Affective Polarization and Democratic Commitment in Brazil: A Critical Test o f Political Tolerance
Abstract
Political polarization can undermine democratic support by creating conditions in which voters become more willing to accept norm violations and political violence. This article examines Brazilian voters’ commitment to democracy in 2023, in the aftermath of peak polarization and the January 8th attacks. Using survey data, we assess three increasingly rigorous measures: explicit support, principles adherence, and political tolerance. Results indicate that while Brazilians express strong abstract support for democracy, tolerance toward opponents remains low, particularly among Bolsonaro voters. Polarization affects far-right voters more strongly, weakening their commitment to more demanding principles such as political tolerance.
- Referencias
- Cómo citar
- Del mismo autor
- Métricas
Abramowitz, A. I. (2021). It’s only you and me and we just disagree: the ideological foundations of affective polarization. The Forum 19(3):349-364.
Areal, J. (2022). «Them» without «us»: negative identities and affective polarization in Brazil. Political Research Exchange, 4, Article 2117635. https://doi.org/10.1080/2474736X.2022.2117635
Boch, A. (2020). The limits of tolerance: Extreme speakers on campus. Social Problems, 69(1), 143-163.
Booth, J. A., & Seligson, M. A. (2009). The legitimacy puzzle in Latin America: Political support and democracy in eight nations. Cambridge University Press.
Borba, J. (coord.). (2023). As Bases das Clivagens Políticas no Brasil. Base de datos.
Borba, J., & Cardoso, G.R. (2021). Legitimidade democrática e apoio político: inovações recentes no debate internacional. Opinião Pública, 27, 351-381.
Borba, J., Ribeiro, E., & Fuks, M. (2024). Polarization and ideology: exploring the contextual nature of democratic commitment. Revista de Sociologia e Política, 32, e006.
Borges, A., & Vidigal, R. (2018). Do lulismo ao antipetismo? Polarização, partidarismo e voto nas eleições presidenciais brasileiras. Opinião Pública, 24(1), 53-89.
Chong, D., Citrin, J., & Levy, M. (2022). The realignment of political tolerance in the United States. Perspectives on Politics, 20, 1-22.
Dalton, R. J. (2004). Democratic challenges, democratic choices: The erosion of political support in advanced industrial democracies. Oxford University Press.
Easton, D. (1965). A systems analysis of political life. John Wiley and Sons.
Easton, D. (1975). A re-assessment of the concept of political support. British Journal of Political Science, 5(4), 435-457.
Ferrín, M., & Kriesi, H. (2016). Introduction: Democracy – The European verdict. En: Ferrín, M.; Kriesi, H. (Eds.). How Europeans view and evaluate democracy. Oxford University Press, 1-21.
Fuks, M., & Marques, P. H. (2022). Polarização e contexto: medindo e explicando a polarização política no Brasil. Opinião Pública, 28(3), 560-593.
Gandhi, J., & Ong, E. (2019). Committed or conditional democrats? Opposition dynamics in electoral autocracies. American Journal of Political Science, 63(4), 948-963.
Gibson, J., & Duch, R. (1993). Support for rights in Western Europe and the Soviet Union. Research on Democracy and Society, 1, 241-263.
Gibson, J. L. (2009). Political intolerance in the context of democratic theory. En: Goodin, R.E. (Ed.). The Oxford handbook of political science. Oxford University Press, 1-24.
Graham, M. H., & Svolik, M. W. (2020). Democracy in America? Partisanship, polarization, and the robustness of support for democracy in the United States. American Political Science Review, 114(2), 392-409.
Haggard, S., & Kaufman, R. (2021). Backsliding: Democratic regress in the contemporary world. Cambridge University Press.
Iyengar, S., Lelkes, Y., Levendusky, M., Malhotra, N., & Westwood, S. J. (2019). The origins and consequences of affective polarization in the United States. Annual Review of Political Science, 22, 129-146.
