Brazil poll shows Silva’s favored successor gains ground over leading opposition candidate

Poll: Silva’s favored successor gains ground

SAO PAULO — A poll says President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s preferred candidate to succeed him has pulled even with the opposition for the first time.

The Vox Populi polling institute says Dilma Rousseff of the ruling Workers’ Party is favored by 38 percent of Brazilians, while 35 percent back Jose Serra of the centrist Brazilian Social Democracy Party. That’s a technical tie.

The May 8-13 survey of 2,000 people has a 2.2 percentage point margin of error.

Rousseff had 33 percent in April, compared to Serra’s 38 percent.

Rousseff is Silva’s former chief of staff and hopes to benefit from the president’s popularity.

The survey was released by Bandeirantes TV late Saturday.