While Brazilians will be called to the polls next October for the presidential election, Jair Bolsonaro, the outgoing president, called on them this Sunday to choose “between good and evil”.
“Our enemy is not outside, he is inside. It’s not a fight between the right and the left, it’s a fight between good and evil and we are going to win,” he declared in front of thousands of his supporters, in reference to his main political adversary. , Lula, former left-wing president of the country (2003-2010).
The latter is, however, by far at the top of the voting intentions. According to the latest poll by the Brazilian institute Datafolha, Lula is credited with 43% of the votes in the first round, against only 26% for Jair Bolsonaro. A gap which tends to be reduced but which remains significant. Some polls have even given Lula the winner in the first round of the presidential election. All the other candidates, in particular the famous judge Sergio Moro, who had Lula imprisoned, are currently all under the 10% mark.
“It is not because a lying poll is published a thousand times that someone will be elected president”, affirmed the far-right president in front of the crowd, thus discrediting the opinion polls.
Jair Bolsonaro has largely lost popularity since the health crisis, with many Brazilians lambasting his health policy. More than 650,000 Brazilians have died of Covid-19, while the president claimed that this disease was only a “little flu” and participated in the distrust of vaccines. He now has only 22% of favorable opinions. By way of comparison, Lula left power in 2010 with 80% favorable opinions.
In addition to his disastrous health policy, Jair Bolsonaro has an economic record that is difficult to defend, with inflation continuing to climb and which has greatly weakened the purchasing power of Brazilians. A point that differentiates him even more from his opponent on the left, who can boast of a much more positive economic record.
