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Lula's approval rating slips ahead of mid-term local elections

Brazilians go to the polls on October 6 to choose mayors and city councillors in more than 5,500 towns while the leftist leader completes in January two years in office

Approval of Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva in September went down when compared to a survey conducted two months earlier, pollster Quaest said on Wednesday, as his third non-consecutive term nears its midpoint.

The survey provides a glimpse of Lula's popularity ahead of local elections on October 6, when Brazilians go to the polls to choose mayors and city councilors in more than 5,500 towns, and as the leftist leader completes in January two years in office.

Lula is expected to run for re-election in 2026 but the political landscape in Latin America's biggest country remains uncertain and his No.1 rival, far-right former President Jair Bolsonaro, is barred from public office until 2030.

Approval of Lula's way of governing fell to 51% in September from 54% in July, when it had reached its highest level in 2024, according to the Quaest poll commissioned by brokerage Genial. Disapproval rose to 45% from 43%.

Some 38% of those polled said the Lula government is better than Bolsonaro's 2019-2022 administration, down from 51%. But those who see it as worse also fell to 33% from 36%, as people who view both governments as "equal" jumped to 22% from 8%.

Lula has said multiple times this year he was not worried about polls, emphasising that he is still in the second of his four years in office and that while the economy has grown more than expected, it takes time for people to notice change.

The Genial/Quaest survey heard 2,000 people eligible to vote in person from Sept. 25-29. The poll had an error margin of plus or minus 2 percentage points.