Brazil's World Cup crowd mostly white, wealthy: survey

[Jonathan Fairfield]

Brazil's World Cup crowd mostly white, wealthy: survey

Most Brazilians attending World Cup matches are white, wealthy and dissatisfied with leftist President Dilma Rousseff's government, said a survey published Sunday.

Of the Brazilian fans attending Saturday's round of 16 match between the host nation and Chile, 75 percent were men, 67 percent were white and 90 percent were middle-class or wealthier, pollsters Datafolha found.

It said there was little sign in the stadiums of the rising middle class that has emerged under Rousseff and her predecessor, fellow leftist Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

Only nine percent of Brazilian fans were from the so-called "C Class," the lower-middle-class income bracket defined as monthly earnings of $500 to $2,000 -- which now covers 49 percent of Brazil's population.

Sixty percent of those interviewed said their incomes were more than 10 times the minimum wage of 724 reals ($320) per month, Datafolha said.

The racial make-up of the crowd was also different from Brazil as a whole: More than half the country's 200 million people have African roots.

Datafolha said 55 percent of those interviewed disapproved of Rousseff's performance, nearly double the figure in its June poll of the general population, when just 28 percent of people said they disapproved of the president's performance.

However, 61 percent of respondents said they did not think it was right that fans shouted a profanity-laced insult at Rousseff at the World Cup opening match in Sao Paulo on June 12.

The jeers caused controversy in Brazil, where many Rousseff supporters said they only reflected the views of a wealthy minority.

Rousseff is up for reelection in October and faces growing discontent over an economic slowdown, rising inflation, accusations of corruption and the record $11 billion spent on the World Cup.

But she currently leads in the polls, with 39 percent of voters backing her candidacy, according to a CNI Ibope survey earlier this month.

Her top rival, Social Democratic Senator Aecio Neves, had 21 percent support, and socialist ex-governor Eduardo Campos, a former ally, 10 percent.

-- (c) Copyright AFP 2014-06-30

[bigbamboo]

Hardly surprising given the cost of the tickets. Some people seem to think football is still 'the peoples game' but that hasn't been the case for some time. When you have even average players earning more in a week than most fans do in a year and World Cup 'stars' like 'One Goal Rooney' earning 45k sterling a day ( think about it) then you can see why football is so expensive now.

As for the abuse the Brazilian president was subjected to I'm afraid if someone puts themselves up for public office that's just something they sometimes just have to accept. No one forces anyone to rule others (apart from Tacky with Poo of course!) and if they don't like it they can always quit (apart from Poo again!). There is no shortage of others willing to take their place.

edit typo

Edited June 30, 2014 by bigbamboo

[Travel2003]

Not surprised.

Same as the carnival. Not for the poor.

Typical 3rd world country with a huge crime problem and the corruption.