Kalmoe, N. P., & Mason, L. (2022). Radical American partisanship: Mapping violent hostility, its causes, and the consequences for democracy. University of Chicago Press.
König, P. D., Siewert, M. B., & Ackermann, K. (2022). Conceptualizing and measuring citizens’ preferences for democracy: Taking stock of three decades of research in a fragmented field. Comparative Political Studies, 55(12), 2015-2049.
Leonardelli, G. J., & Toh, S. M. (2015). Social categorization in intergroup contexts: Three kinds of self-categorization. Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 9(2), 69-87. https://doi.org/10.1111/spc3.v9.2
Levitsky, S., & Ziblatt, D. (2018). How democracies die. Broadway Books.
Magalhães, P. (2018). Regime support. En: Fisher, J.; Fieldhouse, E.; Franklin, M.N.; Cantijoch, M.; Wlezien, C. (Eds.). The Routledge handbook of elections, voting behavior and public opinion. Routledge, 173-185.
Magalhães, P., & Aarslew, L. F. (2025). Survey measures of democratic attitudes and social desirability bias. Political Science Research and Methods, 13, 1-18. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1755773925000018
Mainwaring, S., & Pérez-Liñán, A. (2013). Democracies and dictatorships in Latin America: Emergence, survival, and fall. Cambridge University Press.
Marcus, G. E., Sullivan, J. L., Theiss-Morse, E., & Wood, S. J. (1995). With malice toward some: How people make civil liberties judgments. Cambridge University Press.
Mason, L. (2016). A cross-cutting calm: How social sorting drives affective polarization. Public Opinion Quarterly, 80, 351-377.
Mason, L. (2018a). Ideologues without issues: The polarizing consequences of ideological identities. Public Opinion Quarterly, 82, 866-887.
Mason, L. (2018b). Uncivil agreement: How politics became our identity. University of Chicago Press.
Mattes, R. (2018). Support for democracy. En: Thompson, W.R. (Ed.). Oxford research encyclopedia of politics. Oxford University Press.
McCoy, J., Rahman, T., & Somer, M. (2018). Polarization and the global crisis of democracy: common patterns, dynamics, and pernicious consequences for democratic polities. American Behavioral Scientist, 62(1), 16-42.
Moreno, A. (2019). Political cleavages: Issues, parties and the consolidation of democracy. Routledge.
Norris, P. (1999). Critical citizens: Global support for democratic government. Oxford University Press.
Norris, P. (2011). Democratic deficit: Critical citizens revisited. Cambridge University Press.
Nunes, F. & Traumann, T. (2023). Biografia do abismo. HarperCollins.
O’Donnell, G. (2010). Democracia, agencia y estado: Teoría con intención comparativa. Prometeo.
Ortellado, P., Ribeiro, M. M., & Zeine, L. (2022). Existe polarização política no Brasil? Análise das evidências em duas séries de pesquisas de opinião. Opinião Pública, 28(1), 62-91.
Peffley, M., & Rohrschneider, R. (2003). Democratization and political tolerance in seventeen countries: A multi-level model of democratic learning. Political Research Quarterly, 56(3), 243-257.
Petersen, M., Slothuus, R., Stubager, R., & Togeby, L. (2011). Freedom for all? The strength and limits of political tolerance. British Journal of Political Science, 41(3), 581-597.
Prothro, J. W., & Grigg, C. M. (1960). Fundamental principles of democracy: bases of agreement and disagreement. The Journal of Politics, 22, 276-294.
Przeworski, A. (2021). Crises da democracia. Companhia das Letras.
Reiljan, A., Garzia, D., Ferreira da Silva, F., & Trechsel, A. H. (2024). Patterns of affective polarization toward parties and leaders across the democratic world. American Political Science Review, 118(2), 654-670. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0003055423000485
Russo, L., & Areal, J. (2025). Negative partisanship and affective polarization. En: Handbook of affective polarization. Edward Elgar Publishing, 195-210. https://doi.org/10.4337/9781035310609.00021
Samuels, D., & Belarmino, K. (2024). Partisan dehumanization in Brazil’s asymmetrically polarized party system. Journal of Politics in Latin America, 16, 3-29.
