Datafolha: More voters see election content on news outlets’ social media profiles

News organizations remain the main online source of election content for Brazilian voters with social media accounts, according to a new Datafolha poll. Seventy-five percent of respondents who had seen election-related posts encountered them on news outlets’ profiles, compared with 71% on journalists’ profiles.

Candidates’ profiles reached 69% of that group. Friends and relatives accounted for 65%, influencers for 61%, and WhatsApp or Telegram groups for 47%. Overall, 57% of respondents with accounts on platforms including Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Kwai said they had seen content about the 2026 elections in recent weeks.

The pattern differed by candidate preference. Among voters who said they intended to support Flávio Bolsonaro, 68% had seen election content on influencers’ accounts, compared with 55% among those backing President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. The gap was also visible in messaging groups, where 55% of Flávio’s supporters reported seeing such content, against 43% of Lula’s.

Voters aligned with neither Bolsonarismo nor Petismo were most likely to encounter election posts on news organizations’ profiles, at 81%, and journalists’ profiles, at 74%. Only 39% of this group reported seeing the content in messaging-app groups.

Datafolha interviewed 2,002 voters in 125 cities on Tuesday and Wednesday. The poll, commissioned by TV Globo and Folha, has a margin of error of two percentage points and a 95% confidence level. It is registered with Brazil’s Superior Electoral Court under code BR-03669/2026.

The same poll put Lula at 38% and Flávio Bolsonaro at 33% in first-round voting intentions. Augusto Cury rose six points to 8%, narrowing the gap between the president and the senator to five points. Ronaldo Caiado had 4%, Renan Santos 3% and Romeu Zema 2%. Samara, Edmilson Costa and Rui Costa Pimenta each had 1%, while 6% chose blank or invalid ballots and 3% remained undecided.