Brazil’s Bolsonaro campaign seeks own polling institute

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Faced with a succession of electoral polls that place Jair Bolsonaro (PL) far behind ex-president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT), the President’s allies argued in favor of hiring a polling institute of their own.

The issue has been discussed with Valdemar da Costa Neto, president of PL, Bolsonaro’s party. The resources to pay for the polls cannot be public.

Paraná Pesquisas is one of the institutes under consideration. In talks with government officials, the researchers’ assessment is that the difference between Bolsonaro and Lula stands between 6 and 10 points and that the President has no less than 25% of voting intentions.

A Datafolha poll published Thursday places Lula with a real chance of victory in the first round, with 48% of voting intentions against 21% for Bolsonaro.

Government officials said that Lula’s position in the poll is much higher than what they have been averaging, believing that the 2022 election will be in two rounds and that Lula has no chance of winning in the first round.

The assessment is based on the fact that the leftist is not exposing himself and has not been the target of attacks like the ones Bolsonaro faces on a daily basis.

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