Benedita da Silva of the Workers Party (PT) leads the race for Rio de Janeiro's two Senate seats with 18% of voter intentions, according to a Datafolha poll released on Friday (11) and commissioned by Globo and the newspaper Folha de S.Paulo. Carlos Jordy and Carlos Portinho, both of the Liberal Party (PL), follow with 10% each.
With a margin of error of three percentage points, Jordy and Portinho are statistically tied with Pedro Paulo (PSD), Marcelo Crivella (Republicanos) and Monica Benicio (PSOL). Pedro Paulo and Crivella have 7% each, while Monica has 6%. Waguinho (Republicanos) registers 3%. Blank and null answers, together with voters who name no candidate, add up to 18%, and 13% are undecided.
This was the second Datafolha survey on the current Senate race in the state. Compared with the August 21 round, Benedita rose from 15% to 18%. Jordy and Portinho climbed from 8% to 10% each. Pedro Paulo and Crivella went from 6% to 7%, and Monica held at 6%.
Datafolha interviewed 1,204 voters in Rio de Janeiro state between September 8 and 10. The confidence level is 95%, and the poll is registered with electoral authorities under number RJ-09217/2026. In the prompted scenario, interviewers show the candidate list and each respondent answers twice, once for each seat. In the unprompted question, where no names are shown, 62% could not name a candidate, down from 77% in August. Benedita was mentioned by 9%.
First vote and second vote
On the first vote, Benedita has a clear lead: 30%, against 12% for Jordy, 9% for Portinho and 8% for Crivella. Pedro Paulo registers 6%. On the second vote, Portinho moves ahead with 11%; Pedro Paulo, Jordy and Monica have 9% each, and Benedita polls 8%. Blank and null answers reach 21% on the second choice, with 16% undecided.
In Brazil's 2026 elections, each state and the Federal District elects two senators, renewing 54 of the chamber's 81 seats. Every voter must choose two different candidates and cannot pick the same name twice. Rio de Janeiro voters go to the polls in October to choose the state's two new senators.