Dados is one of the most widely-read social sciences journals in Latin America. Created in 1966, it publishes innovative works, originating from academic research, by Brazilian and foreign authors. Edited by IESP-UERJ, it aims to reconcile scientific rigor and academic excellence with an emphasis on public debate based on the analysis of substantive issues of society and politics.
Dados vol. 55 n. 1 Rio de Janeiro 2012
Abstract
This article analyzes the changes in local politics and in political parties' electoral bases in São Paulo since 1985. The study refocuses on the premises of the contextual approach and electoral geography to show that São Paulo politics displays specific territories, and that both socioeconomic structural factors and the dynamics of relations between the center and the periphery act to shape electoral preferences. As for competition in the State, the study shows that since 1994, politics in São Paulo has been oriented by the dynamics of Brazilian national politics, grounded in the bipartisan dispute between the Workers' Party (PT) and the Brazilian Social Democratic Party (PSDB). Finally, concerning the organization of the main political parties' electoral bases, the study indicates that the parties that were already organized at the beginning of the period, namely PT, PSDB, PMDB, PDS/PP, PTB, and PFL/DEM, have bases that are reasonably well rooted among the voter constituency and that they organize choices according to a dynamic that resists São Paulo's fragmented partisan scenario.
Keywords: partisan bases, electoral geography, São Paulo
DOI: 10.1590/S0011-52582012000100004
Context and competition in São Paulo politics
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