LEFTIST challenger Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s lead over far-right incumbent Jair Bolsonaro has widened slightly three days from Brazil’s polarising presidential run-off election, according to a poll published yesterday.

Lula has 53% voter support to 47% for Bolsonaro, according to the poll from the Datafolha institute – up from a four-point gap (52% to 48%) the previous week.

The figures exclude voters who plan to cast blank or spoiled ballots – 5% of respondents, Datafolha estimates. Undecided voters represented just 2%.

The margin of error for the poll, which was based on interviews with 4,580 people from Tuesday to yesterday, was plus or minus two percentage points.

Lula, the charismatic but tarnished ex-president who led Brazil from 2003 to 2010, won the first round of the election on October 2 with 48% of the vote, to 43% for former army captain Bolsonaro.

The candidates will face off in a final debate tonight.

Bolsonaro and his allies have attacked polling firms, accusing them of bias.

He outperformed pollsters’ expectations in the first round, triumphantly boasting afterwards: “We beat the lie.”

Lula, who turned 77 yesterday, leads among women (52%), the poor and working-class (61%), and Catholics (55%), according to Datafolha.

Bolsonaro, 67, leads among evangelical Christians (62%) and wealthier voters (59%). – AFP, October 28, 2022.