Good morning! Today, we talk about the last presidential debate before Election Day. And preparations for what could be a violent weekend.
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A forgettable last debate leaves election upended
Late on Thursday afternoon, Datafolha released its latest presidential poll, showing former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva with 50 percent of valid votes (discounting voters who remain undecided or intend to spoil their ballots).
- Whether Lula will be able to top the 50-percent mark to clinch the race on Sunday or if President Jair Bolsonaro will manage to drag the race to a runoff battle remains a coin flip at this point.
Why it matters. For Mauro Paulino, the former head of Datafolha, the numbers made Thursday’s debate (the last of the first round) “the most important since Brazil’s redemocratization” in 1985.
Yes, but … Perhaps the high stakes affected candidates’ performances. From the get-go, the two frontrunners engaged in tit-for-tat personal attacks, which awarded both Lula and Mr. Bolsonaro multiple rights...