That of President Luiz Inácio da Silva remains at the forefront as the preferred acronym of Brazilians, now accompanied by , a legend leveraged in national memory by the former president, shows new research.
The left-wing party continues to be the most remembered, a feat it has maintained since the end of the 1990s. It is currently cited by 24% of Brazilians, compared to 12% for PL, the second preferred acronym of Brazilians.
The scenario is one of stability for the PT in the third Lula government, whose rates varied from 23% to 27%. Bolsonaro’s party reached a record rate in the historical series, which began in 1989.
The data comes from a question that accepted spontaneous and unique answers in Datafolha, asked 2,002 people aged 16 or over between the 2nd and 4th of December, in 113 municipalities. The margin of error is plus or minus 2 percentage points.
Considering data since December 2021, when PL began to be consistently cited in research, the PT’s peak occurred in September 2022, when the acronym was remembered by 31% of Brazilians.
At the time, Jair Bolsonaro governed the country, directly opposing the PT. Currently ineligible and imprisoned, Bolsonaro has already declared that he wants to re-edit the dispute with Lula personally or, senator Flávio Bolsonaro (PL-RJ).
Considering the entire Datafolha historical series, with data for this question since 1989 (the year of the first direct elections for president after the military dictatorship), the PT only lost as the most remembered acronym to the PMDB. The legend, which before 1980 had the name MDB, recovered in 2017, had 19% of mentions in 1992 and 1993. Today, it registers 2%.
The position changed at the end of the 1990s, when the PT entered and never left the lead again.
Since the beginning of the historical series, however, the highest rate among Brazilians is those who say they have no party preference. The option never had a rate lower than 40%.
The , which was once considered one of the PT’s main opponents, began the historical series in 1989 with 1% and peaked at 9% in June 2015, a time of protests against the government (PT) that led to the .
This period, from February 2015 to December 2016, is also one of the worst for the PT since it rose in the late 1990s. In March 2015 and December 2016, the acronym, accustomed to double digits, achieved 9%.
PSDB and PMDB/MDB competed for second place in party preference for most of the first two decades of the 2000s, until the PSL began to overtake the parties in October 2018.
The period is preceded by the presidential campaign. The politician was from the PSL, which had a peak mention of 7% in October 2018 and then fell.
The PL began to be remembered consistently from December 2021, being mentioned by at least 1% of Brazilians. on November 30 of that year.
Since then, the party has been rising in the polls, reaching a percentage with two houses in October 2022, when Bolsonaro went to the second round with Lula, to whom he lost.
Although he draws attention to the party in which he finds himself, Bolsonaro also rejects his name and that of his family.
In the analysis by segment, the latest survey on party preference shows that the PT has higher mention rates among those with primary education (31%), residents of the Northeast (31%), Catholics (30%), those who evaluate the STF as excellent or good (48%) and those who voted for Lula in 2022 (50%).
In turn, the PL stands out among those with a monthly family income of 5 to 10 minimum wages (19%), with secondary and higher education (14% each), who rate the STF as bad or terrible (30%) and voted for Bolsonaro in 2022 (29%).
