(Angus Reid Global Monitor) – This year’s presidential election in Brazil could require a run-off, according to a poll by Instituto Sensus. 35.7 per cent of respondents would vote for Dilma Rousseff of the ruling Workers’ Party (PT) in the ballot, up 3.3 points since April.
(Angus Reid Global Monitor) – This year’s presidential election in Brazil could require a run-off, according to a poll by Instituto Sensus. 35.7 per cent of respondents would vote for Dilma Rousseff of the ruling Workers’ Party (PT) in the ballot, up 3.3 points since April.
Jose Serra of the Brazilian Party of Social Democracy (PSDB) is a close second with 33.2 per cent, followed by Marina Silva of the Green Party (PV) with 7.3 per cent.
In a run-off scenario, the race could also be tight with Rousseff getting 41.8 per cent of the vote, and Serra 40.5 per cent.
Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva—a member of the PT—won the October 2002 presidential election with 61 per cent of the vote in a run-off against Serra. In October 2006, he earned a new four-year term, defeating PSDB candidate Geraldo Alckmin with 60.8 per cent of the vote in the second round.
Lula has publicly endorsed Rousseff as his preferred successor. In February, the PT officially selected Rousseff as the party’s presidential candidate.
In March, Rousseff stepped down as Lula’s chief of staff and Serra resigned as governor of the state of Sao Paulo in order to launch their presidential bids.
On May 5, Rousseff offered her views on public and private financing, declaring, "We will never weaken our (public) banks. But no way do we want them to become an octopus gobbling up private financial institutions or the space of foreign banks—on the contrary. (…) State banks alone aren’t enough to finance economic expansion."
Lula is ineligible for a third term in office. The first round of Brazil’s next presidential election is scheduled for Oct. 3.
Polling Data
Which of these candidates would you vote for in the next presidential election?
|
|
May 2010
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Apr. 2010
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Jan. 2010
|
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Dilma Rousseff (PT)
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35.7%
|
32.4%
|
27.8%
|
|
Jose Serra (PSDB)
|
33.2%
|
32.7%
|
33.2%
|
|
Marina Silva (PV)
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7.3%
|
8.1%
|
6.8%
|
|
Other candidates
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3.2%
|
n.a.
|
n.a.
|
|
None / Blank ballot
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6.9%
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7.7%
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10.5%
|
|
Not sure / Undecided
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13.7%
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9.0%
|
9.9%
|
|
Ciro Gomes (PSB)
|
n.a.
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10.1%
|
11.9%
|
Run-Off Scenario
Dilma Rousseff (PT) 41.8% – 40.5% Jose Serra (PSDB)
Source: Instituto Sensus
Methodology: Interviews with 2,000 Brazilian adults, conducted from May 10 to May 14, 2010. Margin of error is 3 per cent.
