CNI/Ibope: Dilma starts better than FHC and Lula

247, Marco Damiani, with information from Agência Estado – What business leaders have been saying amongst themselves, the biggest concern for opposition politicians (according to those more biting tongues, even Lula, who might be jealous) and what underlies the joy of government supporters has now been confirmed by the numbers. With 56% rating her government as "excellent" and "good" so far, Dilma Rousseff is the best-rated president of the Republic since the return of democracy to Brazil in 1989, at this point in her term. In other words: Dilma is starting better than Fernando Collor, Itamar Franco, Fernando Henrique Cardoso, and Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in the opinion of the Brazilian public. This is the conclusion of the CNI/Ibope survey released this Friday, April 1st. Yes, April Fool's Day, but it's not a joke.

“Dilma’s first approval rating is the best in the historical series of the CNI/Ibope survey among the initial consultations for a president’s term,” Renato da Fonseca, executive manager of research, evaluation and development at the National Confederation of Industry (CNI), told Agência Estado. The positive opinions about the president leave in the dust the first impressions obtained by the same survey during the beginning of the FHC and Lula governments. In 1994, Fernando Henrique achieved 45% “excellent” and “good” ratings. At the beginning of his second term, in 1998, only 22%. His successor, Lula, obtained 51% in the first hundred days of 2003 and an honorable 49% in 2007, when his second term began. Dilma, again, now reached 56% in the same categories. She also achieved a formidable percentage when respondents were asked whether they approved of her personal conduct in office. No less than 73% of them supported Dilma's way of starting to govern. Votes against came from only 12% of the sample. 14% of those interviewed remained undecided on the same question.

The president's real "washout" continued when the CNI/Ibope poll asked if people trusted her. 74% trusted her, only 14% did not. Among men, the positive rating was even higher, at 76%.

The respondents' expectations regarding the remainder of Dilma's government are also positive. 68% believe the rest of her term will be excellent or good. Another 5% believe the remainder of Dilma's government will be bad or terrible, and 19% believe it will be average.

The survey was conducted between March 20 and 23, with 2.002 people in 141 municipalities.

247 has affectionately called President Dilma "Mother." This is precisely because it was already easy to see how well the president is handling government affairs and the affection she has been receiving from the population. Dilma has a style entirely different from her predecessors. While Fernando Henrique always behaved like the true intellectual he is and, therefore, had difficulty speaking the so-called language of the people, Lula, on the contrary, came out with popular jokes almost every day. Some even say that he spent the eight years of his government on the campaign trail – which is not so exaggerated. Dilma, however, seems to combine both characteristics. She never sought to stamp herself with the quality of intellectual, but has always been seen as an organized person, a good administrator, and someone who knows how to lead. Compared to Lula's style of being president, Dilma is often more discreet, but she has already shown that she knows how to win over the general public, as she did in Manaus, where she launched the national program against breast cancer ten days ago. She broke protocol and went directly to the people who were watching her, thus getting closer to the Lula movement.

If the country continues to grow, with high consumption rates and relatively controlled economic indicators, President Dilma has everything she needs to show, one by one, in all the upcoming polls, more popular prestige than her predecessors. Since both were re-elected, she is already becoming the favorite to remain in the Planalto Palace for eight years – but only if Congress doesn't approve the opportunistic legislation that seeks to establish five-year terms for all positions, without the right to return to power. Watch out, 'Mother' Dilma!