Bolsonaro's outsider aura dims after Brazil's four tough years
Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro once said only God could remove him from power. On Sunday, polls suggest, he may need a miracle to keep him there.
A career politician turned self-styled outsider, the tough-talking Bolsonaro was elected in 2018 on vows to clean up Brazil's graft-stained politics and modernize its economy.
But after mishandling the COVID-19 pandemic and failing to lift living standards for many Brazilians, the far-right former army captain now faces the unthinkable: a possible first-round loss to his most despised rival, leftist former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.
Bolsonaro has done all he can to avoid that fate. He has repeatedly - and baselessly - cast doubt on Brazil's voting system. He has changed the constitution to let him shower cash on the country's poor. And he has forged costly alliances with the centrist politicians that he and his base once maligned.
Yet so far, all has been in vain.
Lula enjoys a polling lead of around 10-15 percentage points in most surveys, with growing momentum that could see him clinch a first-round victory on Sunday, avoiding an Oct. 30 run-off.
That reflects Bolsonaro's failure to deliver on his boldest promises, as he struggled to channel the rebellious energy of four years ago into effective government, said Mauricio Santoro, a political scientist at the State University of Rio de Janeiro.
"Bolsonaro was the big new thing in 2018," said Santoro. "Now he's the establishment."
Prior to becoming president, Bolsonaro was known as a fringe conservative congressman, popular among police and soldiers in his Rio de Janeiro base. Read More...
