SAO PAULO (Reuters) – Former Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has widened his lead over incumbent Jair Bolsonaro to 13 percentage points less than one week ahead of presidential election, a Genial/Quaest poll released on Wednesday showed.
Recent polls indicate that Lula could beat his far-right populist rival in the first round, scheduled to happen next Sunday.
The new survey put support for Lula at 46% in the first-round vote on Oct. 2 against 33% for Bolsonaro, compared to 44% for Lula and 34% for Bolsonaro a week earlier.
In a potential Oct. 30 run-off, Lula’s lead rose to a 14-point advantage, from 10 points a week ago.
The Genial/Quaest poll found that negative views of Bolsonaro’s government edged up to 42% from 39% last week, while the percentage of those who see the government in a positive light remained flat at 31%.
The pollster interviewed 2,000 voters in person between Sept. 24-27. Its poll has a margin of error of 2 percentage points.
(Reporting by Peter Frontini; Editing by Christopher Cushing)
