Quaest: government campaign represents 'turnaround' on social media; criticism hits Motta

The campaign led by the government of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) with the slogan “us against them” involving the issue of increasing the Tax on Financial Transactions (IOF) today represents a “government victory on the networks”, according to the Quaest survey released this Friday, the 4th.

“The political moment represents a turning point in the clash of narratives and mobilization on social media, and points to a different trend from the first half of the year, when approval of the Lula government was falling,” highlights the survey report.

Since June 25, the campaign to boycott the parliamentarians has gained traction and has had more than 300,000 mentions with the hashtag “EnemiesOfThePeople” alone. The number of mentions on the topic has reached 4.4 million between June 24 and this Friday, the equivalent of 18,000 times per hour.

Since the beginning of the clashes between the Executive and Legislative branches, the feeling has been mostly against Congress, with 61% criticizing, and only 11% mentioning attacks on the government when the subject involves taxation.

The Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies, Hugo Motta (Republicans-PB), is the main target of the government supporters, accounting for 8% of the mentions. According to the survey, this focus reflects “personalization of criticism of Congress, focusing on figures associated with unpopular decisions.” The narrative gained even more strength by mobilizing themes of privilege and distancing from the population.

The terms most cited by the campaign against the abolition of taxation, before Motta, were “Enemies of the People”, with 18%, and “Mamata's Congress”, with 13%.

Lula is not the main focus of the dispute involving the branches of government, which ended up in court at the request of the Attorney General's Office (AGU) in an attempt to reverse the decision of Congress. This Friday, Minister Alexandre de Moraes, of the Federal Supreme Court (STF), determined that representatives must meet on the 15th, at the Supreme Court, to seek conciliation on the issue.

According to Quaest, only 15% of mentions of Congress mention Lula. “In addition, the president had 45% of mentions in a positive tone, against only 31% negative – a significantly more positive result compared to other disputes,” says the institute.

In terms of volume of posts, government members of parliament published more than members of the opposition, a dynamic that differed from previous disputes, such as the case of the INSS embezzlement scandal. There were 119 members of parliament from Lula's base responsible for 741 posts, which totaled almost 50% of the posts. On the other hand, there were 378 posts made by 112 opposition members of parliament. The survey also identified 79 centrist members of parliament, responsible for 218 posts on social media.