This article analyses the individual basis of the contradictory relationship between levels of distrust to public institutions and levels of support to democracy and satisfaction with the democratic regime observed in Brazil. We discuss the concepts of legitimacy, satisfaction and political trust, and the methodological implications of this problem. We describe and analyse the impact of this aspects over the democratic adhesion. The study is based on the Latinobarometer series data from 1995 to 2002.
distrust; political institutions; political support; satisfaction with democracy
