Lula uses social programs to get closer to evangelicals

Seeking to reduce rejection among evangelicals, the government of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) is looking for strategies to get closer to the segment through income transfer programs, such as Bolsa Família. In an interview with the newspaper The globethe Minister of Social Development, Wellington Dias, confirmed that Palácio do Planalto is training church members to register vulnerable people in social programs, such as Bolsa Família, Farmácia Popular, Minha Casa, Minha Vida and Luz para Todos.

“The orientation is to work with those who want to work [com o governo]. Regardless of who voted. Churches reach where no one else reaches. There is a relationship far beyond the political dispute and electoral interest, which is to reduce poverty, and we will need all sectors that can help”, Dias told The globe.

The strategy adopted by the government follows the latest DataFolha survey, published on December 7, showing that Lula is disapproved by 38% of evangelicals. Follow-up is vital for the next elections – both the municipal ones, in 2024, and the general ones, in 2026 -, as it represents 28% of the Brazilian electorate. Furthermore, evangelicals are closer to former president Jair Bolsonaro (PL).

“Are we saying what people want to hear from us? Or do we have to learn from the people how to talk to them? How do we reach evangelicals?” asked Lula at an event in December.

For Senator Magno Malta (PL-ES), member of the Evangelical Parliamentary Front in the Senate and opposition to the Lula government, Planalto’s tactics are already known to the evangelical public, being similar to the PT’s first term speech.

“That was a beautiful invention of the [marqueteiro] Duda Mendonça: create that Lula who was elected in 2002 with the speech of fighting against poverty and corruption. Who doesn’t want that? Brazilian Christians, in fact, lived apart from this. Really, it was the vicar’s tale and we all fell for that tale”, said the senator.

For him, this is a recurring PT strategy. “Every electoral process they try to get closer to the Church because voting is very important. They have even created pastors and left-wing church leaders to go on social media to attack leaders who do not support this communist and abortionist ideology.” Malta also recalled that members of the left tend to be in favor of drug release.

The senator’s statement follows the perception captured by the PoderData survey, which showed that 52% of the evangelical electorate considers the Lula government to be worse than Bolsonaro’s administration. The rate has fluctuated 5 percentage points upwards since the beginning of the year.

Approaching evangelicals was the focus of Planalto in 2023

The attempt to bring the government closer to evangelicals was the focus of the PT administration’s political articulation throughout the year. In June, the Union’s attorney general, Jorge Messias, and deputy Benedita da Silva (PT-RJ), both evangelicals, represented the Lula government at the March for Jesus – an important event for the category.

Lula was invited, but Planalto’s reading was that the president’s presence could generate strong rejection from the public. With that, Lula sent a letter to the apostle Estevam Hernandes, creator of the March for Jesus, thanking him for the invitation, but denying participation.

“I have always admired and respected the March for Jesus, which I consider one of the most extraordinary expressions of faith of our people”, says the text signed by Lula. At the time, Hernandes praised the gesture of the President of the Republic.

“I thought this recognition of the March was very important on his part, in the sense of it being a Christian event of global importance,” said Hernandes to Folha de S. Paulo. In 2009, Lula sanctioned the law that created National March for Jesus Day. However, the PT member never participated in any edition. Bolsonaro was the first to go to the event, in the first year of his term.

Evangelicals also had influence in the dispute for a place on the STF

In addition to the March for Jesus, Messias was responsible for the Planalto’s dialogue with the Evangelical Parliamentary Front, which gave the government a certain level of security when dealing with deputies and senators on topics sensitive to the Executive.

Before the vote on PEC 08/2021 in the Senate, which limits the monocratic decisions of ministers of the Federal Supreme Court (STF), Messias was identified as a consensus name among evangelical parliamentarians in the dispute for the vacancy opened with the departure of Rosa Weber. The AGU was seen as someone who would vote against progressive agendas in the STF – such as the decriminalization of abortion and the liberalization of drug possession.

However, the tension between Lula and the STF, due to the vote of Senator Jaques Wagner (PT-BA) in PEC 08, caused the Executive to discard Messias’ candidacy and appoint the Minister of Justice and Public Security, Flávio Dino, to fill the vacancy. Dino was a favorite of members of the Supreme Court.

The change generated discontent among senators from the Evangelical Parliamentary Front, which forced Lula to move again to reduce friction between evangelicals. Senator Eliziane Gama (PSD-MA), who is also part of this Front, was chosen by Planalto to mitigate Dino’s rejection among her colleagues.

Left-wing identitarianism makes Lula’s rapprochement with evangelicals unlikely

When running for president in 2022, Lula made commitments to different segments of society. Among them, the left wing that defends identity agendas that cause concern and alert in Christian circles. According to political analysts, the infiltration of pro-government agents into religious groups will not nullify the disagreement of this segment on issues related to gender ideology, racial issues, abortion and drug legalization.

For political scientist Elton Gomes, professor at the Federal University of Piauí (UFPI), Planalto did not understand that differences in beliefs and values ​​speak louder than social benefits.

“The government is underestimating the importance of beliefs, values, symbolic and representational elements that are the counterpart of identitarianism. In other words, if the government defends identity based on race, gender and sexual orientation; evangelicals defend another identity: the traditional identity of Roman law, Greek philosophy, Judeo-Christian morality, and family values. This is all identitarianism and the government doesn’t realize that it won’t be a welfare benefit that will transform people’s views,” said Gomes.

He also explains that the effects on changing the opinion, if any, of a segment such as evangelicals can only have an effect in the long term.

“This work with evangelical leaders, according to academic studies on the subject, is a long process. Normally, when you have infiltration into a certain political or religious group, it takes decades to have any effect,” he said.