The Portuguese have little or no ability to report cases of corruption they become aware of because “it doesn’t pay off the time and cost” and “complaints never get anywhere”. At the same time, they believe that the pandemic has increased the chances of corruption and that the business and political world is dominated by the highest rates of less clear situations. And when it comes to this topic, they quickly utter three words: politics, theft and money.
These were some of the conclusions reached by researchers at the Institute of Social Sciences (ICS) after analyzing responses to a public opinion poll “What do the Portuguese think about corruption: perception, attitude, practice.”
Findings from the work to which DN had access allow us to understand that 53% of respondents believe that corruption in Portugal has increased, an opinion that deserves more attention among women and people who have declared themselves politically left and with certain levels. income and education.
On the other hand, the majority of the survey responses were that the pandemic has increased opportunities for corruption. In this respect, this idea is defended by men, moreover politically more right-wing, with education and high incomes.
Suspects, but vote for them
In this work, coordinated by researchers Luis de Sousa and Pedro Magallains, they asked how people vote for politicians involved in corruption cases. And there were six answers: “the same political color”, “disbelief in justice”, “steals, but does”, “gratitude”, “everything is corrupt” and “honesty is not a priority.”
As before, in relation to politicians, this word is most often quoted in response to the question: “When you think about our country, when you hear about corruption, what words do you associate with this topic?”
The exceptional situation that Portugal faced in response to the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, which led to the rationalization of many control and inspection practices in the acquisition of goods and services in response to this health crisis, is being viewed with great caution. respondents in this work. And this may be one of the reasons for the increased perception of the increase in corruption over the past year. At the moment, this opinion was expressed by 53% of respondents, and 33% believe that it has remained the same. According to the study, this idea was most expressed by women on the left in politics, with a compulsory education level and a family income of about 1,560 euros.
Offering gifts helps
Another takeaway from this ICS work – as part of the EPOCA: Corruption and Economic Crisis Project funded by the Science and Technology Foundation – is the fact that people recognize that offering bribes, gifts, and courtesies to government officials helped solve a problem or open a solution to a famous person ( eighteen%).
On the other hand, only a small group (7%) admitted that a civil servant asked or hinted that he needed gifts or favors in exchange for a favor, or asked for a bribe.
For the overwhelming majority of those surveyed (73%), their life “no more and no less” was affected by corruption. However, 22% of the respondents answered that their lives had suffered more.
One certainty left by this investigation is that the decision to file a complaint concerning a corruption case is very difficult to come by. According to the document, which DN reviewed, only 1% of 1,020 respondents admitted that they “will always report incidents of corruption.” The majority, 33%, said they would not file a complaint because “they are not leading to anything”, while 17% believe that “it is not worth the time and costs.” From a regional perspective, people from the north of the country were the ones who provided the most reasons why they did not report cases they knew.
Data sheet
This opinion survey involved people of both sexes between the ages of 18 and 75, living on the Portuguese mainland and in the autonomous regions. The sample was stratified by region (NUTSII) and habitat (five strata) in proportion to the resident population in each stratum. The sample is representative of the Portuguese population for variables such as gender, age, education, region and habitat. The source of the universe for setting sample quotas was the 2011 INE census. The respondents were selected using a quota method based on a matrix that took into account the variables sex, age, education, region and habitat / population size. The sample consisted of 1,020 interviews with the following proportional distribution by region of NUTS II: North – 353; Centralnaya, 220; Lisbon, 282; Alentejo, 72; Algarve, 43; Azores, 25, and Madeira, 25. The information was collected through direct and personal interviews at the respondents’ residence in full confidentiality in the CAPI system, based on a questionnaire prepared by the Institute of Social Sciences of the University of Lisbon (ICS-ULisboa). The fieldwork was conducted from December 19, 2020 to April 21, 2021 and was conducted by 36 interviewers who received appropriate training, taking into account the specifics of the study.
