SAO PAULO, Aug 31 — Former Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has retained his strong lead over incumbent President Jair Bolsonaro ahead of the country’s October election, a Genial/Quaest poll released today showed.
Lula is seen winning 44 per cent support in a first-round vote against Bolsonaro’s 32 per cent, the poll said. They had 45 per cent and 33 per cent, respectively, two weeks ago.
Centre-left candidate Ciro Gomes saw his support rise to 8 per cent, from 6 per cent in the previous survey.
In an expected run-off, Lula slightly widened his lead to a 14 percentage point gap — taking 51 per cent of the votes against Bolsonaro’s 37 per cent. In the previous poll, Lula had a 13-point lead.
The Genial/Quaest poll found that the negative view of Bolsonaro’s government dipped to 40 per cent from 41 per cent two weeks ago, while the percentage of those who see the government in a positive light increased one percentage point to 30 per cent.
Pollster Quaest interviewed 2,000 voters in person between August 25-28. The poll has a margin of error of 2 percentage points. — Reuters
