More than just disillusioned with politics, Brazilian voters are staying away from the polls year after year because they feel exhausted and lonely. The finding comes from a survey conducted by Plataforma Avaaz with pollster Datafolha, released this week.

In this groundbreaking study, experts linked the lack of community ties and contact with nature to disinterest in politics, pointing to these factors as explanations for voter abstention.

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About 30 million voters – nearly one in three – did not vote in the last elections. The survey found that, in general, this abstention was driven by what it termed an “epidemic” of loneliness, mental exhaustion, and a dependence on technology.

“We discovered that the ‘disengaged’ are caught in a destructive cycle,” explained Nana Queiroz, director of Avaaz’s Desapocalíptica Project, who believes this group turns to TV and social media “as a kind of anesthetic for this exhaustion.”

She also pointed out that social media in Brazil keeps people in their own personal circles of users with similar opinions – in addition to fueling “a culture of hate.” In these cases, they feel more isolated, hopeless, or guilty for wasting so much time on social media or TV.

“When these people feel this way – guilty, exhausted, and isolated – they believe they lack the power to bring about collective change, and that is why they are stopping voting,” she argued.

The “disengaged”

Nearly half of Brazilians identified with this behavior (47%) were classified in the survey as “disengaged.” These are individuals who have stopped voting altogether or vote only rarely. Three in ten have given up voting entirely due to this lack of engagement.

Young people fit this profile the most. According to the data, young people aged 18 to 34 make up 44 percent of the disengaged group, signaling the need for action. Only two out of ten young people say they have a connection to their community and feel good about it.

Queiroz draws attention to grueling work schedules, such as the 6–1 shift (six days of work followed by one of rest), which reduce the time available for leisure and for building a social network.

Good living

To rebuild that connection, the recommendation is to develop what are known as “good living” policies. These are initiatives that also promote contact with nature, access to culture, leisure, and more accessible cities in general, Queiroz explains.

“Saying ‘good morning’ to someone at the bakery already has an impact on your level of happiness,” she noted.

Contact with the environment is also seen as restorative to mental health, especially in cases of anxiety and boredom among young people. Measures to curb digital addiction are also necessary.

“If you want to win these people back and get them to the polls, you need to create policies that change their real lives, so they feel that their vote has a real impact on their lives,” the specialist stressed.

The survey was based on a foreign methodology that looks at quality-of-life indicators less frequently examined in economically focused surveys – which tend to focus more on access to consumption, material comfort, and economic performance itself.