Rousseff retains edge in election polls

Two polls released Tuesday (Sep. 30) by Datafolha and IBOPE on voting intentions for president show Dilma Rousseff ahead in the electors' preference. Brazil's current president running for re-election under the Workers' Party (PT) has 40% and 39% of the votes according to each polling institute respectively.

The surveys also show that the gap is narrowing between the other leading candidates. Marina Silva (Brazilian Socialist Party – PSB) was found to hold 25% of voting intentions according to both Datafolha and IBOPE, and Aécio Neves, of the Brazilian Social Democracy Party (PSDB), 20% and 19% respectively.

This is the fourth consecutive poll carried out by Datafolha Institute, a subsidiary of Brazil's daily newspaper Folha de S. Paulo, showing Silva's fall and Neves's rise. In their simulation of a runoff scenario, Rousseff's edge over Silva was found to have grown 8 points, reaching 49% against Silva's 41%. In the previous poll, the two were virtually tied 47%-43% respectively. In a scenario where Rousseff would run against Neves, she would still maintain her lead with 50% of the vote against her opponent's 41%.

In a poll released by IBOPE, Rousseff had 42% of the votes and Silva, 38% in the runoffs, which is regarded as a draw considering the poll's 2-point margin of sampling error. And in a run-off scenario with Aécio Neves instead of Silva, Rousseff would have 45% of the votes against Neves's 35%.

Rousseff's approval ratings stand within the “excellent”-”good” range for 38% of those surveyed by IBOPE. “Neutral” ratings were given by 33% of respondents. Some 28% of ratings were in the “poor”-“very poor” zone, and 1% of respondents were undecided.

Translated by Mayra Borges

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