Approval for Brazil's Lula recovers to near record

* President's approval rating rises to 69 pct, near record

* Brazilians now equally split on third term for Lula

* Approval for Lula's handpicked successor rises

By Elzio Barreto

SAO PAULO, May 31 (Reuters) - Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's approval rating bounced back in May to nearly all-time highs as confidence grew in measures to stoke growth in Latin America's largest economy, a new poll showed.

Lula's approval rating of 69 percent was 4 points higher than in March and close to the peak of 70 percent in November 2008, pollster Datafolha said on Sunday.

The former union leader's rating slid in March from November as the global financial crisis took its toll on Brazil's economy, with unemployment soaring.

"The previous drop was a direct result of the crisis," Mauro Paulino, Datafolha's general director, told the Folha de S.Paulo newspaper. "With people more confident in the government's performance dealing with the crisis, the approval rating recovered."

But Brazilians are now split on proposed constitutional changes that would allow Lula to run for a third consecutive term in the presidential election due in October 2010.