Samuels, D., Mello, F., & Zucco, C. (2023). Partisan stereotyping and polarization in Brazil. Latin American Politics and Society, 66(2), 47-71.
Samuels, D., & Zucco, C. (2014). The power of partisanship in Brazil: evidence from survey experiments. American Journal of Political Science, 58(1), 212-225.
Samuels, D., & Zucco, C. (2018). Partisans, anti-partisans and voter behavior in Brazil. En: Ames, B. (Ed.). Handbook of Brazilian politics. Routledge, 186-202.
Schedler, A., & Sarsfield, R. (2007). Democrats with adjectives: linking direct and indirect measures of democratic support. European Journal of Political Research, 46(5), 637-659.
Schedler, A. (2023). Rethinking political polarization. Political Science Quarterly, 138(3), 335-359.
Shamir, M. (1991). Political intolerance among masses and elites in Israel: A reevaluation of the elitist theory of democracy. Journal of Politics, 53(4), 1018-1043.
Stouffer, S. A. (1955). Communism, conformity and civil liberties: A cross-section of the nation speaks its mind. Doubleday.
Sullivan, J. L.; Piereson, J.; Marcus, G.E. (1979). An alternative conceptualization of political tolerance: Illusory increases 1950s-1970s. American Political Science Review, 73(3), 781-794.
Sullivan, J. L., Piereson, J., & Marcus, G. E. (1982). Political tolerance and American democracy. University of Chicago Press.
Svolik, M. W. (2019). Polarização versus democracia. Journal of Democracy em Português, 8(2), 5-25.
Svolik, M. W. (2020). When polarization trumps civic virtue: partisan conflict and the subversion of democracy by incumbents. Quarterly Journal of Political Science, 15, 3-31.
Torcal, M., & Magalhães, P. (2022). Ideological extremism, perceived party system polarization, and support for democracy. European Political Science Review, 14(2), 188-205.
Zhong, C. B., Phillips, K.W., Leonardelli, G.J., & Galinsky, A. D. (2008). Negational categorization and intergroup behavior. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 34(6), 793-806. https://doi.org/10.1177/0146167208315457
Areal, J. (2022). «Them» without «us»: negative identities and affective polarization in Brazil. Political Research Exchange, 4, Article 2117635. https://doi.org/10.1080/2474736X.2022.2117635
Boch, A. (2020). The limits of tolerance: Extreme speakers on campus. Social Problems, 69(1), 143-163.
Booth, J. A., & Seligson, M. A. (2009). The legitimacy puzzle in Latin America: Political support and democracy in eight nations. Cambridge University Press.
Borba, J. (coord.). (2023). As Bases das Clivagens Políticas no Brasil. Base de datos.
Borba, J., & Cardoso, G.R. (2021). Legitimidade democrática e apoio político: inovações recentes no debate internacional. Opinião Pública, 27, 351-381.
Borba, J., Ribeiro, E., & Fuks, M. (2024). Polarization and ideology: exploring the contextual nature of democratic commitment. Revista de Sociologia e Política, 32, e006.
Borges, A., & Vidigal, R. (2018). Do lulismo ao antipetismo? Polarização, partidarismo e voto nas eleições presidenciais brasileiras. Opinião Pública, 24(1), 53-89.
Chong, D., Citrin, J., & Levy, M. (2022). The realignment of political tolerance in the United States. Perspectives on Politics, 20, 1-22.
Dalton, R. J. (2004). Democratic challenges, democratic choices: The erosion of political support in advanced industrial democracies. Oxford University Press.
Easton, D. (1965). A systems analysis of political life. John Wiley and Sons.
Easton, D. (1975). A re-assessment of the concept of political support. British Journal of Political Science, 5(4), 435-457.
