Ideologia e comportamento político no eleitorado brasileiro

Abstract

This article explores the role of ideology (left and right) in the Brazilian mass electorate. Specifically, we are interested in examining how ideology constrains the political preferences of Brazilians. Or, said differently, this article explores if Brazilians make use of ideology to structure their political preferences. Using data from the Brazilian Electoral Study Collection (Eseb), we find that many Brazilian voters do not place themselves on a left-right ideological scale when asked to. Moreover, among those voters that place themselves on a left-right ideological scale, we find that ideology does not structure their political preferences. In other words, ideology does not constrain political preferences. To be sure, the notions of left and right do not mean much for the Brazilian electorate.