(Reuters) -Former Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s polling advantage in the presidential race over the incumbent Jair Bolsonaro has grown since March, according to a new survey by pollster Datafolha released on Thursday.
Lula drew 48% voter support in the opinion poll ahead of the October election against 27% for Bolsonaro, compared with 43% and 26% two months ago, respectively.
In an expected second-round runoff between the rivals, Lula now has an advantage of 25 percentage points over Bolsonaro, up from 21 points in March, the survey showed.
It was Datafolha’s first election poll since former Justice Minister Sergio Moro dropped out of the race, and carried out after Sao Paulo Governor Joao Doria quit on Monday.
Datafolha interviewed 2,556 Brazilians of voting age (16 years) on Wednesday and Thursday. The poll has a margin of error of 2 percentage points up or down.
(Reporting by Carolina Pulice and Anthony Boadle; Editing by Leslie Adler and Marguerita Choy)
