Falling popularity will make Lula 'think twice or ten times' about reelection, says Temer

Former President Michel Temer (MDB) stated that the decline in President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva's (PT) popularity could lead him to reconsider a possible reelection bid. According to Temer, Lula has lost the practice of dialogue with the National Congress that marked his previous terms.

“I think that President Lula has not done something that he did a lot in his first two terms. He talked a lot with the National Congress. Secondly, his popularity has fallen, without a doubt. What I think will make him think twice, three times or ten times about running for President for the fourth time,” he said. The statement was made to the Canal Livre program on Band . The full interview will air this Sunday, the 11th, at 8:30 p.m.

Temer also said he sees the possibility that, in 2026, the right will launch a single presidential candidate. “I see that, in the conversations I had with some governors, they are very willing to do something like this. If five candidates come out on this side and only one candidate on the other side, it is clear that the candidate on the other side will have an extraordinary advantage,” he assessed.

Temer's statements come at a time when the government is facing increasing erosion in popular approval. At the end of April, a survey by Paraná Pesquisas showed that 57.4% of Brazilians disapprove of President Lula's government, the highest rate since the beginning of the current term. Approval stood at 39.2%, while 3.4% did not know how to give an opinion or did not respond. The survey, conducted since August 2023, also revealed the lowest approval rating recorded to date.

The data confirms a trend already pointed out by other surveys. In early April, Datafolha showed that, although the government had halted its decline in popularity after reaching the worst level of all its terms, disapproval ratings still remain higher than approval ratings.

Furthermore, as Estadão showed, Lula is the president who has promoted the least official meetings with parliamentarians in his public agendas in this third term, behind Jair Bolsonaro (PL), Temer himself and Dilma Rousseff (PT), known for her difficult relationship with Congress.

Temer's behind-the-scenes efforts in view of the 2026 elections have attracted attention not only among politicians, but also on social media. As Coluna Estadão reported, the former president went viral after being mentioned in a post by electoral consultant Wilson Pedroso as a possible candidate for the presidency.

The publication, made on Instagram, is a “joke” by the consultant – who repeated the format with other politicians –, but Temer's post has already accumulated 2.8 million views, 121 thousand likes and 46 thousand shares until the evening of this Saturday, 10th.