Joaquim Pereira Lopes
Top Concerns
Corruption
"They're all stealing. PS, PSD, doesn't matter."
Worker abandonment
"Nobody fights for workers anymore. Union, parties—all sold out."
Daughter's emigration
"She couldn't stay. What does that say about Portugal?"
Cost of living
"Prices go up, wages don't. My pension won't be enough."
Dignity
"I did everything right. Where's my reward?"
Background
Joaquim spent 25 years at Siderurgia Nacional before it closed. He was union, PS voter since youth, believer in the workers' party. Then came the troika, the factory closures, the early retirement packages that felt like funeral arrangements.
He reinvented himself as a security guard at 45—night shifts at shopping centers, watching the stores he can't afford to shop in. The humiliation of going from skilled steelworker to uniformed doorman still stings. But a job is a job, and at 58, options are limited.
The PS he believed in promised to protect workers. Instead, they promised and promised while factories closed, wages stagnated, and his daughter left for Manchester because Portugal had nothing for her. The corruption scandals—Sócrates, the lithium deals, the golden visas—confirmed what he'd come to suspect: they were all the same.
He hasn't voted Chega. Yet. But he's stopped defending PS to his friends. The party that was supposed to fight for people like him seems more interested in Lisbon elites and European appearances.
Economic Situation
Income level
Low (€850/month security + Lucília's €600 pension)
Income source
Security job + spouse's early retirement
Financial stress
Moderate (owns home, but tight budget)
Trajectory
Declining (from skilled work to security)
In Their Own Voice
"A country that abandoned its workers. I spent 25 years making steel for Portugal. Then they closed the factory, sold what they could, and told us to reinvent ourselves. Now I watch shopping centers at night while politicians steal millions. This isn't the Portugal we were promised."
— On Portugal
"Don't come to me asking for votes. You've had my votes. All of you. What did you do with them? Show me results, not promises. I've heard enough promises."
— To Politicians
Hopes
For themselves
himself
"I just want to reach retirement without another disaster. Keep my health, see my daughter when she visits, live quietly."
his daughter
"I hope she's happy there. I wish she could be happy here. Maybe things will change and she can come back."
Personal fears
"Getting sick before retirement. Losing this job and being unemployable. Dying knowing my daughter chose exile."
What he'd say to someone who disagrees with him politically
"I'm not political anymore. I was, for 40 years. What did it get me? A factory closed, a daughter in England, and a uniform that says 'Security' but means 'What happened to your life?'"
His message to politicians
"Don't come to me asking for votes. You've had my votes. All of you. What did you do with them? Show me results, not promises. I've heard enough promises."
For Portugal
Portugal
"I hope someone honest appears. I'm not asking for miracles. Just someone who doesn't lie and steal. Is that too much?"
Fears for Portugal
"That nothing will change. That my grandchildren—if I ever have any—will be born abroad because Portugal has nothing for them."
How he'd describe Portugal today
"A country that abandoned its workers. I spent 25 years making steel for Portugal. Then they closed the factory, sold what they could, and told us to reinvent ourselves. Now I watch shopping centers at night while politicians steal millions. This isn't the Portugal we were promised."
Fears
For themselves
Personal fears
"Getting sick before retirement. Losing this job and being unemployable. Dying knowing my daughter chose exile."
His message to politicians
"Don't come to me asking for votes. You've had my votes. All of you. What did you do with them? Show me results, not promises. I've heard enough promises."
For Portugal
Fears for Portugal
"That nothing will change. That my grandchildren—if I ever have any—will be born abroad because Portugal has nothing for them."
How he'd describe Portugal today
"A country that abandoned its workers. I spent 25 years making steel for Portugal. Then they closed the factory, sold what they could, and told us to reinvent ourselves. Now I watch shopping centers at night while politicians steal millions. This isn't the Portugal we were promised."
What he'd say to someone who disagrees with him politically
"I'm not political anymore. I was, for 40 years. What did it get me? A factory closed, a daughter in England, and a uniform that says 'Security' but means 'What happened to your life?'"
Candidate Reactions
How this person would react to each candidate winning
Independent ("My party is Portugal")
Henrique Gouveia e Melo
Key trigger: Not a politician; competent; might be honest
Chega (far-right)
André Ventura
Key trigger: Anti-corruption resonates; but distrusts populism
Bloco de Esquerda (left)
Catarina Martins
Key trigger: Right ideas, but seems disconnected from workers
PCP (Communist Party)
António Filipe
Key trigger: Old loyalties; but PCP also faded
PSD/CDS backing (center-right)
Luís Marques Mendes
Key trigger: Same establishment that failed workers
PS (center-left)
António José Seguro
Key trigger: PS, part of the problem
Iniciativa Liberal
João Cotrim Figueiredo
Key trigger: "For the bosses"
Information Sources
Where they get their information
community
High TrustFormer colleagues, neighbors, wife
online
Medium TrustFacebook, some news links
social media
Medium TrustFacebook (friends, news shares)
tv
Medium TrustSIC, CMTV, TVI
Voting History
Past electoral choices and patterns
Lifelong PS until 2024
Abstained
"Couldn't bring myself to vote PS, couldn't vote anything else"
PS
"Last time I believed them"
Marcelo
"He seemed okay"