Sonar | Samuel Lima and Sérgio Quintella – October 17, 2025

An exclusive survey by GLOBO shows that mentions of the governor on the internet 'exploded' after Trump's tariff increase, although he reduced the number of posts.

The governor's strategy Tarcisio de Freitas (Republicans) to modulate his speech, taking on the role of state manager, he was unable to dissuade the Lula networks from pointing him out as a priority target and favorite candidate of Jair Bolsonaro (PL). A survey conducted by the consultancy Bites, at the request of GLOBO, shows that Tarcísio faces a noisy opposition on social media and that he continues to be popular even with the reduced exposure adopted on his own accounts.

The succession of controversies is also a symptom observed in the engagement rate of the governor's posts. Contrary to the number of posts, the average number of likes, comments, and shares increased by 43% on his official profiles. O GLOBO also noted that Tarcísio has a team at his disposal to moderate comments, removing those deemed offensive. Therefore, the rate tends to be underestimated in the survey.

Letícia Capone, who is part of the research group on Communication, Internet and Politics at PUC-Rio and works as director of monitoring at the Democracy in Check Institute, believes that Tarcísio's stance in relation to the presidential race is justified more as an attempt to avoid “friendly fire” from the far right, notably federal deputy Eduardo Bolsonaro (PL), than to get out of the left's sights.

Read the full report.