O Brasil é realmente um país polarizado? Análise das eleições presidenciais de 1989 a 2018

We analyze the eight Brazilian presidential elections of the post-military dictatorship period, given the central role they played in the organization of our Coalition Presidentialism. We investigate the electoral and geographic polarization in these elections, their characteristics and dynamics, analyzing with spatial statistics the voting in the 5,570 municipalities. We found significant polarization in all of them. However, they vary in direction and intensity. There are two periods delimited by the 2002 election. There are also two trajectories, observed in more detail through statistics and maps of the electoral territories. The PT and PSDB parties have different dynamics throughout the series, but from 2006 onwards they remain geographically polarized with the same degree of intensity and with an upward trend. The PRN (Collor) and PSL (Bolsonaro) parties, at the extremes of the series, are protagonists of two atypical elections, with polarization and territorial alignment similar to those of the PSDB.

KEYWORDS:
Brazilian presidential elections; Voting polarization; Electoral geography; PT; PSDB