By Ben Tavener
SAO PAULO
The number of people set to vote for Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff at this year's presidential election has slipped to a new low, according to a poll published on Friday.
Only 34 percent of Brazilians questioned said they would vote for Rousseff for a second term in office, the latest survey by media polling institute Datafolha of 4,337 people across Brazil revealed – down from 37 percent in early May, and 44 percent in February.
However, Rousseff's closest rival presidential hopefuls, Aécio Neves and Eduardo Campos, also both registered a drop in support, unlike in May, when both had made gains.
“Everyone has lost out. Dilma has dropped [but] no one has gained: only the group of undecided voters (13 percent) or those who plan on spoiling their ballot (17 percent) has grown, which shows Brazilians' disenchantment with politics,” Cristiana Lôbo, political commentator for Brazil's Globo News, said.
Still Rousseff remains in the lead: her 34 percent is still on a par with the 35 percent garnered by all other 11 candidates combined.
However, with so many undecided voters, it is far from clear whether Rousseff can now win without the need for a runoff.
Despite calls from some in Rousseff's Workers' Party (PT) to bring back her predecessor, the popular former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, commentators have said that the party will not entertain this idea unless Rousseff's rating were to fall below 30 percent.
Ex-president Lula left office with approval ratings of over 80 percent, but has already declared that he will not run and back Rousseff.
Brazilians go to the polls on October 5 this year, and should no candidate receive 50 percent of the vote, a second round between the top two polling candidates will be held on October 26.
Apart from their president, voters will also elect deputies and senators for the National Congress, state government as well as state legislatures.
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