(02/12/09) -

Brazils Lula Boasts Sky-High Numbers

(Angus Reid Global Monitor) – The popularity of Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has continued to soar in Brazil, according to a poll by Instituto Sensus. 84 per cent of respondents approve of the president’s performance, up 3.7 points since December.

(Angus Reid Global Monitor) – The popularity of Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has continued to soar in Brazil, according to a poll by Instituto Sensus. 84 per cent of respondents approve of the president’s performance, up 3.7 points since December.

Lula—a member of the Worker’s Party (PT)—won the October 2002 presidential election with 61 per cent of the vote in a run-off against Jose Serra of the Brazilian Party of Social Democracy (PSDB). In October 2006, he earned a new four-year term, defeating PSDB candidate Geraldo Alckmin with 60.8 per cent of the vote in the second round. Lula is ineligible for a third consecutive term in office.

In 2006, Lula’s party was affected by a series of corruption scandals. The socialist-leaning president—also a former union leader—led a strong economy with conservative fiscal policies during his first mandate, and was praised for his poverty-reduction initiatives.

Last year, the Lula administration implemented a new policing program in order to re-establish its presence in the most dangerous shanty towns of Rio de Janeiro. Earlier this month, Lula referred to the program and praised its apparent success, saying, "We are working in a way that the state is present in the day-to-day life of poor people. (…) In the past it was only the police intervening with lots of brutality which punished the guilty and the innocent—very often only the innocent. Now we have police there, who are becoming a community police force."

Polling Data

Do you approve or disapprove of Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s performance as president?

Source: Instituto Sensus
Methodology: Interviews with 2,000 Brazilian adults, conducted from Jan. 26 to Jan. 30. 2009. Margin of error is 3 per cent.