Brazil presidential race runoff likelier, despite gov't approval rate rises: poll

The likelihood of a runoff in Brazil's presidential race was growing, despite the government saw an upturn in its approval rating, according to a poll released Monday.

The government of Brazil's President Dilma Rousseff, who is running for re-election as the candidate of the Workers' Party-led coalition, climbed to 38 percent in August from 32 percent in July, the poll released by polling firm Datafolha showed.

Similarly, disapproval of government performance fell six points, from 29 percent to 23 percent, it showed.

However, the death of Brazilian Socialist Party candidate Eduardo Campos, who was killed in a plane crash last week, has changed the electoral landscape and made it a tighter race, the pollster said.

In the lead up to the October elections, Campos had been trailing in the distant third place (with 8 percent voter support) behind Rousseff (38 percent) and her closest rival, Aecio Neves of the conservative Brazilian Social Democratic Party (22 percent).

Campos' death, however, paved the way for his more popular running mate, former senator and environment minister Marina Silva, to take his place.

After the tragic death of Campos, Rousseff's share of the votes drops from 38 percent to 36 percent. In contrast, Silva sees a rising popularity with 21 percent of the votes, and Neves, with 20 percent, according to the pre-election poll.

In a potential runoff between Rousseff and Silva, Silva would get 47 percent of the votes versus 43 percent for Rousseff, which would result in a technical tie, because to win a candidate needs to garner a clear majority that overrides a two-percent margin of error, according to the Datafolha poll.

In a runoff between Rousseff and Neves, Rousseff would win with 47 percent of the votes versus 39 percent for Neves, the pollster added.

The first poll after Campos' death on Wednesday queried 2,843 people in 176 towns across Brazil between Aug. 14 and 15.

Some 140 million Brazilians are set to vote in the Oct. 5 elections for president, state governors and legislators. A runoff would take place Oct. 26.