president during his or her first term. Rousseff is in the third year of her four-year tenure.

Rousseff's popular predecessor, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, had only a 39 percent approval rating in the same period of his first term.

Rousseff's personal approval rating reached 79 percent in March, up from 78 percent in the last poll, in January. The number of those who disapproved of her performance remained steady at 17 percent.

According to Ibope, Rousseff is more popular among Brazilians older than 50 years in age, with 66 percent of those queried in this age bracket considering her government good or very good. Among younger voters she has a somewhat less 58 percent approval rating.

She is also more popular among less educated voters, with a 74 percent approval rating among those who completed only elementary school, versus 53 percent among college-educated Brazilians, most of whom are concentrated in the country's northeast.

Brazilians are also more optimistic about Rousseff's remaining time in office, with 65 percent of the respondents saying the next two years will be good or very good, up from 62 percent in the previous poll.

Some 24 percent said the final two years of her term will be regular, and 8 percent believe it will be bad or very bad.

Ibope surveyed 2,002 registered voters in 143 towns throughout Brazil on March 8-11. The poll has a 2-point margin of error.



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