In Sao Paulo, a recent poll released on Thursday showed a slight decrease in the approval rating of Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s government, bringing it closer to the level of disapproval.
The survey, conducted by Datafolha on March 19 to 20, revealed that the leftist president, currently in the second year of his third non-consecutive term, had an approval rate of 35%, down from 38% in December. Conversely, the percentage of respondents expressing disapproval slightly increased to 33% from 30%.
With another 30% remaining neutral in the March poll, the government’s approval and disapproval rates were roughly equal, within the poll’s two percentage points error margin.
Datafolha conducted interviews with 2,002 people in 147 Brazilian cities to gather these results. Approximately a year ago, Lula’s government enjoyed an approval rating of 38% and a disapproval rating of 29%.
During the first ministerial meeting of the year on Monday, Lula expressed his expectations for results from his ministers, in response to other opinion polls indicating a decline in his popularity.
(Reporting by Andre Romani; additional reporting by Maria Carolina Marcello in Brasilia)
