SAO PAULO, Aug 5 (Reuters) - Brazil President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's popularity remains high despite public criticism that two major air disasters show the government has neglected air safety, according to a poll released on Sunday.

In the survey by polling firm Datafolha, 48 percent of respondents said they thought the Lula administration was doing a good or a great job leading Latin America's largest country. The approval rating was unchanged from a previous poll taken in March.

Just 15 percent of respondents said they disapproved of the government, a coalition of left-wing and center-right parties. In March, the government's disapproval rating stood at 14 percent.

The new poll, which surveyed 2,095 people on Aug. 1 and 2, was the first to be taken since the worst aviation disaster in Brazil's history. On July 17 an Airbus A320 <EAD.PA> flown by TAM Linhas Aereas <TAMM4.SA><TAM.N> skidded off a short, rain-slicked runway at Sao Paulo's Congonhas airport and crashed, bursting into flames.

All 187 people on board and 12 more on the ground were killed in the crash, the second major aviation disaster in Brazil in just 10 months. In September, 154 people were killed when a Boeing 737 <BA.N> clipped wings in mid-air with a private jet and crashed in the Amazon jungle.

Since last month's accident, Brazilians have held protests at the crash site and at airports around the country, lambasting the government for not doing more to ensure air safety. Lula was also criticized for waiting three days after the crash to address the nation, prompting accusations he was worried public outrage over the accident would dent his approval ratings.

But the latest poll shows that Lula, a folksy leader whose rise from poverty won him admirers around the globe, remains among the most popular presidents in Brazilian history. He is especially popular among poor and working-class Brazilians, many of which benefit from generous government social programs aimed at alleviating poverty, Datafolha said.

The poll, which has a margin of error of plus or minus 2 percentage points, also found that most Brazilians have not been affected by the aviation crisis. Only 8 percent respondents said they occasionally fly, a very small percentage in a continent-sized country with poor roads where air travel is crucial.

AlertNet news is provided by