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

October 3, 2026 10:21 AM EDT

Brazilian presidential candidate Flavio Bolsonaro of the Liberal Party (PL) greets people during a campaign rally, one day before the general election, in Santa Barbara do Oeste, Brazil, October 3, 2026. REUTERS/Alexandre Meneghini

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)



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