Lula Leads Social Media Favorability After Final TV Globo Debate Ahead of Brazil Runoff

The last presidential debate before Brazil’s second‑round runoff was broadcast by TV Globo on Friday night, featuring incumbent President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and challenger Flávio Bolsonaro.

According to Ativaweb DataLab, the debate generated 33,731,196 mentions across Facebook, Instagram, X, TikTok and YouTube by 10 a.m. Saturday.

Favorable mentions were 56.4% for Lula and 43.6% for Flávio Bolsonaro.

Six topics dominated the online conversation. The most‑engaged comment was Flávio’s reference to Lula’s “9 fingers.” The emotional highlight was the appearance of Ana Clara’s mother in the audience. Public‑security issues were most discussed by Flávio’s supporters, while health topics such as dipirona and the SUS generated the most argumentative posts. The pandemic memory and the dispute over who won the debate also featured prominently.

Lula led in volume, posting eight debate clips on his official Instagram account that together amassed 30.7 million views. The day after the debate, the average likes per post on his profile rose 50.6%.

Flávio Bolsonaro led in efficiency, sharing three clips that totaled 16.8 million views, averaging 5.6 million views per video compared with Lula’s 3.8 million. His most‑watched video, titled “Lula wants to end the police?” received 9 million views.