The government of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva is rated as bad or terrible by 42% of Brazilians. Another 32% call it good or great, and 25% call it fair. The figures come from a Datafolha poll released on Friday (Sept. 11), a little over three weeks before the first round of Brazil's presidential election.
In the poll, 47% approve of Lula's personal performance as president and 50% disapprove. Lula, of the Workers' Party, is running for reelection. If no candidate wins a majority in the first round, the top two advance to a runoff.
Numbers hold steady within the margin of error
In the previous survey, released on Sept. 3, 42% called the government bad or terrible, 31% good or great and 25% fair. Lula's personal disapproval stood at 51%, against 45% approval. This week's shifts sit inside the margin of error of two percentage points, either way.
Datafolha interviewed 2,002 voters aged 16 and older between Tuesday (8) and Thursday (10) in 125 municipalities. The confidence level is 95%. The survey was commissioned by Folha de S.Paulo and TV Globo and is registered with the Superior Electoral Court under code BR-01833/2026.
Supreme Court crisis dominates the final stretch
Folha reports that the week's political news was dominated by the crisis at the Supreme Federal Tribunal, Brazil's top court. The opposition's tactic, the paper says, is to tie Lula to Justice Alexandre de Moraes, whose relationship with the former owner of Banco Master was exposed by fellow justice André Mendonça.
Lula's rival Flávio Bolsonaro (PL) told an Independence Day event on Avenida Paulista, in São Paulo, on Sept. 7 that "voting for Lula is voting for Moraes." Folha notes that Flávio himself is implicated in the case for having demanded money from Vorcaro, the former owner of Banco Master.
The same round of Datafolha numbers, reported by G1, shows Lula with 39% of first-round voting intentions against 35% for Flávio Bolsonaro. In a runoff, Lula would have 46% to Bolsonaro's 44%, a gap equal to the margin of error. The Supreme Court session on Moraes is scheduled for Tuesday (Sept. 15), according to Folha. Brazilians vote in the first round a little over three weeks after the poll's release.