The fear of the disease versus the fear of unemployment

The two major narratives in the polarized debate about the pandemic in Brazil have increased their presence on the social networks with the ostensible engagement of president Jair Bolsonaro. However, since last Tuesday (24), the fear due to the death toll and infections in the country has been far more relevant and presented a more uniform discussion, with 3.8 million posts on Twitter; on the other hand, with strong polarization among the defenders and opposers of the quarantine measures, mentions to the impact on the economy obtained 2.1 million publications; 

New increase in political polarization

Since Thursday (26), with Bolsonaro’s statements against social isolation, political actors, and health authorities, the networks have been seeing increased political tension about the pandemic coming from the opposition — which used to the mobilized by the left wing — integrated with leaders such as João Doria, Wilson Witzel, Rodrigo Maia, Ronaldo Caiado e Ciro Gomes. Since then, the pro-Bolsonaro digital presence has been 10%, with the opposition group showing double the interactions;

Press establishes itself on Youtube; WhatsApp is aligned with Bolsonaro’s position

Journalistic videos continue to have the most impact on Youtube, confirming the trend observed last week. On WhatsApp, on the other hand, contents aligned with resuming economic activities predominate, with news of mass layoffs and attacks against political actors who defend the isolation, such as João Doria and the WHO Director-General, Tedros Adhanom.

Evolution of the political fields on Twitter
analysis date: from March 2 at midnight until March 31 at midnight