SAO PAULO, Sept 2 (ABC): At a market in Sao Paulo, Celia Silva counts her cash, hoping Brazil will soon be “back on track” and she will no longer struggle to make ends meet. The 61-year-old marketing analyst is not alone: a majority of Brazilians will be thinking of their own pocketbooks first when they cast ballots in presidential elections next month.
According to a Datafolha poll, the economy will be the top issue for 53 percent of Brazilians as they choose among candidates including far-right incumbent Jair Bolsonaro and leftist ex-president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. The largest economy in Latin America has shown recent signs of recovery after being hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic.
It registered growth of 1.1 percent in the first quarter and 1.2 percent in the second after advancing 4.6 percent in 2021 compared to 2020, when the economy declined 3.9 percent. These figures, coupled with a drop in unemployment to 9.1 percent and a 0.68 percent decline in inflation in July, are campaign gold for Bolsonaro, who insists they prove Brazil is “better than many other countries” in a gloomy global context.
As economic metrics have improved, so has Bolsonaro’s standing in the pre-election opinion polls. But Datafolha figures released Thursday showing Lula still garnering more favor, with 45 percent of the vote intention, compared to 32 percent for Bolsonaro. In July, the difference was 18 points.