In the first meetings of his term, he spoke with ministers about a topic that had become his obsession: the middle class. The president said that it was necessary to develop proposals for . Before completing 100 days in government, he declared that he intended to rescue “the purchasing power of the Brazilian middle class”.
The plan was based on the quick results that the government hoped to achieve among the low-income population. According to the projection, the resumption of policies aimed at the poorest would give Lula’s popularity the foundations to advance to the middle class, a segment that has cultivated anti-PTism in recent years.
The challenge created by Lula was almost entirely for the second half of his term. So far, the president’s popularity among low-income people has remained practically stable. with a satisfactory rate of 44% positive evaluation among Brazilians who earn up to two minimum wages. On the next steps, the president stumbled.
Over the course of the year, Lula lost popularity in two groups that can be classified as the “middle class” of Brazil’s unequal income pyramid. Among voters who earn two to five minimum wages, the positive evaluation fell from 32% to 26%, and the negative evaluation fell from 35% to 42%. In the range of five to ten salaries, the positive rate went from 36% to 25%, and the negative rate rose from 38% to 50%.
The numbers show how advancing the proposal from R$5,000 to R$5,000 became essential for Lula. The government decided to bring the issue to the forefront as an attraction, mainly for that first group of the middle class. The president even agreed to pay the high price for the move, with increasing distrust regarding the fiscal package approved in Congress.
The growing distance between the feelings of the poorest population and the middle income brackets represents a problem for Lula. If the PT base is more concentrated in the first segment, which represents almost half of the Brazilian electorate, the president’s group may have difficulty repeating a majority at the polls in 2026.
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