The governor of São Paulo, Tarcisio de Frei is since the beginning of 2025. Estadão/Broadcast From January 2023 until February this year, posts with the most engagement of the Republican since the beginning of the term remain that former President Jair Bolsonaro (PL) appears or is mentioned.
Tarcisio had been falling in traction on the average weekly engagement by January 2024 – the Bitis indicator interprets interactions in each social media to measure the ability of profiles to engage networks in a specific scenario. But since then, it has risen and stabilized at the same level of 10.4%interaction, which is still well below those reached by President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva (PT), which has 35.3%, and by the former president, which reaches 54.2%. The percentage refers to the slice that each one has in the face of the total interactions they achieve together.
Thus, since the beginning of the year, the chief executive of São Paulo set aside the institutional tone, characteristic of the way of communicating until recently. By feeling more comfortable in office, communication began to publish content with references to popular films and characters dear to the public that consumes open TV.
As a point of attention from the state government -because public safety is the area where management has the worst assessment according to Quaest survey (34% evaluate as bad and 29%, as good) -Tarcisio has made several publications associating the Civil Police with Power Rangers and Chapolin Colorado. The theme became one of the most recurring on your social networks, aiming to improve your image.
“It’s time for ‘morph’ (reference to the transformation of the characters)! The Power Rangers of our Civil Police are giving another show this carnival! ”Said the governor in a caption. “The crime did not count on the cunning of the São Paulo police,” he wrote in another.
In addition to the contents of fantasized police officers during the Carnival holiday, Tarcisio’s team also publishes videos edited with cuts from the film back to the future, while pointing out that the São Paulo government is “ahead of time” and eye “in the future”. Even this is one of the governor’s most repeated flags on the agendas, by promoting works in the state and the privatization of public services of the SP plan in the right direction.
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Another recurring matter, which is also often used in public speech by the governor, is the return of soccer player Neymar Jr. to the Santos team. “I said in my conversations with President Lula that Baixada Santista is in celebration […] And it’s not just about Neymar’s return, ”said the governor at the launching event for the Santos-Guarujá tunnel concession.
Expert sees attempt to grow alone after Bolsonaro’s impetus
According to the political scientist and political communication teacher at the Higher School of Propaganda and Marketing (ESPM) Paulo Niccoli Ramirez, the figure of Tarcisio on the networks, at first, was very linked to Bolsonaro’s popularity, without which, “for sure,” he would not have been even elected. The governor’s attempt now is to grow alone, following the trend that works with other politicians such as the mayor of Recife, João Campos (PSB).
“What is today is a dispute for the so -called attention market. This kind of language attracts the young electorate. It attracts more attention, creating a more charismatic and closer image of the voter’s daily life, ”says Ramirez. “Faced with a scenario in which the ‘moderation’ of discourse is more sought, their advisers seek to work more playfully.”
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However, the teacher points out that the strategy adopted can turn against the government. For him, what will really improve public opinion on Tarcisio management in relation to public safety will be the effective posture adopted from here. “The shot can go out by the culastra because it can be seen as a paradox or bad tone. Something like ‘the government has a violent police while creating a playful and false image that there would be efficiency,’ ”he says.
Sought by the report, the São Paulo State Communication Secretariat did not respond.
Tarcisio is still far from Lula and Bolsonaro on the networks
According to the study of Bites, the humorous tone has not yet significantly pulled the interactions upwards. “Tarcísio began to mention police actions more, which contributes to increasing interactions. Although they still do not come close to the volume that publications about Bolsonaro and Trump (Donald Trump, president of the United States), who were still the most successful in 2025, ”says the survey. The contents in question refer to the occasion when Tarcisio indicates the former president as “his candidate” to 2026 despite the ineligibility of the retired captain and the episode in which the governor placed the cap of the American movement of far-right “Make America Great Again”.
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In the comparative scenario mapped from January 2023 to February 2025, the governor of São Paulo has a whole of 121 million interactions, while Lula has 411 million and Bolsonaro has 631 million.
On Instagram, for example, the former president is the right-wing politician-and the country-most followed, with 26.3 million. Already the petista president is the most followed leader on the left, with his 13.3 million. Meanwhile, Tarcisio remains distant, with 4.9 million, behind other names from the right such as federal deputy Nikolas Ferreira (PL-MG) and his 17.1 million, and the former candidate for São Paulo City Hall Pablo Marçal (PRTB), which has 12.7 million.
