BRASILIA, (Reuters) – Ruling party candidate Dilma  Rousseff extended her lead in October’s presidential race over  opposition contender Jose Serra to 11 percentage points, a poll  showed yesterday, suggesting that recent televised interviews  and debates are helping her gain more visibility.

Career civil servant Rousseff garnered 43 percent against  former Sao Paulo state governor Serra’s 32 percent, according  to a Ibope survey broadcast on local television channel TV  Globo. In the previous poll published on Aug. 6, Rousseff had  39 percent support, versus Serra’s 34 — a five point lead.

Rousseff, President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s former  chief of staff, has taken a clear lead in the four main opinion  polls. Her rise is driven by the fastest economic expansion in  more than two decades and her vows to continue the policies of  Lula, the most popular Brazilian president in decades.of  avoiding a run-off vote on Oct. 31 by winning more than 50  percent of the valid vote on Oct. 3.

Recent poll results “mean that Rousseff needs to grow only  a few more percentage points to take the race in the first  round,” Eurasia Group analysts led by Erasto Almeida said in a  note to clients distributed yesterday.