Michelle Bolsonaro and the difficult task of attracting the female electorate

Until recently, Bolsonaro’s wife, a fervent evangelical, was credited with quietly influencing the government, especially in the appointment of a Presbyterian pastor as Minister of Education and the first evangelical magistrate in the Supreme Federal Court (STF).

But when the 67-year-old president launched his campaign a month ago, Michelle Bolsonaro, 40, adopted a star paper.

Presented by Bolsonaro as “the most important person” in an act in Judge of Fora (center-east), the photogenic first lady harangued hundreds of followers, praising God and attacking the “enemies” of the government that aroused the same or even more enthusiasm than the ultraconservative’s speech.

In July, in another intervention in Rio de Janeirothe first lady described Bolsonaro as “chosen by God” to save Brazil and defended that her husband was the “president who sanctioned the most laws to protect women”, for example, with improvements in health.

Michelle Bolsonaro to the rescue

Women are the majority (53%) among the more than 156 million voters Brazilians, who on October 2 decide whether to re-elect the former Army captain or if the left returns to power hand in hand with the former president Lula da Silvafavorite in the polls. That is why his third wife entered the scene, according to analysts.

“She has the role” of making Bolsonaro “more attractive among women,” he says Sergio Pracapolitical analyst of the Getulio Vargas Foundation.

Bolsonaro, who often uses informal language and utters insults, is showered with accusations of sexism, like when he dominated the Brazilian patriotic celebrations with allusions to his supposed sexual potency.

According to analysts, the women voters also reproach him for the lack of policies to counteract the disproportionate effect on women of the economic crisis consequent to the Covid-19 pandemicwhich killed 680,000 people in Brazil.

Michelle Bolsonaro sends the message that the president is “a family man and conservative” and a “reliable” candidate, says Carolina Botelhoresearcher in political communication and public opinion at the University of the State of Rio Janeiro.

However, six days before the first round, the inclusion of the first lady is insufficient: Jair Bolsonaro has barely improved in the polls on the female electorate.

Michelle “could have reinforced [el voto de las mujeres] who were already with the president but he couldn’t bring those who were against closer together,” Botelho told AFP. “Speak well to a fanatic audience, but not with the rest of the population,” he adds.

evangelical anchor

The first lady’s appearances also seek to strengthen the rapprochement between Jair Bolsonaro, a Catholic, and evangelical voters, attracted by his defense of the “traditional” family. Michelle has a history of social work in churches and a close relationship with pastors and leaders of the evangelical bloc in Congress.

“Its main force is the evangelical electorate“, it states Adriano Laureno, political analyst for the consulting firm Prospectiva. Even the way he speaks “is very similar to that of the shepherds” with constant allusions to God and notions such as good and evil, he says.

Since the beginning of the campaign, Bolsonaro has extended his advantage and currently has 49% of the voting intentions among evangelical voters, compared to 32% for Lula, according to Datafolha.

According to estimates, almost a third of the population of Brazil is evangelical and its leaders calculate that they will be the majority in a decade. In addition, polls show that the majority of voters believe that politics and religion must go hand in hand.

Something that Michelle Bolsonaro takes into account in her speeches, repeating her husband’s motto, “Brazil above all, God above all.”