Vote and partisanship in 2018: social sorting in Brazilian politics

Abstract

Does social sorting theory explain the political behavior of Brazilian voters in the 2018 presidential election? The Americanist literature demonstrates that the alignment of social identities generates and reinforces partisanship as a social identity especially among right-wingers. Given the salience of religious faith, race, and gender in the 2018 elections, it is worth understanding whether the same phenomenon occurs in Brazil. This question is answered based on econometric tests relying on data from a nationally representative survey conducted with 1,498 voters in the first semester of 2019. Multinomial logistic and logistic regressions demonstrate that protestants, white, and males have a substantively higher preference for PSL in comparison to other parties, both when it comes to voting and partisanship.

social sorting; social identity; partisanship; voting behavior; bolsonarismo