Spotlight on Brazil

In Brazil, four in 10 (41%) have suffered anxiety as a consequence of COVID and very few Brazilians will exit the pandemic unharmed. Only 22% admit they haven’t been impacted in some way or another, putting Brazil on par with Mexico as the country most affected among the 16 surveyed in Ipsos’ regular tracker.
 
Unsurprisingly, the top concern amongst Brazilians’ is coronavirus, according to our What Worries the World survey, with 56% in May citing the pandemic, up 4 percentage points on the previous month. Healthcare was the second highest worry with 44%, seeing a fall of 2 points since April.

Until recently, public opinion in Brazil has been polarized, but the extent of the damages brought about by the coronavirus are now being felt even by those who were still optimistic last month.
 
Currently, 70% consider that the country is heading in the wrong direction, up 13 points from last month, and only 30% think Brazil is on the right track, the lowest level recorded since President Bolsanaro’s inauguration in January last year.

While 85% of Brazilians support the idea that their government’s post-COVID recovery efforts must prioritize the protection of the environment, 41% admit to not making environment one of their own priorities at the present time.