Russomano Leads Polls in São Paulo Mayoralty Race

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Federal deputy and TV Record host Celso Russomano (Republicanos) is ahead of Mayor Bruno Covas (PSDB) in the latest electoral poll conducted by the IBOPE research institute and released on Sunday by the newspaper O Estado de São Paulo. Russomano holds 24 percent of the vote, while Bruno Covas holds 18 percent.

In third place are Guilherme Boulos (PSOL), with eight percent, and Márcio França (PSB), with six percent, technically tied.

The Workers’ Party candidate, Jilmar Tatto, has only one percent of preferences, the same as Levy Fidelix (PRTB) and Vera Lucia (PSTU). Left-wing movements in the city have pressured the PT to support Guilherme Boulos’ candidacy.

Joice Hasselmann (PSL) and Arthur do Val (Patriota) stand with only two percent. Both were elected to the São Paulo State Chamber of Deputies and Legislative Assembly in 2018, in the anti-PT wave. The two were once Bolsonarists but broke with the President.

Andrea Matarazzo (PSD) has one percent, the same as debutants Marina Helou (Rede) and Filipe Sabará (Novo).

The poll also shows that São Paulo citizens seem to be less interested in this year’s election, which may be related to the massive presence of coronavirus pandemic-related issues in daily life.

When asked who they would vote for, without being given the options of names, in the so-called spontaneous poll, 56 percent of voters declare themselves undecided, and another 22 percent say they will vote null or void.

In 2016, in the first IBOPE poll of the municipal campaign, the rate of undecided voters in the city in this same spontaneous survey was 45 percent.

Even in the encouraged poll, in which voters read the candidate list, the rate of undecided voters is ten percent. This is twice the rate recorded in 2016.

Source: Exame