Lula's lead over Bolsonaro edges higher ahead of Brazil election: Datafolha poll

Rio de Janeiro: Brazil's presidential hopeful Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva leads incumbent Jair Bolsonaro by 12 points, a Thursday poll showed, while the far-right leader seeking reelection has lost the pace against his leftist rival's edge ahead of the October 2 vote.

The survey by Datafolha showed Lula with 45% voter support versus 33% for Bolsonaro in the election's first round, compared with 45% and 34% respectively in the previous poll.

In an expected second-round run-off, Lula would garner the support of 54% of voters versus 38% for Bolsonaro, a 16 point advantage, according to the poll, up from 14 points a week ago.

Bolsonaro's approval rating edged down to 30%, compared to 31% one week ago; still above the 22% he held in December, after which his popularity ticked up thanks to welfare programs and measures to tackle inflation.

His disapproval came in at 44%, according to the poll, up from 42% one week ago but down from the 53% seen in December.

Datafolha conducted 5,926 in-person interviews between September 13-15. The poll has a margin of error of 2 percentage points up or down.