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This Monday the pollster IPEC published the results of its most recent survey, in which it asked Brazilians about their intention to vote for the presidential elections on October 30. The results showed that former President Luiz Inácio ‘Lula’ da Silva dropped one percentage point against his opponent, President Jair Bolsonaro. Similarly, between confrontations and verbal attacks, the two candidates experienced their first debate before the second round.
In the midst of strong polarization and a tense electoral environment, Brazil is preparing for the second presidential round on October 30. The firm IPEC revealed on Monday the results of the latest polls, in which ‘Lula’ reached 50%, compared to 43% for Bolsonaro, compared to 51% and 42% respectively that reflected the data from the previous poll of the same demographic signature.
The IPEC survey was conducted on 3,008 people in 184 municipalities in the country between October 15 and 17, with a margin of error of two percentage points, according to their representatives. This firm was one of the most criticized for underestimating support for Bolsonaro in the first round of voting on October 2.
The main polling firms in Brazil foresaw the victory of ‘Lula’ against Bolsonaro, but calculated that the difference would be between 10 and 15 percentage points, when in reality it was only 5.2%. The results of the first round gave 48.4% favorability to ‘Lula’ and 43.2% to Bolsonaro, opening the window for the ballot.
For its part, the pollster ‘Datafolha’, one of the most important in the country, revealed its latest poll on Friday, in which ‘Lula’ would win with 53% of the total votes, while his rival Bolsonaro was ranked with a 47% of the intention of the votes.
For its part, the Paraná Research Institute revealed the results of its last ballot on Sunday, in which the former unionist ‘Lula’ would win the elections with 51% of the votes, leaving Bolsonaro in second place with 48.1 %.
After finishing the vote count on October 2, several allies of Bolsonaro called for the errors in the polls to be investigated and also asked the followers of the far-right candidate not to be carried away by the poll data.
A heated debate between the two candidates
The channel ‘Bandeirantes Television’ broadcast on Sunday night the first presidential debate before the second round elections, in less than two weeks. ‘Lula’ took the opportunity to criticize Bolsonaro’s handling of the pandemic and both accused each other of corruption.
“You delayed the vaccine. And the hard fact is that their negligence caused the deaths of 680,000 people when more than half could have been saved. In the history of any government in the world, there is no one who has played with the pandemic and with death as you did, ”exhorted the leftist.
Bolsonaro denied these accusations and said that initially he did not buy vaccines to prevent corruption. ‘Lula’ also said that Bolsonaro is “the king of fake news, he is the king of stupidity, of lying to Brazilian society. He lied the entire time about the vaccine; he neglected the vaccine.”
For his part, Bolsonaro accused ‘Lula’ and his formation, the Workers’ Party, of having links with Brazilian organized crime, to which the progressive candidate responded by saying that his opponent is the one who has links with said groups.
Religion, one of the most important issues of the presidential campaign
This Monday the former PT president met again with religious and reinforced his bet on Catholic voters to counter Bolsonaro, who has based his presidential campaign and his mandate on Christian values.
In an act with nuns and priests in Sao Paulo, ‘Lula’ received a letter signed by the religious, in which they assured that the democratic regime faces a “real danger” with Bolsonaro, in addition to expressing their support as religious who was president between 2003 and 2010.
The candidate, who aspires to his third term, participated in the religious acts together with his wife, Rosangela “Janja” Silva. “I did not come to ask for votes for myself, because I know they are going to vote for me, but because this country is going to change,” he said during the ceremony.
In search of the Catholic vote, Bolsonaro visited the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Aparecida last week, the largest sanctuary in Brazil, from where he reaffirmed his motto “Brazil above everything and God above all”, although he was booed during his visit.
The visit to the largest sanctuary in Brazil, however, ended up becoming a stone in the shoe for Bolsonaro, whose motto is “Brazil above everything and God above all.”
Religion has been a crucial issue during the last presidential campaigns in Brazil. For his part, Bolsonaro has the support of evangelical Christians, while ‘Lula’ has that of Catholics.
According to data from the Diplomatic Information Office of the Brazilian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 64.63% of its population is Catholic, 22.16% identifies with evangelical Christians and only 8% do not practice any religion.
With EFE and local media
