Statement by President Joe Biden Congratulating Luiz Incio Lula da Silva as President of Brazil

[Judi Lynn]

32. He was far ahead by all the polls I've seen. No doubt it was driving Bobonario insane.

Brazil’s Polls Were Wrong. Now the Right Wants to Criminalize Them.

President Jair Bolsonaro and conservative lawmakers in Brazil are trying to make it illegal to publish polls that later do not match the election results.

By André Spigariol and Jack Nicas
Oct. 24, 2022

BRASÍLIA — In the first round of Brazil’s closely watched elections this month, the polls were off the mark. They significantly underestimated the support for the far-right incumbent, President Jair Bolsonaro, and other conservative candidates across the country.

Many on the right were furious, criticizing the pollsters as out of touch with the Brazilian electorate. That response was expected. What happened next was not. At the urging of Mr. Bolsonaro, some of Brazil’s leaders are now trying to make it a crime to incorrectly forecast an election.

Brazil’s House of Representatives has fast-tracked a bill that would criminalize publishing a poll that is later shown to fall outside its margin of error. The House, which is controlled by Mr. Bolsonaro’s allies, is expected to vote and pass the measure in the coming days.
The bill’s final shape and fate is unclear. House leaders have suggested they may soften the legislation, and its prospects in the Senate, where opponents of Mr. Bolsonaro are in the majority, appear far less certain.

Still, whatever the measure’s fate, the proposal and other efforts to investigate pollsters for their recent miscalculations are part of a broader narrative pushed by Mr. Bolsonaro and his allies, without evidence, that Brazil’s political establishment and the left are trying to rig the election against him.

More:
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/24/world/americas/brazil-election-polls-criminalization.html