Ex-President Lula's Electoral Strength Persists Despite Scandals

10/02/2017 - 09h13

A Datafolha poll has demonstrated that former president Lula (PT) is the frontrunner for the 2018 presidential election, and that he holds an expressive lead over his main adversaries.

The survey, which was conducted on Wednesday (the 27th) and Thursday (the 28th), demonstrates that the former president preserved his electoral strength even after he was found guilty in one of the lawsuits that he is involved in - if the ruling is not overturned by an appellate court, it may impede him from running in the 2018 election.

According to Datafolha, 18% of interviewees mentioned Lula when asked to name the candidate they supported off the top of their heads - an increase when compared to the 15% Lula obtained back in June.

When cards with the names of all candidates were supplied, Lula appeared as the frontrunner in all electoral scenarios with at least 35% of the voting intention.

Datafolha interviewed 2,772 people in 194 cities. The margin of error was plus or minus two percentage points.

In the scenarios that include Lula as a viable candidate, the former president had twice the support of the second place candidate, congressman Jair Bolsonaro (PSC-RJ).

Bolsonaro's numbers have fluctuated from 16% to 17%, meaning he is technically tied with Marina Silva (Rede), whose numbers fluctuated from 13% to 14%.

Geraldo Alckmin and João Doria, the two PSDB candidates who appeared in the survey, performed identically when faced against Lula, Bolsonaro and Marina: both obtained 8%.

When it came to simulations where both candidates were included in the race, Alckmin and Doria were tied.

Translated by THOMAS MATHEWSON

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	Miguel Schincariol - 13.jul.17/AFP
	Former Brazilian president Luiz Inacio Lula Da Silva (C) speaks during a press conference in Sao Paulo