Poll shows Brazil's Rousseff, opponent Neves tied for runoff

Reuters
Brazil's President Dilma Rousseff talks on a cell phone during the meeting of China and CELAC at Itamaraty Palace in Brasilia July 17, 2014. (CELAC). REUTERS/Ueslei Marcelino

BRASILIA (Reuters) - Support for Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff has slipped in the last two weeks and she is statistically tied with her main challenger in a second-round runoff, a poll released on Thursday showed. Rousseff's support dropped to 36 percent among eligible voters from 38 percent at the beginning of July, as Brazil prepares for elections in October, according to the Datafolha poll. Support for Aécio Neves, the candidate for the opposition PSDB party, remained unchanged at 20 percent, the poll said, but in a simulation of a likely second-round vote, the gap between Rousseff and Neves narrowed to four percentage points. The poll broadcast on TV Globo's evening news program has a margin of error of two percentage points either way. (Reporting by Anthony Boadle; Editing by Ken Wills)