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Lula ahead in polls for Brazil’s first-round vote; runoff likely

By Thomson Reuters Oct 3, 2026 | 9:21 AM

SAO PAULO, Oct 3 (Reuters) – A series of polls on Saturday showed Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva slightly ahead of ​Senator Flavio Bolsonaro before Sunday’s first-round ‌vote, and a close race in a likely runoff between the leftist incumbent and his right-wing challenger.

If no candidate wins more than 50% of valid votes — which exclude ‌blank ​and null ballots — on Sunday, ⁠the two frontrunners advance ⁠to a second-round runoff on October 25.

CNT/MDA POLL

• First round (valid votes): Lula 47.8%, Bolsonaro 42.1%, Augusto Cury 3.6%, Ronaldo Caiado 3.4%, Renan Santos ​1.7%, Romeu Zema 0.9%

• Runoff: Lula 47.3%, Bolsonaro 43.1%

• MDA surveyed 2,007 people from September ⁠30 to October 2; margin ⁠of error of 2.2 percentage points

DATAFOLHA

• ​First round (valid votes): Lula 45%, Bolsonaro 42%, Caiado 4%, ​Santos 3%, Cury 3%, Zema 1%

• Runoff: ‌Lula 47%, Bolsonaro 46%

• Datafolha surveyed 4,006 people from October 2-3; margin of error 2 percentage points

QUAEST POLL

• First round (valid votes): Lula 46%, Bolsonaro ⁠45%, Cury 3%, Santos 3%, Caiado 3%

• Runoff: Bolsonaro 44%, Lula 42%

• Quaest surveyed 3,702 people from October ⁠2-3; margin ‌of error 2 percentage points

ATLASINTEL/BLOOMBERG POLL

• ⁠First round (valid votes): Lula 47%, Bolsonaro ​44.1%, ‌Santos 4.6%, Cury 2.1%, Caiado 1.4%

• ​Runoff: Lula ⁠47.6%, Bolsonaro 47.4%

• AtlasIntel surveyed 4,945 people from September 27 to October 2; margin of error 1 percentage point

(Reporting by Eduardo Simoes, Gabriel Araujo, Pedro Fonseca and Alexandre Caverni; Editing by Alison Williams and ​Chizu Nomiyama)