BRASILIA, Aug 8 — Former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s lead over incumbent Jair Bolsonaro has narrowed to 7 percentage points ahead of the October election, according to a new poll published today.
The leftist leader has the support of 41 per cent of voters against 34 per cent for his far-right adversary, compared to 44 per cent and 31 per cent respectively last month, the BTG/FSB telephone poll said.
Lula’s lead has dropped steadily to 7 points from 13 last month and 14 in May, the poll said.
Other polls show Lula’s strong lead slipping but maintaining a double-digit advantage: Datafolha saw his advantage at 18-points and a Genial/Quaest poll last week said his lead had fallen to 12 points from 14 points.
Lula would still win a second-round runoff against Bolsonaro by 51 per cent to 39 per cent if the vote were today, a 12-point lead that has narrowed from 18 points last month, the BTG/FSB poll said.
Bolsonaro has stepped up social welfare spending, with pay-out of increased monthly stipends to low-income families starting on Tuesday, and he has worked to reduce fuel costs that have spurred inflation, the major complaint from voters.
His negative numbers have come down, with 44 per cent of those surveyed seeing his government as bad or terrible, down from 50 per cent in early June, while 53 per cent say they would never vote for him, compared to 59 per cent in June, the new poll said. Lula’s rejection rate has risen marginally to 45 per cent of voters, it said.
The survey by pollster FSB commissioned by investment bank BTG Pactual polled 2,000 people between Aug. 5 and 7 and has a margin of error of 2 percentage points up or down. — Reuters
