A Datafolha poll released on Thursday (Sept 3) shows 42% of Brazilian voters rate the government of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva as bad or terrible. Another 31% call it excellent or good, and 25% say it is fair, the middle category in Brazilian poll ratings.
Datafolha, one of Brazil's main polling institutes, interviewed 2,002 people aged 16 and over in 125 cities on Sept 1 and 2. The margin of error is two percentage points, with a 95% confidence level. The survey was commissioned by the newspaper Folha de S.Paulo and TV Globo and is registered with the Superior Electoral Court, Brazil's elections authority, under number BR-03669/2026.
The president's personal rating
On Lula's personal performance, 51% disapprove of his administration and 45% approve. Two weeks earlier the two figures were in a statistical tie, with 50% negative ratings. Negative views of the government have also climbed steadily: 38% at the end of July and 41% in the previous round, in August.
Folha notes that although the changes sit within the margin of error, the numbers hurt Lula because they follow a trend. The newspaper points to pressure between the two rounds of polling from the so-called Lulinha case, involving suspicions around the dealings of the president's son, Fábio Luís, plus a sharper public debate over deteriorating public finances and slower GDP growth in the second quarter. On the positive side, Folha cites progress in Congress on a bill to end the 6x1 rotating work schedule, a popular cause in Brazil.
One month to the vote
The same Datafolha round puts Lula at 38% of first-round voting intentions, against 33% for Flávio Bolsonaro of the PL party. In a potential runoff between the two, the score is 46% to 44%, a statistical tie. InfoMoney writes that the president enters the final stretch of the race with more voters disapproving of his administration than approving it.
The first round of the presidential election, in which Lula seeks reelection, is about a month away. Between the last two Datafolha rounds, the gap between disapproval and approval widened from a statistical tie to six points.