BRASILIA, June 12 (Xinhua) -- A majority of Brazilians appear to be losing interest in the FIFA World Cup, according to a poll released on Tuesday by polling firm Datafolha.
With just two days to go before football's top championship kicks off in Russia, the poll reported 53 percent of Brazilians showed no interest in the World Cup, 11 percent more than the previous poll taken in January, when 42 percent of respondents said they were not interested.
However, nearly half of those queried said Brazil's national team was their favorite to win the global contest.
The pollster blamed the damped enthusiasm on several factors, including an economy with sluggish recovery, uncertainty generated by October's presidential elections, and a crippling truckers' strike that led to shortages in May.
Only 18 percent of respondents said they were eagerly looking forward to the games, another 18 percent said they were somewhat interested and nine percent said they were only a little interested.
In the lead up to the 2014 World Cup, which Brazil hosted, more than a third of Brazilians (36 percent) said they had no interest in the games, the highest percentage ever recorded.
At the time, the dissatisfaction with the event stemmed from corruption allegations that led to massive anti-government protests.
Datafolha polled 2,824 people in 174 cities from June 7 to 8.
