The little run has become a trademark of the president’s communication (), 80. On official agendas, he speeds up to be caught by the eyes of his team, who then post the scene on social media. The PT member also lets himself be filmed when he exercises, a tactic that has been used to show willingness and fend off criticism of his advanced age.
That’s what happened last week, when First Lady Rosângela Lula da Silva, known as Janja, posted images of her husband working out shirtless at 6am. “Holiday weekend,” said the caption. But the age issue is only part of the challenge. Lula’s longevity is reflected in an extensive public life, which now causes a phenomenon of material fatigue, in the opinion of experts.
Lula is the third longest-serving leader in Brazil. By the end of 2026, he will complete 12 years as president, a period equivalent to three terms. Considering Brazil Empire, Lula loses to Dom Pedro 2º (49 years old) and (18 years old). They appear after PT member Dom Pedro 1º (10 years old) and Fernando Henrique Cardoso (8 years old).
Lula has been on the political scene since the 1980s. He participated in seven of the nine presidential elections since redemocratization in 1989. The exceptions were 2010 and 2014, when he won (PT) in Planalto; in 2018, he did not have his name on the ballot, because he was in prison and had his candidacy blocked by the (Superior Electoral Court).
In 2025, he became the first octogenarian in the Presidency of the Republic. The PT governed Brazil for 17 years of this 21st century. “Time alone is not a determining factor for wear and tear, but crises accumulated by the PT, such as, in addition to the very well-structured work of the opposition”, says Paulo Loiola, electoral marketing consultant, specialized in the progressive field.
Loiola assesses that the left has had difficulty expanding digital communication, even with ideas well received by society, such as defending national sovereignty and exemption from Income Tax for those earning up to R$5,000.
In marketing, material fatigue is an expression that designates the exhaustion of the strength of a certain party or political figure. According to Lucas Pimenta, also an electoral communications consultant, Lula’s fatigue is mainly related to an anachronistic view of work relations.
“Lula does not communicate with a new Brazilian worker. He tries to bring populist measures, but this is not reflected in the government’s approval numbers, because he is disconnected from the population’s new desires”, says Pimenta.
Datafolha research shows that 38% evaluate the Lula government negatively, and 32% positively. He is seen as the most experienced by most of those interviewed, and the senator and pre-candidate. In this election year, including Desenrola 2.0, a debt renegotiation program, Gás do Povo and Luz do Povo, to expand the supply of electricity and gas.
Now. The majority of the population approves the measure, which would benefit 37 million Brazilians, according to the government.
However, the expert assesses that Lula did not provide answers to the segments that value autonomy and entrepreneurship. According to Pimenta, the absence of anything new is reflected, first of all, in the president’s speech, which has been trying, since the 2022 campaign, to revive memories of his first two terms.
On another front, the PT member’s image is eroded by the gaffes that accumulate and denote a certain inadequacy with the new times. Many of them target women, the largest portion of the electorate. Two years ago, Lula said, at an event, that educated women do not depend on their father to buy lipstick and panties.
Also in 2024, he stated that it is unbelievable that cases of violence against women will increase after football games. He then added: “If the guy is a Corinthians fan, that’s fine.” Pimenta identifies an archetypal change in Lula’s image. If in his first two terms he stood out as a father of the poor, now he is trying to be a hero, fighting with Bolsonarism. According to the expert, the ideological war can tire the electorate.
“What marks the Lula 3 government is a permanent ideological war. Instead of worrying about creating brands, it worries about building the hero archetype”, says Pimenta. “In his first terms, he dialogued with Congress, which is now seen as an enemy of the people by the left.”
Leonardo Belinelli, professor of political science at UFRRJ (Federal Rural University of Rio de Janeiro), considers that, if Lula has been in public life for four decades and has a damaged image, this indicates the success of his policies to include the subproletariat. He says, however, that repeating the same speech becomes a trap over time.
“The world of work has changed a lot, today there are influencers, home offices and consumption patterns that didn’t exist before. Young people don’t just want picanha and beer, they want a video game that costs R$5,000. And it’s not enough to just go to university, the competition is high to get a good job”
The political scientist analyzes the PT member’s material fatigue based on the alternation of power, the foundation of democracy. In his view, fatigue is a keynote throughout the country, with politicians unable to be re-elected or appoint a successor.
“This has to do with a certain exhaustion of a cycle with politicians generically called populists on the left”, he says, adding that alternation of power does not assess the quality of democracy. A sequence of impeachments, as happened in Peru, would prove the opposite.
For Belinelli, Lula’s political longevity approaches and distances itself from that of Vargas. To stay in power for 18 years, the PT member was always democratically elected. At the same time, the two political figures are long-lived, says the professor, because they expanded citizenship to the lower classes without confronting the bourgeoisie.
In October, Lula will face a candidate who is almost half his age at the polls. According to the political scientist, it would not be wise for the senator to attack the president’s age. “Flávio is not exactly young, he is not Renan Santos, and he is associated with the image of his father. From what we are seeing, it will be an election of Lulistas against non-Lulistas”, he states.
