Datafolha: Allies attribute disapproval to Lula’s speeches – 03/21/2024 – Power

Allies of Lula (PT) point out behind the scenes that the unfavorable fluctuations for the government in the new Datafolha survey are due to statements by the president, in particular the confrontation with Jair Bolsonaro (PL) and comments on controversial topics, such as Gaza and Venezuela.

Officially, however, the Lula administration minimizes the results of the survey released this Thursday (21). For them, economic measures and the entry into force of new policies will contribute to reversing the situation.

The survey shows that Lula sees his approval technically tied with the rejection of his government. It has 35% excellent/good, 33% bad/terrible and 30% regular (in the previous survey, these rates were 38%, 30% and 30%, respectively).

Datafolha carried out 2,002 interviews with voters from 147 cities this Tuesday (19) and Wednesday (20). The margin of error is plus or minus two percentage points.

The minister of Secom (Secretariat of Social Communication of the Presidency), Paulo Pimenta, says he does not see a major fluctuation in the research, as it is within the margin of error. Therefore, he avoided naming factors that contributed to the variation.

“There has not been any major fluctuation in the polls since the beginning of last year. We have a polarized country, and this polarization continues. As public policies reach the population, this percentage of regular will transform into good or excellent”, states.

The head of communication in the government cites as measures that should soon have an impact: Escola em Tempo Integral, which will have 1 million enrollments in March, the Pé de Meia program, which begins payments next Tuesday (26), and the signing of Minha Casa Minha Vida contracts this semester.

Privately, interlocutors of the Chief Executive say that the president’s impromptu speeches and impulses have been Lula’s biggest obstacle in his government’s opinion polls.

Opinions critical of the president, however, do not reach him in this way. In a more calibrated way, these allies seek to explain that entering into controversial topics could end up further alienating voters from the center.

Today, allies say they seek to isolate Bolsonaro and dialogue with those in the center. The difficulty is that the head of the Executive continues to criticize his predecessor, seeking to antagonize him, and thus keeping his rival in the spotlight.

They cite as an example the PT member’s speech in which he compared Israel’s actions in the Gaza Strip to those of Adolf Hitler. The declaration was repudiated by evangelical churches, and Bolsonarists took to the streets. They also suggest a distancing from Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro.

A minister outside the political core maintains the same position, pointing out that the government should focus on resilient work and reducing the temperature on issues he describes as lateral.

There is a wing of PT members further to the left, however, they defend a broader confrontation with Bolsonarism. According to them, it would not only be up to Lula, but also his ministers, to criticize him.

Lula’s allies attribute his sincere verbiage to a difficulty in understanding the impact of social networks on communication.

A palace assistant states: in governments 1 and 2, what he said took a long time to reach people and the repercussion was much smaller. Now it circulates quickly in short videos and ends up being widely used by adversaries.

Another point of concern for the president and which, according to assistants, has an impact on research is the price of food. To this end, Lula called an emergency meeting in Planalto last week.

The discourse of seeking to “improve people’s lives”, with gains in employment, income and quality of life, has been the keynote of the PT member’s third term, but the appeals took on new contours given the assessment that positive results in economic indicators, such as GDP last year, have not yet resulted in greater optimism among some Brazilians.

Another point of criticism is government communication as a whole. That’s why Lula asked at the ministerial meeting, on Monday (18), that ministers come out in defense of the management and publicize actions more effectively, not just those of the departments they command.

This Thursday (21), in a speech to young people at the launch of the Vivent Black Youth Plan, in Ceilândia, he publicly demanded all the ministers present, asking that the actions be included in their speeches and that they travel around the country.

A type of itinerant government then began to be considered, with more ministers accompanying Lula during his trips to the states.

Another focus for improving the government’s image are speeches aimed at women, recalling in their speeches the fight for equal pay with men, but avoiding more controversial topics such as abortion.

Opposition parliamentarians, in turn, say that Lula’s drop in popularity is natural due to government failures.

“It’s natural for it to fall, we see that the government is directionless. The economy is bad, security is a disaster, and Lula is talking nonsense all the time”, says deputy Alberto Fraga (PL-DF).

A member of the bullet bench, he states that the PT administration did not present any structured project to reduce violence.

“He did not present any policy that would combat drug traffickers or organized crime”, he states.

Representative Evair de Melo (PP-ES), deputy leader in Bolsonaro’s government, says that “Lula is reaping what he sowed.” “He who sows wind reaps storms. He lied too much, had too much bravado and delivered little. The economy was melting down. For those who still had it, their goodwill was gone,” he says.