Good morning! Today, we talk about the new polling outlook in the presidential election. The government’s pledge to raise civil servants’ wages. And how NGOs try to get the OECD to pressure Brazil into better governance practices.
📅 Our newsletter service takes a break tomorrow, Good Friday, and will be back on Monday. Happy Easter!
How close is Bolsonaro getting in the polls?
Two new polls came out on Wednesday, showing very different results but still underlining that the race for the presidency is getting tighter every week (as shown by the chart below, which calculates the polling average of each candidate).
- IstoÉ/Sensus puts former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva ahead with 43 percent of voting intentions, with incumbent Jair Bolsonaro scoring 29 percent.
- PoderData, on the other hand, has Mr. Bolsonaro within striking distance of Lula, who has a 40-35 lead, the narrowest in almost a year.
Why it matters. Jair Bolsonaro is using his control over the public purse to compensate for his massive rejection rates, and the results are beginning to show. And more spending targeting important clusters of voters is expected.
Targeted investments. Mr. Bolsonaro has used public banks to pander to constituencies that were...