A growing share of Brazilians say poverty is caused by “laziness among people who do not want to work,” according to a Datafolha poll reported by Gazeta do Povo. The figure reached 40%, up from 22% in 2022 and the highest level in the series that began in 2013.
The finding does not mean most Brazilians hold that view. A majority, 58%, still says poverty mainly results from a lack of equal opportunities for social mobility. But that share fell sharply from 76% in 2022, while 3% of respondents said they did not know how to answer.
What the Poll Asked
The survey was conducted in person with 2,004 voters aged 16 or older on June 17 and 18, across 139 Brazilian municipalities. Datafolha reported a margin of error of two percentage points, with a 95% confidence level. The poll was registered with Brazil’s Superior Electoral Court (TSE), the body that oversees elections, under number BR-09956/2026.
According to Gazeta do Povo, the question is part of Datafolha’s ideological matrix, a set of items used to measure attitudes on social, political, economic and cultural issues. The broader set includes views on crime, guns, the death penalty, drugs, poor people’s migration, unions, homosexuality and punishment for minors who commit offenses.
Based on single-source reporting from Gazeta do Povo, the long-term series shows a fluctuating but now rising association between poverty and unwillingness to work. In 2013, 32% of respondents agreed with that explanation. The share rose to 37% in 2014, fell to 21% in 2017, stayed at 22% in 2022, and reached 40% in the latest poll.
Age and Income Divides
The results vary strongly by age. Among Brazilians aged 16 to 24, only 22% link poverty to laziness, while 74% point to lack of opportunity. Among respondents aged 60 or older, the two explanations are effectively tied within the margin of error: 49% cite unwillingness to work, while 48% cite unequal opportunities.
Income also shapes perceptions, though not in a simple linear pattern. Among respondents with family income above ten minimum wages, 63% say poverty is caused by lack of opportunity. Among those earning two to five minimum wages, 55% cite unequal opportunities and 43% cite laziness. Among those earning up to two minimum wages, 58% point to lack of opportunity and 40% blame unwillingness to work.
Professional status produced another split. Entrepreneurs registered the highest share associating poverty with laziness, at 56%. Among public employees, the figure was 28%.
Political Split
The poll also measured responses by presidential vote intention, according to Gazeta do Povo. Among voters for Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva of the Workers’ Party (PT), Brazil’s main center-left party, 28% associate poverty with laziness and 70% cite lack of opportunity.
Among voters for Flávio Bolsonaro of the Liberal Party (PL), a right-wing party, 52% attribute poverty to unwillingness to work, while 44% point to unequal opportunities.
The results show a clear shift in public attitudes toward poverty since 2022, while preserving a central tension in Brazilian opinion: most respondents still describe poverty as a problem of opportunity, but a much larger minority now frames it as a matter of individual effort.