Food prices, relationship with evangelicals, communication: the government’s bets to try to improve popularity | Policy

With the government’s worsening rating in different opinion polls, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) and his ministers are betting on a series of actions to regain popularity throughout the year.

Ana Flor: Lula calls on ministers and adopts strategies with an eye on popularity

The Datafolha survey released last Thursday (21), which followed the trend of the Quaest and Ipec surveys, recorded a technical tie between approval (35%) and disapproval (33%) of the government.

In relation to Datafolha for December 2023, the government’s positive assessment fluctuated three percentage points downwards. The disapproval rate fluctuated three points positively. The percentage of those who consider the government to be regular remained stable (30%).

• Some of the government’s main fronts are:
• Strengthening the government’s digital communication;
• Execution of announced programs
• Reduction in food prices
• Closeness with agribusiness sectors
• Management of relationships with evangelicals

Minister of the Secretariat of Social Communication (Secom), Paulo Pimenta told journalists that the government does not prepare specific gestures for certain audiences in order to regain approval.

“We understand that public policy is for everyone and changes people’s perception as a whole,” he stated.

Pimenta believes in a general improvement in the government’s assessment in the coming months as the programs already announced are implemented. One of the main bets is the “Nest Egg”, which will provide financial incentives for high school students.

Under the program, the government will pay up to R$9,200 to students who complete their studies. The expectation is that the program will serve around 2.5 million students.

Planalto also counts on a boost in the economy and job creation with the works of the New PAC, the federal government’s infrastructure program, which foresees investments of R$ 1.6 trillion in the coming years in highways, railways, apartments, daycare centers , schools, health units and others.

The Minister of the Civil House, Rui Costa, has already admitted that many of the planned works, such as daycare centers and polyclinics, take time to get off the ground due to bureaucratic steps in contracting services or project problems, but he believes that areas such as housing will perform well in 2024.

Lula meets with ministers to discuss rising food prices

There is a perception in Planalto that the government has not yet been successful in communicating the actions developed throughout the mandate and the positive indices of the economy, such as the rise in GDP (2.29%), controlled inflation, the dollar stable in the range of R$5 and job creation.

The government is betting on adjustments to its communication strategy, especially on the internet. One of the concerns is the dispute over narratives with the extreme right.

Minister of the Communication Secretariat (Secom), Paulo Pimenta told journalists that the hiring of agencies that will work in the government’s digital communication will allow the distribution of content aimed at audiences with different profiles, selected by income, age, region and other filters.

Secom interlocutors complain that the department does not have the money and structure to implement this digital policy. The tender, with an estimated expenditure of R$200 million and which should be concluded in the coming months, will hire four agencies.

Government members, according to sources, believe that the agencies will help monitor what people think in the virtual environment, especially on the most sensitive topics, such as customs. The idea is also to supply partner influencers with content based on the agenda of the day.

The government mapped out that part of the dissatisfaction recorded in surveys is due to the rise in food prices.

Food and drink was one of the groups whose prices rose in February, according to the Broad National Consumer Price Index (IPCA), released by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE).

Food at home had a strong increase (1.12%), due to the influence of higher temperatures at the beginning of the year and a greater volume of rain that harms the product harvest, according to IBGE. The prices of onions (7.37%), potatoes (6.79%), fruits (3.74%), rice (3.69%) rose.

Ministers Paulo Teixeira (Agrarian Development) and Carlos Fávaro (Agriculture) attributed the problem to climate issues that hindered production, especially rice, and are preparing actions for the next harvest (2024-2025).

After meeting with Lula, the ministers projected that, as the rice harvest advances, prices will tend to reduce in April. The government will also take measures to encourage the cultivation of rice, beans, wheat, corn and cassava in different regions of the country, in order to decentralize production and increase the supply of products that make up the basic diet of families.

In an attempt to overcome resistance from agribusiness, a sector that overwhelmingly supports Bolsonaro, Lula began organizing meetings with representatives of the sector at Granja do Torto, the country residence of the Presidency of the Republic in Brasília. The first meeting took place on Thursday (21), with the fruit growing and juice production sector.

There was a more formal working meeting, in which sector representatives sat at the table with the president, ministers and other government assistants. Afterwards, a barbecue was served to the participants. Granja do Torto was widely used by Lula in his first two terms as a space for socializing with parliamentarians.

The government plans to hold these meetings every 15 days. According to the Minister of Agriculture, Carlos Fávaro, Lula should meet with cotton, meat, cellulose and coffee producers.

“Certainly, at the end of the mandate, I want to guarantee that the vast majority of producers, regardless of who they will vote for in 2026, will recognize that it will have been a great government for Brazilian agriculture”, stated Fávaro after the meeting on Thursday.

“If we are not at a level of total passion, there is already great recognition because many of the fears planted in the electoral campaign were lies, they were fake news”, added the minister.

Lula does not currently intend to make a specific nod to evangelicals, segments of the population in which the president is most rejected and whose conservative position in customs diverges from the agendas of left-wing parties.

Lula said during the ministerial meeting last Monday (18) that he is required to speak to pastors and evangelical leaders, something he has done in the past. But, for him, that’s not the problem, the government needs to combat fake news that impacts this segment of the population.

The rapprochement with this group takes place in the National Congress. During the week, there was a meeting between the Minister of Institutional Relations, Alexandre Padilha, and the evangelical group in the Chamber. After the meeting, the government leader in the Chamber, José Guimarães (PT-CE), said that evangelicals want to be heard by the government in the construction of policies. Guimarães argued that the bench’s request is appropriate.

In parallel, the government seeks not to react incisively to the conservative agenda approved by deputies and senators: such as the PEC on drugs, PEC on churches and the bill that ends temporary releases from prisons. Government leader in the Senate, Jaques Wagner (PT-BA), has already expressed that he is against Lula’s full veto on the recently approved Saidinhas project.