Lula's approval ratings keep declining

The decline in the approval ratings of Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva appears to be consolidating. 

In a survey of 2,002 people by pollsters Datafolha on March 19 and 20, 35% of respondents rated Lula's administration good or excellent, 30% average and 33% bad or very bad.

In the previous Datafolha survey in December, the respective figures were 38%, 30% and 30%.

The Datafolha survey reflects the decline in Lula's approval ratings seen in other surveys in recent weeks.

"President Lula is definitely much less popular in this term than he was during 2003-2010, when he was president for two consecutive terms and had much higher approval ratings, at times as high as 80%. Currently there is much greater polarization in the country, which makes high levels of approval for any political leader unfeasible," Mário Sérgio Lima, senior political analyst at Medley Global Advisors, told BNamericas.

Lula took office in January 2023 after narrowly defeating incumbent Jair Bolsonaro in the October 2022 runoff.

"Even if everything goes well with this government, income continues to increase, unemployment falls, public safety and health improves, the government's approval ceiling is 60%. There is polarization and a very solid opposition leadership, with which a relevant portion of the population identify," said Lima. 

The government has shown concern about the drop in the ratings. 

On March 18, Lula held a meeting with his main ministers to define strategies to improve his approval ratings and demanded greater efforts to communicate the government's progress. After the meeting, Lula stressed that during the first year of the current administration, Brazil has seen a drop in unemployment and an increase in salaries.

"The president's concern about his approval ratings is well-founded, because when we have a very divided political scenario like now, the government faces greater risks of losing its support base in congress, which is already fragile," Lima added.