Brazilians have been strikingly divided in their response to the trial and conviction of their former president Jair Bolsonaro for plotting a coup after his 2022 election defeat. A poll conducted shortly before the September 11 verdict found that 48% wanted to see Bolsonaro imprisoned while an almost equal proportion – 46% – wanted him to remain free.
A separate survey in late August suggested that, were a new presidential election held, 45.4% would vote for Bolsonaro and 44.6% for the incumbent president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. For half of Brazilians, it would appear, the conviction of Bolsonaro was a just end for a would-be dictator. For the other half it was a politically motivated leftwing witch hunt.
The persistent loyalty of so many Brazilians to Bolsonaro seems illogical if one looks at the evidence gathered against him. The former president was shown to have considered numerous alternative ways of staying in power.
