The Brazilian Left Has Yet to Find a Successor to Lula
Jair Bolsonaro is now awaiting trial on charges of plotting a coup, depriving Brazil’s far-right bloc of its figurehead. Yet with a presidential election due next year, the Brazilian left hasn’t found a candidate who can match Lula’s popular appeal.

On April 3, 2025, in Brazil, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva talks about reciprocity in relation to the new taxes applied to Brazilian products by US president Donald Trump. (NurPhoto via Getty Images)
With the third term of Brazilian president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva well beyond its midway point, South America’s largest nation is again suffering from a leadership crisis. The once widely beloved politician’s approval rating has reached the lowest point that we have seen during his many years in office.
According to a February survey from Datafolha, one of Brazil’s most reliable survey services, 24 percent approved of the government, 41 percent disapproved, and 32 percent found it “regular.” With other polls showing similar results, the picture that is being formed is one of steady but sharp decline for the titan of the Latin American left.
Having worn out his honeymoon period with relatively few high-profile policy accomplishments upon which to hang his hat, Lula now faces the same growing dissatisfaction that has plagued every Brazilian president in the period since he first vacated the office in 2010.