Ferrín, M., & Kriesi, H. (2016). Introduction: Democracy – The European verdict. En: Ferrín, M.; Kriesi, H. (Eds.). How Europeans view and evaluate democracy. Oxford University Press, 1-21.
Fuks, M., & Marques, P. H. (2022). Polarização e contexto: medindo e explicando a polarização política no Brasil. Opinião Pública, 28(3), 560-593.
Gandhi, J., & Ong, E. (2019). Committed or conditional democrats? Opposition dynamics in electoral autocracies. American Journal of Political Science, 63(4), 948-963.
Gibson, J., & Duch, R. (1993). Support for rights in Western Europe and the Soviet Union. Research on Democracy and Society, 1, 241-263.
Gibson, J. L. (2009). Political intolerance in the context of democratic theory. En: Goodin, R.E. (Ed.). The Oxford handbook of political science. Oxford University Press, 1-24.
Graham, M. H., & Svolik, M. W. (2020). Democracy in America? Partisanship, polarization, and the robustness of support for democracy in the United States. American Political Science Review, 114(2), 392-409.
Haggard, S., & Kaufman, R. (2021). Backsliding: Democratic regress in the contemporary world. Cambridge University Press.
Iyengar, S., Lelkes, Y., Levendusky, M., Malhotra, N., & Westwood, S. J. (2019). The origins and consequences of affective polarization in the United States. Annual Review of Political Science, 22, 129-146.
Kalmoe, N. P., & Mason, L. (2022). Radical American partisanship: Mapping violent hostility, its causes, and the consequences for democracy. University of Chicago Press.
König, P. D., Siewert, M. B., & Ackermann, K. (2022). Conceptualizing and measuring citizens’ preferences for democracy: Taking stock of three decades of research in a fragmented field. Comparative Political Studies, 55(12), 2015-2049.
Leonardelli, G. J., & Toh, S. M. (2015). Social categorization in intergroup contexts: Three kinds of self-categorization. Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 9(2), 69-87. https://doi.org/10.1111/spc3.v9.2
Levitsky, S., & Ziblatt, D. (2018). How democracies die. Broadway Books.
Magalhães, P. (2018). Regime support. En: Fisher, J.; Fieldhouse, E.; Franklin, M.N.; Cantijoch, M.; Wlezien, C. (Eds.). The Routledge handbook of elections, voting behavior and public opinion. Routledge, 173-185.
Magalhães, P., & Aarslew, L. F. (2025). Survey measures of democratic attitudes and social desirability bias. Political Science Research and Methods, 13, 1-18. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1755773925000018
Mainwaring, S., & Pérez-Liñán, A. (2013). Democracies and dictatorships in Latin America: Emergence, survival, and fall. Cambridge University Press.
Marcus, G. E., Sullivan, J. L., Theiss-Morse, E., & Wood, S. J. (1995). With malice toward some: How people make civil liberties judgments. Cambridge University Press.
Mason, L. (2016). A cross-cutting calm: How social sorting drives affective polarization. Public Opinion Quarterly, 80, 351-377.
Mason, L. (2018a). Ideologues without issues: The polarizing consequences of ideological identities. Public Opinion Quarterly, 82, 866-887.
Mason, L. (2018b). Uncivil agreement: How politics became our identity. University of Chicago Press.
Mattes, R. (2018). Support for democracy. En: Thompson, W.R. (Ed.). Oxford research encyclopedia of politics. Oxford University Press.
McCoy, J., Rahman, T., & Somer, M. (2018). Polarization and the global crisis of democracy: common patterns, dynamics, and pernicious consequences for democratic polities. American Behavioral Scientist, 62(1), 16-42.
Moreno, A. (2019). Political cleavages: Issues, parties and the consolidation of democracy. Routledge.
Norris, P. (1999). Critical citizens: Global support for democratic government. Oxford University Press.
Norris, P. (2011). Democratic deficit: Critical citizens revisited. Cambridge University Press.
Nunes, F. & Traumann, T. (2023). Biografia do abismo. HarperCollins.
