Party identification and the vote: the differences between supporters of the PT and supporters of the PSDB

Abstract

In this article, we analyze the impact of party identification on voting behavior in Brazil. We use data from the ESEB conducted in 2014, with a nationally representative sample of voters. In relation to other works on the impact of identification on the vote, we innovate in two areas. First, we do not limit our analysis to the vote for president; rather, we analyze vote for all offices in dispute in 2014. Second, we show that party identification does not work in the same way for all voters who identify with the same party. We have shown that supporters of the PT with higher levels of education are more coherent in their vote for President, while supporters of the PSDB with lower levels of education show more partisan loyalty in their vote. In the same way, while petistas are loyal to their party when it comes to voting for the President, peessedebistas vote with their party when it comes to choosing Governors and Senators. Finally, our analysis has identified a complex pattern of relationships between education—used here as a proxy for voters’ cognitive resources—party identification, and vote choice. This last contribution promotes a discussion about the meaning of party identification in Brazil, one that goes well beyond the usual issues of its presence or absence among the electorate and its relevance to our understanding of vote choice, which have dominated the literature dealing with this topic in Brazil.

2014 Brazilian elections; party identification; vote for president; vote for governors; vote for the Senate; vote for federal and state deputies