CEU Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2021
| Author | Russo Riva, Maria Paula |
|---|---|
| Title | Why Do Women Vote For Far Right-Wing Candidates? The Case Of The 2018 Presidential Elections In Brazil |
| Summary | This thesis investigates the motivations behind the female share of the electorate to vote for the far-right illiberal candidate Jair Bolsonaro during the 2018 presidential elections in Brazil. Research thus far has largely focused on the support for the far-right being majority-male, which belies support given by millions of women to the radical right. This thesis contends that only an isolated assessment of female voters and its sociodemographic subgroups allows for a better understanding of why women choose a candidate with anti-gender rhetoric. Analysis from CESOP 2018 data questions previous literature that associates evangelism as a significant predictor of far-right voting across the Brazilian population, as the results are not robust to confirm its impact among female voters. More importantly, this thesis demonstrates that social media usage and participation in online political groups influenced voting for Bolsonaro, and that this influence is significantly stronger among evangelical women compared to other religious affiliations. These findings raise awareness of patterns of social media usage influencing voting behaviour, and future research could explore the role of social media not merely as a mediator, but as a possible driver for the electoral success of illiberal candidates. |
| Supervisor | Mariyana Angelova |
| Department | Political Science MA |
| Full text | https://www.etd.ceu.edu/2021/russo-riva_maria.pdf |
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