PARTISANSHIP IN THE LATIN AMERICAN ELECTORATE: 
EVIDENCE FROM URBAN BRAZIL

Mark Setzler, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Political Science
High Point University

Article abstract 

Students of Latin American politics have long argued that the long-term consolidation of democracy requires political parties with deep roots into society. It is thus surprising how little we know about the individual- and community-level dynamics of mass partisanship in the region. Analyzing the results of an exceptionally large, high-quality survey of political and civic behavior, this article investigates how individual characteristics and community sociopolitical contexts are shaping patterns of partisan identification and party-centric voting within the Brazilian electorate. Using bivariate and multivariate statistical techniques, I examine, isolate, and compare the effects of four sets of indicators-socioeconomic resources, civic activity, demographic attributes, and the characteristics an individual's home community-on partisan behaviors. Robust evidence demonstrates that societal variables, especially patterns of civic engagement, are powerful predictors of whether or not Brazilians identify with a political party and take party labels in account when voting. For many analysts, the low rates of party identification within Latin American electorates suggest that the region's voters see no value in party labels when selecting candidates for public office, a situation that erodes the stability of democratic regimes over time. To the contrary, evidence from Brazil shows that while low-resource, civically-unengaged voters are less likely than other Brazilians to closely identify with a specific political party, these same individuals are considerably more likely than the average voter to rely on party labels when casting their ballots.