Lula leads Bolsonaro by 3 points in Brazil runoff scenario, Datafolha poll shows

SAO PAULO, Oct 1 (Reuters) – Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva leads Senator Flavio Bolsonaro, his main challenger, in a potential runoff ahead of this month’s election, a Datafolha poll showed on Thursday.

In a simulated runoff, Lula would receive 48% of the vote compared with 45% for Bolsonaro, the eldest son of former President Jair Bolsonaro. A previous Datafolha poll had Lula leading Bolsonaro by 47% to 45%.

• The result still represents a technical tie as the poll’s margin of error is 2 percentage points

• In a first-round scenario, Lula leads with 42% of the vote, followed by Bolsonaro (38%), Augusto Cury (4%), Ronaldo Caiado (3%) and Renan Santos (3%)

• The previous Datafolha poll showed the leftist president with 40% against the right-wing senator’s 36%

• If no candidate wins more than 50% of valid votes in the first round on Sunday, the two frontrunners advance to a runoff set for October 25

• Datafolha surveyed 2,506 people between September 29 and October 1

(Reporting by Andre Romani; Editing by Fernando Cardoso)