Brasília, 9/1/2003 (Agência Brasil - ABr) - The government of president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva is considered 'excellent or good" by 45% of those interviewed in the latest Datafolha survey. In June the excellent/good rating of the Lula administration was 42%.

The 45% approval rating is the highest ever for a government that has been in office for eight months. On the other hand, the survey found that 42% of those interviewed considered the administration "average," and 10% said it was "bad."

Approval of the Lula government rose from 42% to 48% in the Northeast region. It rose among women from 39% to 47%. And among those between the ages of 25 and 34, the increase was from 42% to 47%. Lula got good approval ratings among youths between the ages of 16 and 24 (48%), and people with a university degree (48%). But the highest approval ratings were among wage earners (50%) and retirees (49%). Lula got his worst ratings among civil servants (38%) and businessmen (35%).

Datafolha interviewed 2,605 people in 130 locations around the country between August 20 and 23. (AB)