(Reuters) - Approval of Brazil President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's government remained stable in September, although his rejection rate increased, according to a poll published on Thursday.

The survey by Datafolha showed positive approval of the government rose slightly to 38% of respondents from 37% in June, while negative views rose from 27% to 31%.

Approval of Lula's performance as president after the first eight months of his term is higher than former President Jair Bolsonaro's, who had a 29% approval rate at the same point in 2019.

Optimism over the future of Lula's government decreased to 43% from 50% in March, while 28% are pessimistic about his government, up from 21% seen in March.

Datafolha interviewed 2,016 people of voting age between Sep. 12-13. The poll has a margin of error of 2.0 percentage points.

(Reporting by Carolina Pulice; Editing by Marguerita Choy)