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São Paulo (AFP) – Former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva saw his advantage in voting intention over Jair Bolsonaro reduced to 13 points with a month to go before the Brazilian election, increasing the chances of a runoff between the two, according to a poll released on September 1.
The leftist leader, 76, maintains 45% of voting intentions, having lost 2 points for the elections on October 2, compared to the stable 32% of the far-right president, according to a new poll by the Datafolha consultancy.
In the previous poll, released on August 18, the gap in support for the two candidates was 15 percentage points. Lula had 47% compared to the same 32% of Bolsonaro’s voting intentions.
It was the first poll after the first presidential debate on Sunday, in which Lula and Bolsonaro exchanged harsh accusations and, according to analysts, both showed weaknesses.
Lula and Bolsonaro continue to focus the attention of the most polarized lawsuit in decades, far from the rest of the candidates.
The flight of support from the leader of the Workers’ Party (PT) favored the center-leftist Ciro Gomes, who grew from 7% to 9% in voting intentions, and is in third place. As well as the senator and candidate of the centrist Brazilian Democratic Movement (MDB), Simone Tebet, who won 3 points to 5%.
The MDB candidate, fourth in the race for the Planalto Presidential Palace, was, according to a qualitative survey by the same consultant, the “winner” of the debate, showing firmness in criticism that reached both Lula and Bolsonaro.
Since last month, the Bolsonaro government has increased social aid from 400 to 600 reais (about 110 dollars) per month from the Auxilio Brasil program, the former Bolsa Familia created by Lula, for 20.2 million vulnerable families. Among other initiatives such as transfers to truckers.
In addition, it lowered fuel taxes with which it managed to reduce prices, which rose sharply in the last year, well above inflation (10.07% in the 12 months to July).
However, Bolsonaro again showed a stagnation in his voting intentions, frustrating his campaign team’s expectation of a takeoff in the polls thanks to economic relief measures for Brazilians.
With the decrease in Lula’s advantage, the leftist former president appears less likely to win the election in the first round, with 48% of the valid votes (excluding blank and null votes) against 34% for Bolsonaro.
In an eventual ballot, on October 30, the leftist would surpass the current president by 53% against 38%, according to Datafolha.
Datafolha interviewed 5,734 people between August 30 and this Thursday in 285 Brazilian cities and its results include a margin of error of +/- 2 points.
