Abstract
The article discusses the motivations for and meanings of the popular vote in the presidential election that brought bolsonarismo to power, analyzing qualitative data from a study conducted between 2018 and 2019 in two regions: in Ceará (Juazeiro do Norte, Crato and Araripe) and in São Paulo (Marília and the city of São Paulo). The analysis reveals that a split emerged in what until then the popular classes expected from politics, between a continuity of lulismo, on one hand, and a radical change, on the other. Thus, the results confirmed that there was a division in the Lula base at the deepest level of beliefs, values and expectations. In the realm of the imaginary, we found a religious mediation in the clashes of popular expectations, linked to messianic beliefs that historically intertwined politics and religion in the country.
electoral behavior; Bolsonarismo; popular classes; Lulismo; 2018 presidential elections