By Barbara Nascimento | Updated on Jun 08, 2026 at 09:41 PM
Brazil’s electoral court suspended the circulation of an AtlasIntel poll that showed Senator Flávio Bolsonaro losing ground in the presidential race, citing alleged problems with the pollster’s methodology.
Bolsonaro’s party alleged that the poll , published on May 19 after leaked audio messages revealed ties between the right-wing candidate and a central figure in the country’s biggest banking-fraud investigation, influenced respondents by presenting details of the episode before asking for their views. AtlasIntel conducts monthly opinion surveys for Bloomberg News, including this one.
Justice Kassio Nunes Marques, the president of the electoral court, said there were “relevant indications” that the neutrality of AtlasIntel’s methodology may have been compromised. In a decision on Monday, he ordered the company to refrain from publishing, promoting, republishing or keeping the poll on its official channels, and to submit technical documentation addressing disputed aspects. The ruling doesn’t bar the pollster from publishing future surveys.
AtlasIntel said it will comply with the court’s decision and expressed confidence that the matter will be resolved after a technical review of the facts and its methodology.
“AtlasIntel bases its work on impartiality, scientific rigor and accuracy,” Chief Executive Officer Andrei Roman said in a statement.
Bolsonaro is the main challenger to President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in the October election. After the audio messages surfaced, he confirmed that he had contacted Daniel Vorcaro, Banco Master’s former chief executive officer, to seek millions of dollars to finance a film about his father, jailed former President Jair Bolsonaro. He denied wrongdoing and said he had previously denied involvement with the banker because of a nondisclosure agreement tied to the movie’s financing.
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The Vorcaro episode marked a significant blow to Bolsonaro’s campaign. AtlasIntel was the first major pollster to publish a survey showing how much his candidacy had been hurt, and several other pollsters released surveys pointing to a similar impact in the following days.