After the negative repercussion of , which paid homage to (PT), the president’s allies believe that the government has gone on the defensive on social media, while the right has regained the initiative.
The presentation at Carnival included the PT member’s audience at the Sambódromo and mocked conservatives, presenting allegories of what conservative families would be in cans. The image has been used by Lula’s opponents to further distance him from the evangelical electorate.
The setback occurs after an assessment that, in 2025, the PT’s management had managed to balance the dispute on social networks, traditionally dominated by Bolsonarism, and , .
At the time, PT members resisted approving measures to tax bets and billionaires.
The assessment among government officials is that the mobilization of the right on the networks fueled the negative repercussion of the parade. The president’s allies found, in monitoring surveys on the networks, that the issue put the government in a disadvantageous position.
Among the opponents who criticized Lula for the episode is senator Flávio Bolsonaro (PL-RJ), who is expected to face the PT member in the presidential election. He stated that he will propose action against “PT’s crimes in Sapucaí”.
The evangelical and Catholic parliamentary fronts as well.
Tracking — a less precise but faster type of opinion poll designed to detect trends in the public debate — showed a bad response to the case among voters and .
Executive political organizers believe that the wear and tear on social media could materialize starting next week in the National Congress in the form of requests for information and attempts to take ministers to the Legislature to talk about the parade.
The two mechanisms are commonly used by opponents to prolong a debate that harms the current government in public opinion.
On Wednesday (18), after Acadêmicos de Niterói came in last place in the Carnival poll, opponents of the president started talking about “Lula demoted” and flooded the networks with criticism of the mention of conservative families in the parade.
Allies of the PT member took to social media to try to contain the potential damage, mainly to the evangelical electorate.
“The pejorative and grotesque portrayal of a samba school in relation to evangelical families does not do justice to the respect, affection and consideration with which President Lula has always treated the evangelical people. It is necessary to have respect for faith, something that Lula has always demonstrated”, wrote the senator, who is evangelical, in X, on Wednesday night.
The president of , Edinho Silva, exempted Lula from responsibility for the content of the parade. “Trying to wear down the president politically due to the choices of allegories by Acadêmicos de Niterói borders on the ridiculous,” he said.
The negative repercussion also reinforced what government officials had in recent days with the decision of the first lady, Lula da Silva, to .
The assessment is that, if she had paraded, as expected, the wear would probably have been greater. Janja watched the parade from the Rio de Janeiro City Hall box alongside the president.
