Will women prevent Jair Bolsonaro from becoming Brazil’s next president?

A couple of days ago, Datafolha published its latest presidential poll, showing – once again – far-right presidential candidate Jair Bolsonaro in the lead, followed by Workers’ Party candidate Fernando Haddad. That in itself is not surprising, considering that Mr. Bolsonaro had led the race for quite some time (when former president Lula wasn’t on the ballot). But one aspect of the poll was surprising: Mr. Bolsonaro is polling at 21 percent among women – ahead of all competitors and up by 7 points since August 22. 

But why would a woman vote for Jair Bolsonaro? He has hardly missed a single opportunity to express his sexism. “You don’t even deserve to be raped.” “Slut.” “Idiot.” “I wouldn’t pay (men and women) the same wage.” And this is just a quick recap of some of his remarks over the past few years. In 2013,...