São Paulo’s latest pools: current mayor Nunes has 55% while left-wing candidate Boulos counts 33% of the votes

Brasil de Fato

The current mayor of São Paulo, Ricardo Nunes, has 55% of the vote in São Paulo, according to a Datafolha Institute poll released on Thursday (10). Federal deputy and left-wing candidate supported by President Lula (Workers’ Party) Guilherme Boulos has 33%. This is the first Datafolha poll after the voting on Sunday (6).  

People who declared their intention to vote null or blank vote are 10%. Those who don’t know who they will vote for account for 2%. Of the São Paulo residents who voted for the far-right candidate Pablo Marçal in the first round, 84% said they would vote for Nunes and only 4% for Boulos.   

Some of Brazil’s biggest newspapers and news outlet, Folha de S.Paulo and Rede Globo commissioned the poll. Between October 8 and 10, 1,204 voters were interviewed. The margin of error is plus or minus three percentage points, with a 95% confidence level.  

Results at the polls 

Nunes had 29.48% of the valid votes on Sunday (6), just over 1.8 million. Boulos came very close, with the preference of 1.77 million voters, representing 29.07%.  

In the Datafolha survey, released on October 5, the day before the election, Boulos came in first with 27% of voting intentions, followed by Nunes and Marçal with 24%.   

A debate without the current mayor  

At the beginning of the week, the Ricardo Nunes campaign team asked the media outlets to hold a pool when companies come together to promote joint debates to reduce the number of meetings. Three events were suggested, which is the limit of debates held between the first and second rounds in São Paulo since 1992. “It’s impossible to meet the requests for debates, individual interviews, media demands, and the daily actions of the electoral period,” said Nunes in a note sent to the press.   

Without proof, Boulos took advantage of Nunes’ absence to criticize him and make accusations. “I would like to express my regret that the current mayor and candidate, Ricardo Nunes, ran away from the debate. This is bad for democracy. Although this is disrespectful and regrettable for the voters of São Paulo, it didn’t surprise me because the same candidate who is now running away from responding to society and debating ideas was the mayor who, for three and a half years, ran away from two responsibilities,” said Boulos.  

The left-wing candidate also struck a chord with Marçal’s audience by positioning himself as the candidate who doesn’t represent traditional São Paulo politics, presenting himself as the name of change, one of the images Pablo Marçal worked on the most. To this end, he highlighted Jair Bolsonaro’s support for Nunes and said that, if elected, he would govern with open cabinet doors. “Which secretaries will Bolsonaro appoint in a [possible] new [Nunes] administration?” asked Boulos.  

Recently, the mayor said Bolsonaro could be consulted to form a new secretariat if re-elected. The former president is the honorary president of the Liberal Party, which, along with 11 other parties, is part of the coalition behind Nunes’ candidacy.