Popularity hiccups draw limits for Lula in the 2nd year – 03/21/2024 – Bruno Boghossian

Lula is impatient with his popularity. She demanded changes in government communication and ordered ministers to publicize their actions on trips around the country. It’s a remedy for hiccups. It may work, but new spasms tend to appear.

The most recent Datafolha survey shows that the president is far from a critical moment. The country remains divided into three thirds, and the polarization situation allows for few drastic changes. Some details, however, point to a variation in moods that requires government attention.

A regional section provides some clues. While Lula’s popularity remained practically unchanged in the Northeast, data from the Southeast are less favorable: since December, the government’s positive assessment fell from 36% to 31%, and the negative assessment went from 31% to 37%.

The change matters because the Southeast is the PT members’ main battlefield against Bolsonarism. Furthermore, the region was a bet for Lula’s assistants to expand the government’s approval base, especially with the recovery of the economy and the increase in income.

These data keep popularity at a certain level of stability, but there are signs of annoyance at the tip of disapproval, including in segments close to Lula. The percentage of low-income voters who consider the government to be bad or terrible rose from 25% to 29%.

Evangelical voters remind the government that the economy is not always decisive in the formation of political opinions. Lula’s negative assessment went from 38% to 43% in this group, which has an active opposition and leaders who intensely exploited the PT member’s statements against Israel.

The survey offers an outline of the limits of this second year of office. The turning of the page in the Bolsonaro years and the resumption of programs gave Lula relative comfort in his re-debut, but the political circumstances and the choices made by the government aroused ill will in some segments.

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