BRASILIA (Reuters) – President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s popularity remains high one year into his third non-consecutive term leading Brazil, with more than half of Brazilians approving of his performance, according to a poll on Tuesday.
His government’s approval rating also increased with 42.7% of those polled viewing it as great or good, compared to 40.6% in the previous survey by pollster MDA in September. Those who consider Lula’s administration as bad or terrible increased marginally to 27.9% from 27.2 four months ago, it showed.
The rating of the leftist president’s performance edged up to 55.2% from 54.9% in September, while disapproval also rose slightly to 39.6 from 39.0%, the MDA poll commissioned by the transport sector lobby CNT.
But Lula faces challenging months ahead if he wants to keep up his popularity as Brazil prepares for mayoral elections in November, with the economy and public security on most voters’ minds, the poll indicated.
Nearly half of Brazilians (49%) fear their incomes will decline in the next six months rather than increase (36%), though they expect the job market to improve.
Lula gets his best approval ratings among lower-income Brazilians and in poorer northeastern Brazil, his political bastion. He does badly among higher income groups and evangelical Christian voters, MDA said.
“After the first year of the Lula government, expectations for the coming months remain positive, especially on topics that
are priorities for the population, such as the economy, health and education,” said MDA director Marcelo Souza.
But he said Lula needs to pay attention to public safety, amid rising violent crime in Brazilian cities, as he gets the worst reviews for this.
MDA polled 2,002 people in person between Jan. 18-21 and the poll has a margin of error of 2.2 percentage points.
(Reporting by Anthony Boadle; Editing by Steven Grattan and Susan Fenton)
Disclaimer: This report is auto generated from the Reuters news service. ThePrint holds no responsibilty for its content.