Winners and losers in the presidential elections of 2014: the impact of defeat at the ballot box on satisfaction with and support for democracy in Brazil

Abstract

In the last two decades of the 20th century, democracy has established itself as a hegemonic regime in many parts of the world. Theoretically, these democracies function according to constitutional precepts originating in normative consensus resulting from negotiations between political forces that legitimate the choice of representatives. In other words, a minimal consensus on the rules of the game must exist and, subsequently, adherence to the outcomes by all the players involved. Consequently, one of the signals of how legitimate a democracy is lies in the behavior of its losers. Given this democratic principle, this article seeks to answer two questions, with Brazilian democracy as a case study. The first asks if the defeat at the ballot box in 2014 affected the degree of satisfaction with and support for democracy among the losers in Brazilian democracy. In other words, did losing the election induce the losers to go beyond criticisms of the elected government to attack the democratic regime itself and, therefore, the “rules of the game”? The second question, which is more explanatory, seeks to identify the conditions under which the gap between winners and losers, in terms of support for the democratic regime, widens or narrows. The main conclusion is that the losers in elections are more unsatisfied with the functioning of democracy than the winners, although there are no differences with regard to commitment to democracy. This result occurs even when controlling for different demographic, social, and individual characteristics, including the evaluation of Dilma Rousseff’s government and the rejection of the Workers’ Party (PT).

democratic legitimacy; support for democracy; 2014 Brazilian elections