A Quaest poll released on Monday (14) shows that 37% of Brazilian voters believe Justice André Mendonça is acting correctly in the crisis at the Supreme Federal Court, the STF, the country's top tribunal. Another 16% say Alexandre de Moraes is the one acting correctly. According to news site G1, the institute interviewed 2,004 voters between September 10 and 13, with a margin of error of two percentage points.
Another 20% of respondents said neither justice is acting correctly, 2% said both are, and 25% did not know or did not answer. The dispute between the two justices is part of the court's crisis tied to the Banco Master scandal, in a presidential election year. The survey was commissioned by the newspaper O Globo and TV Globo, according to Veja magazine.
Where each side's support sits
The breakdown by political group shows a split. Among right-wing voters who are not Bolsonaro supporters, 67% say Mendonça is right, against 5% who point to Moraes. Among Bolsonaro supporters, Mendonça gets 58% and Moraes 6%. Among supporters of former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, the result flips: 34% back Moraes and 12% Mendonça, while 32% did not know or did not answer.
Left-wing voters who do not support Lula are split, at 22% for Mendonça and 22% for Moraes. Among independents, Mendonça leads with 33%, against 13% for Moraes. Religion also marks the divide: 46% of evangelical voters say Mendonça acts correctly, against 11% for Moraes; among Catholics, the figures are 32% and 19%.
Pressure to change the court
In the same round of questions, 68% of respondents support raising the requirements to appoint justices, such as a minimum age and professional legal experience; 20% are against. Fixed terms for justices get 53% support, with 30% opposed, and a new code of ethics barring commercial or private ties gets 53%, with 32% against. Half of respondents, 50%, accept that Congress and the judiciary itself could appoint justices, and 61% reject a ban on monocratic rulings, the decisions a single justice can issue alone. Veja also reports that trust in the court fell ten points in one month, with 56% of Brazilians saying they distrust the tribunal.
The poll lands on the eve of an STF session scheduled for Tuesday (15). Under the proceedings released by the court, the justices will decide whether to open an investigation into the conduct of Moraes in the Banco Master case, with Justice Luiz Edson Fachin set to cast the first vote.