Eight in ten voters in Minas Gerais, Brazil's second-largest electorate, still do not know who they will back for governor in the October elections. That is the finding of the first spontaneous Quaest poll in the state, released on Tuesday (25) and commissioned by Globo. In the Senate race, indecision runs even higher: 94% of respondents could not name a candidate for the seat.

In a spontaneous poll, voters answer without being shown the list of candidates. For governor, Senator Cleitinho Azevedo (Republicanos) was the most remembered name, with 11% of mentions. He was followed by Patrus Ananias, of President Lula's Workers' Party (PT), with 3%, and Alexandre Kalil (PDT), with 2%. Gabriel (MDB) and Governor Mateus Simões (PSD) had 1% each. Other names added up to 1%, and 1% said they would cast a blank or null ballot or would not vote.

For the Senate, Marília Campos (PT) came up with 2%, Carlos Viana (PSD) with 1% and Áurea Carolina (PSOL) with 1%. No other candidate was mentioned spontaneously. Besides the 94% of undecided voters, 2% said they would vote blank, null or not at all.

"Most of the candidates running for governor and the Senate are largely unknown. This high level of unfamiliarity, combined with the indecision, shows why the recommendation is to look at the Minas Gerais race with great caution, tracking how voting intentions evolve to see how the campaign, which begins on television as early as next week, can help voters make a decision," said Felipe Nunes, political scientist and Quaest director.

According to G1, Nunes believes such high levels of indecision open the door to "major turnarounds" before the first round, scheduled for October 4.

Prompted scenarios

In prompted questions, where candidate names are shown to voters, the picture looks different. Cleitinho leads the governor's race with 29%, followed by Patrus (11%), Kalil (10%), Simões (7%) and Gabriel (5%), according to the same poll. In the Senate race, Marília Campos leads with 15%, while Carlos Viana has 8%. In second-round simulations for governor, Cleitinho defeats every opponent tested, as reported by Poder360.

Quaest interviewed 1,506 voters aged 16 or older between August 21 and 24. The margin of error is three percentage points, plus or minus, with a 95% confidence level. The poll is registered with the Electoral Court under number MG-04060/2026. According to Poder360, the survey cost R$ 212,346 and was paid for by Globo.