Any politician who wants to be (re-)elected in 2026 will need to find the formula to win votes in places like Itaquera. Even more so in a country where intense polarization has crystallized political positions in certain regions and social groups, reducing already contested areas.
Lula’s visit aims to make clear that Paulus is now the Workers’ Party of São Paulo. Why? In 2022, the president received 53.5% of the votes in the capital, São Paulo, while Bolsonaro received 46.5%. Haddad’s vote came after Lula’s, scoring 54.4% in São Paulo compared to 45.5% for Tarcisio de Freitas, the current governor, who succeeded Jair.
In the latest Datafolha poll on the electoral race in the capital, São Paulo, on August 31, Polis received 32% of voting intentions, followed by Mayor Ricardo Nunes (MDB) with 24%, and Tabata Amaral (PSB) with 11%. . And Kim Katagiri (Uniao Brazil) 8%. The margin of error was three points. In other words, Lula still has margin to transfer many of the votes cast for him and the PT to his sponsor.
Especially since Paulus lost, in 2020, in the districts that Lula won: Bruno Covas beat Paulus in 50 electoral districts out of 58, including Itaquera and other peripheral areas. Lula won in 35 and Bolsonaro in 23.
In addition, there is the People’s Cup.
Most attendees at the opening of the FIFA World Cup matches, on June 12, 2014, in São Paulo, could not have imagined that 4,000 families linked to the displaced workers movement would have been occupied next to the stadium, for a month. Before that, a large plot of land nearby. They resisted until the government agreed to expropriate the area, which had been unused for 20 years, and allocate it to build housing units.
