Rousseff Increases Lead to 15 Points in Brazil

[Blue_Tires]

Brazilian presidential frontrunner Dilma Rousseff tripled her lead over opposition rival Jose Serra four days ahead of the country’s runoff, a Sensus poll showed.

Support for Rousseff, President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s former Cabinet chief, rose to 51.9 percent from 46.8 percent in the previous Sensus poll taken Oct. 18-19. Support for Serra, a former Sao Paulo governor, declined to 36.7 percent from 41.8 percent. Serra, 68, trails Rousseff by 15.2 percentage points, up from five points in the previous poll.

The poll surveyed 2,000 people from Oct. 23-25 and has a margin of error of 2.2 percentage points.

Near-daily allegations of government corruption are failing to cut into Rousseff’s support among voters who are content with Lula’s track record for creating jobs and reducing poverty, said Andre Cesar, founder of Brasilia-based political risk analysis firm CAC.

“The opposition didn’t present anything new on the economic front to win voters in the second round,” Cesar said in a telephone interview. “Rousseff is a clear favorite to win.”

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-10-27/rousseff-increases-lead-to-15-2-in-brazil-runoff-sensus-poll-reports.html