Brazil’s former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has maintained his lead in the polls ahead of the October general elections.
Lula, who represents the Workers’ Party, holds 42.3 percent of voter support, while current President Jair Bolsonaro of the conservative Liberal Party has 34.1 percent, according to the latest poll released Tuesday by the MDA Survey Institute and commissioned by the National Transport Confederation.
Both candidates have gained support since the previous survey released in May when Lula garnered 40.6 percent and Bolsonaro, 32 percent.
“Lula is leading among those who earn up to twice the minimum wage, with up to a ninth-grade education, Catholics and in the northeast region,” the poll said.
“Bolsonaro, on the other hand, is preferred by those earning more than twice the minimum wage, with a middle or higher education, evangelicals, and in the south and central-west regions,” it added.
Ciro Gomes of the Democratic Labor Party was in third place with 7.3 percent, followed by Simone Tebet of the Brazilian Democratic Movement with 2.1 percent.
The survey queried 2,002 people from Aug. 25 to 28, with an accuracy rate of 95 percent.
Brazilians will go to the polls on Oct. 2 to elect a new president, vice president, governors, deputies and senators. If no candidate emerges as a clear winner, a runoff will take place on Oct. 30.
