SÃO PAULO—With just a week remaining until a key congressional vote that could move Brazil’s President Dilma Rousseff closer to impeachment, new polling data show that the public most favors an option that isn’t even on the table: new presidential elections.
Most Brazilians surveyed by the Datafolha polling agency last week said they would like to see the exit of both Ms. Rousseff and her equally unpopular potential successor, Vice President Michel Temer. In the event of their removal, 79% of respondents said they would like to cast ballots in a new presidential election, in hopes of ending the nation’s political crisis.
The new data underscore the Brazilian public’s deep dissatisfaction with Ms. Rousseff and her ruling Workers’ Party as well as with the opposition parties that are looking to assume power. The data also highlight voters’ conflicted feelings about an impeachment process that has become embroiled in partisan mudslinging and accusations of dirty tricks by both pro- and antigovernment forces.
