Brazil election poll shows Rousseff gains ground against Neves

[Brasilia] President Dilma Rousseff has gained some ground, but remains locked in a fierce battle for votes with rival Aecio Neves ahead of the Oct 26 runoff to Brazil's presidential election, a new poll showed on Monday.

The leftist incumbent has 46 per cent of voter support against 43 per cent for Neves, according to the survey by polling firm Datafolha. In a prior Datafolha poll on Wednesday, Mr Neves'support was 45 per cent while Ms Rousseff was 43 percent.

The difference between the two is statistically insignificant because it is within the poll's margin of error.

Excluding undecided voters, spoiled and blank survey responses, Ms Rousseff has 52 per cent against 48 per cent for Mr Neves, the poll showed.

Datafolha interviewed 4,389 voters on Monday in a survey commissioned by the Globo media group and the Folha de S.Paulo newspaper. REUTERS