Common sense suggests that partisanship has little impact on the behavior and preferences of voters in Brazil, but the book “Partisans, Antipartisans, and Nonpartisans: Voting Behavior in Brazil”, by Cesar Zucco, a professor from FGV’s Brazilian School of Public and Business Administration (EBAPE), and David J. Samuels (University of Minnesota – USA), breaks down nearly three decades of data to challenge this assumption.

Published by Cambridge University Press, the book will be launched on August 14 at 7 p.m., at Blooks Livraria (Praia de Botafogo, 316. Botafogo, Rio de Janeiro/RJ; Novotel parking lot at Praia de Botafogo, 300), featuring a debate mediated by Deborah Thomé and Fernando Dantas. 

The book points out that, since the re-democratization of Brazil in the 1980s, more than half of Brazilian voters have at least one political party that they like or dislike, and that this reality has consequences for voting, government assessments, and even voters’ preferences.

The study also shows that voters’ behavior in Brazil has been largely structured around the sentiment in favor or against the Workers’ Party (PT), and examines how this was the only party that managed to successfully grow partisanship in an environment where electoral rules hinder the emergence of strong parties. 

Go to the website for more information on the book.