Edla Lula
Reporter - Agência Brasil

Brasília – The latest CNI/Ibope opinion poll which was released yesterday (March 15) shows that there has been an improvement in the approval rating of the government of president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. The percentage of inteviewees who said the government was doing a good job rose from 29% in the last poll, in December 2005, to 38% now. And the percentage who said the government was not doing a good job fell from 32% to 22%. The percentage who said the government was average went from 37% to 39%.

Asked if they approved of the way Lula was governing the country, 55% said they approved and 39% said they did not approve. In the last poll those numbers were 42% approved and 52% did not approve.

The latest CNI/Ibope poll also showed that confidence in the president has risen as well. In December the percentage who had confidence in Lula was 43%, now it is 53%. And the percentage who do not have confidence fell from 53% to 43%.

Translation: Allen Bennett