Nearly a third of Brazilians disapprove of center-left President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s performance since he took office at the start of the year, roughly the same rate as those who disapproved of his far-right predecessor’s actions in the first three months of his term. of his own presidency, according to a poll published yesterday.

Lula, 77, who has been in office since January after his narrow victory in October’s presidential election against Jair Bolsonaro, is credited with positive views of his work so far by 38% of the sample, but on the contrary, 29% disapprove of his actions, according to the survey by the Datafolha institute on behalf of the newspaper Folha de São Paulo.

Mr. Bolsonaro, the former president (2019-2022), never acknowledged his electoral defeat. On January 8, a week after Lula took power, followers of the far-right politician stormed the presidency, congress and Supreme Court buildings in Brasilia causing extensive property damage, destroying among other works of art of incalculable value.

After about three months of idiosyncratic exile in the US — he left for that country before his successor was sworn in — he returned to Brazil this week.

The Datafolia poll was conducted on a representative sample of 2,028 citizens in 126 cities on Wednesday and Thursday. The margin of statistical error is ±2%.