in full election race heading to ballotage of October 30, the advantage in the polls of the Brazilian presidential candidate Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva regarding the president Jair Bolsonaro was reduced to less than 5 percentage points, according to a new opinion poll published this Thursday by at AtlasIntel.
In his first poll since the first round of elections on October 2AtlasIntel found that 51.1% of voters favored Lula y 46.5% favored Bolsonaro. Excluding the undecided and null votes, the leader of the Workers’ Party (PT) has 52.4% support and the current president 47.6%.
During the polarized first round and with a total of nine candidatess, Lula obtained 48% of the votes compared to 43% for Bolsonaro, laying the groundwork for a surprisingly complex ballotage on October 30.
“The picture of this survey shows a more difficult fight for Lula than it seemed at first, with a certain advantage that will be difficult to overcome,” said Andrei Roman, CEO of AtlasIntel.
AtlasIntel was one of several pollsters criticized for underestimating support for Bolsonaro in the first round, though it came closer than several more traditional polling firms.
Bolsonaro needs to get an additional 6 million votes to win re-election, while Lula needs 1.2 million to be elected in what would be a third term for the leftist leader, who held office from 2003 to 2010.
AtlasIntel surveyed 4,500 voters across the country who were randomly selected over the Internet between October 8 and 12. The survey has a margin of error of approximately one percentage point.
Meanwhile, one PoderData survey released yesterday also revealed a similar distance between the presidential candidates. According to this survey, former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has 48% of the voting intentions and President Jair Bolsonaro with 44%, unchanged from the survey published last week.
In addition, according to the survey, white and null votes add up to 6% and undecided votes to 2%, also in line with the previous survey.
By the criteria of valid votes, which excludes white, null and undecided votes, Lula appears with 52% of the votes compared to 48% for Bolsonaro, the same scenario as last week’s survey
Archyde.com Agency
THE NATION