Brazil emerged from its 2026 election with a strikingly shared diagnosis: division has endured, even as most people say they want President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s fourth-term government to succeed.

The survey, titled Brazil After the Ballot Boxes, found that 81% of respondents believed the country had become more divided after Lula’s re-election, while 15% said it was more united. At the same time, 94% said they were rooting for Lula to have a good government. CartaCapital framed those results alongside a modest improvement in public mood: the share worried about Brazil’s future fell from 54% in late 2022 to 48%, while optimism rose from 41% to 44%.¹

Its account places the more hopeful responses in themes associated with Lula’s agenda. Democracy and opposition to bolsonarismo were the most frequently cited reason for optimism, at 20%, followed by social programmes and reducing inequality at 17%, and regulation of betting and social-media platforms at 16%.¹

The right-leaning account reports the same broad picture but puts greater weight on the reservations beneath it. It notes that concern and optimism—48% and 44%, respectively—are effectively tied within the poll’s margin of error. Among respondents worried about the future, the leading concerns were the economy, public spending, debt and interest rates, cited by 27%; public security, corruption and governability also featured prominently.²

It also situates the divisions in attitudes toward the election itself. While 61% said the vote was clean and fair, 30% believed it had been fraudulent. Views of Senator Flávio Bolsonaro’s decision to leave Brazil were similarly divided: 62% considered it wrong, while 29% considered it right; 54% said he left to evade justice and 35% saw political persecution as the reason.²

Both accounts therefore point to the same tension: goodwill toward a successful administration has not translated into a broadly shared sense that the country is politically reconciled.