Quaest: 61% say elections were clean and fair; 30%, fraud

A Quaest survey released this Sunday (8) shows that 61% of Brazilians believe that this year's elections were clean and fair, compared to 30% who believe that there was fraud. 9% don't know or don't have an opinion.

Doubts about the electoral process were raised by senator Flávio Bolsonaro (PL), candidate defeated in the second round of the presidential election against Lula (PT).

In an interview with Folha, he stated that neither of the two candidates can know with 100% certainty who was elected president. Although he admitted he had no evidence of irregularities, he said he had reason to be suspicious and that this was a subject prohibited from being investigated in the country.

The focus on ideological positioning is clear in the responses about the smoothness of the process. Among Lulistas, 96% say the elections were clean and fair; Among Bolsonaro supporters, 93% say they were defrauded.

Of those classified by Quaest as independent, 61% say that the elections were correct and 22% that they were not. The TSE (Superior Electoral Court) attested to the integrity of the electoral process, also approved by international observers.

The son of former president Jair Bolsonaro (PL) fled to the United States after the defeat and the subsequent order by Alexandre de Moraes, minister of the STF (Supreme Federal Court), to cancel his passports.

Practically everyone (89%) found out about the PL's former presidential candidate going abroad, a percentage higher than that recorded for other news, such as the crisis at the STF involving Moraes, André Mendonça and the Banco Master scandal (73%) or the investigations into Lula's son, Fábio Luís Lula da Silva, known as Lulinha (66%).

The majority of voters (62%) consider the escape to be a mistake, while 29% see it as successful. Another 9% do not know or have no opinion.

As for the reason for his departure, 56% say he was fleeing justice and 35% believe he traveled to protect himself from political persecution. 2% discard both reasons, and 7% do not know or did not respond.

Also on these issues, the ideological bias was strong: 92% of Lulistas disapprove of Flávio's attitude, while Bolsonaristas are understanding (90% said he did well). Among independents, 63% opposed the former presidential candidate's decision, 21% approved the trip and 16% did not know or did not want to answer.

Quaest interviewed 2,004 Brazilian voters aged 16 or over through personal home interviews carried out from October 30th to November 2nd. The estimated margin of error is 2 percentage points, within the 95% confidence level.

After the escape, the son of the former president of Bolsonaro published a letter in which he called himself "the true elected president of Brazil". The expression was later changed in a new version of the text, but Flávio continued to cast, without any evidence, doubts about the electoral process.

According to the survey, 70% were aware of the scam letter, compared to 30% who were not yet aware.

Flávio behaved badly in light of the election results from the perspective of 60% of Brazilian voters; 25% declare that he acted well, and 9% consider that he did neither good nor bad. 6% do not respond or do not know how to respond.

For comparison purposes, 45% considered that Jair Bolsonaro acted badly after the 2022 election, compared to 41% who stated the opposite, that he was doing well after the defeat. The former president did not make a statement on the night of the counting, as is customary, he did not congratulate the winner and, at the end of the year, he traveled to Florida. He did not pass the presidential sash to Lula.