Lula also faced and defeated the election polls

Lula celebrates his reelection, October 25, 2026 -- Lula Oficial, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

By Urariano Mota

Sidônio Palmeira, Chief Minister (on leave) of the Brazilian Secretariat for Social Communication, said: “I think we returned to this runoff election and focused on discussing the government’s initiatives and the country’s future. We faced them all: Trump, the massive tariff hike, the Bolsonaros trying to hand the country over. All of that, and the voters understood what was at stake and secured the victory for President Lula.”

But Lula also faced and defeated the election polls. And he even defeated the so-called mainstream media. Even after his resounding victory—with 64,256,232 votes, the highest in Brazil’s history—the newspapers continue to publish their biased, reactionary reports, such as the one in “Folha de São Paulo”’s editorial this Monday, October 26:

“It is imperative that (President Lula’s) arrogance not prevent him from understanding the significance of his victory, which had been considered unlikely until the day before.

The government was poorly regarded by the public… To defeat his rival, Lula resorted—as he had never done in previous contests—to the blatant use of the government apparatus. He piled on handouts and ad hoc promises, corrupted public programs, and made the legacy of deficits and debt he will leave behind for himself even heavier.”

Or the disgraceful “Veja”: “The entrenchment of the Brazilian political clash between Lulism and Bolsonarism in the last elections, and the rejection of one side or the other as an increasingly major factor in voters’ choices at the polls, are elements that, when combined, greatly cloud the outlook for the next national election in 2030. In a race marked above all by this polarization and a battle of rejections...”.

Lula still had to defeat the major election polls. The fact is, they came out of it demoralized. I think polling firms need to change their methods and their approach, or they should seek a more civilized and prudent line of work. Change and be reborn. Or die.

In a previous post, I mentioned an insult I received from a man when I asked for the check at Bar do Peneira in Olinda; he asked me:

– What do you think of the polls?

I was wearing a red shirt with a sticker that read “Lula 13.” So I replied, thoughtfully:

– For now, it’s a tie.

Why? The inquisitor replied:

– It’s going to be a close race. But Bolsonaro will win!

Surprised, I replied:

– Look, it’s still too early to say that.

And the stranger:

– I know a thing or two about polls. Bolsonaro will win!

And he stood up, shouting:

– I have a Ph.D. in statistics! I have a doctorate in statistics! I don’t argue with ignorant people!

To which I replied amid his shouts:

– There is a political reality that transcends the numbers!

Now, on October 26, I add: the political reality of the people standing with Lula defeated the polls, the media controlled by capital, and the statisticians who don’t know what they’re talking about.

Urariano Mota is a Brazilian writer and journalist, born in Recife on September 29, 1950. He is the author of novels about the horrors of the Brazilian dictatorship, such as “Soledad no Recife” and “Never-Ending Youth”