O’Donnell, G. (2010). Democracia, agencia y estado: Teoría con intención comparativa. Prometeo.
Ortellado, P., Ribeiro, M. M., & Zeine, L. (2022). Existe polarização política no Brasil? Análise das evidências em duas séries de pesquisas de opinião. Opinião Pública, 28(1), 62-91.
Peffley, M., & Rohrschneider, R. (2003). Democratization and political tolerance in seventeen countries: A multi-level model of democratic learning. Political Research Quarterly, 56(3), 243-257.
Petersen, M., Slothuus, R., Stubager, R., & Togeby, L. (2011). Freedom for all? The strength and limits of political tolerance. British Journal of Political Science, 41(3), 581-597.
Prothro, J. W., & Grigg, C. M. (1960). Fundamental principles of democracy: bases of agreement and disagreement. The Journal of Politics, 22, 276-294.
Przeworski, A. (2021). Crises da democracia. Companhia das Letras.
Reiljan, A., Garzia, D., Ferreira da Silva, F., & Trechsel, A. H. (2024). Patterns of affective polarization toward parties and leaders across the democratic world. American Political Science Review, 118(2), 654-670. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0003055423000485
Russo, L., & Areal, J. (2025). Negative partisanship and affective polarization. En: Handbook of affective polarization. Edward Elgar Publishing, 195-210. https://doi.org/10.4337/9781035310609.00021
Samuels, D., & Belarmino, K. (2024). Partisan dehumanization in Brazil’s asymmetrically polarized party system. Journal of Politics in Latin America, 16, 3-29.
Samuels, D., Mello, F., & Zucco, C. (2023). Partisan stereotyping and polarization in Brazil. Latin American Politics and Society, 66(2), 47-71.
Samuels, D., & Zucco, C. (2014). The power of partisanship in Brazil: evidence from survey experiments. American Journal of Political Science, 58(1), 212-225.
Samuels, D., & Zucco, C. (2018). Partisans, anti-partisans and voter behavior in Brazil. En: Ames, B. (Ed.). Handbook of Brazilian politics. Routledge, 186-202.
Schedler, A., & Sarsfield, R. (2007). Democrats with adjectives: linking direct and indirect measures of democratic support. European Journal of Political Research, 46(5), 637-659.
Schedler, A. (2023). Rethinking political polarization. Political Science Quarterly, 138(3), 335-359.
Shamir, M. (1991). Political intolerance among masses and elites in Israel: A reevaluation of the elitist theory of democracy. Journal of Politics, 53(4), 1018-1043.
Stouffer, S. A. (1955). Communism, conformity and civil liberties: A cross-section of the nation speaks its mind. Doubleday.
Sullivan, J. L.; Piereson, J.; Marcus, G.E. (1979). An alternative conceptualization of political tolerance: Illusory increases 1950s-1970s. American Political Science Review, 73(3), 781-794.
Sullivan, J. L., Piereson, J., & Marcus, G. E. (1982). Political tolerance and American democracy. University of Chicago Press.
Svolik, M. W. (2019). Polarização versus democracia. Journal of Democracy em Português, 8(2), 5-25.
Svolik, M. W. (2020). When polarization trumps civic virtue: partisan conflict and the subversion of democracy by incumbents. Quarterly Journal of Political Science, 15, 3-31.
Torcal, M., & Magalhães, P. (2022). Ideological extremism, perceived party system polarization, and support for democracy. European Political Science Review, 14(2), 188-205.
Zhong, C. B., Phillips, K.W., Leonardelli, G.J., & Galinsky, A. D. (2008). Negational categorization and intergroup behavior. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 34(6), 793-806. https://doi.org/10.1177/0146167208315457
Borba, J., Aparecido Ribeiro, E., Unbehaun Leal da Silva, G., & Rodrigo Gimenes, E. (2026). Affective Polarization and Democratic Commitment in Brazil: A Critical Test o f Political Tolerance. América Latina Hoy , 96, e32356. https://doi.org/10.14201/alh.32356
Downloads
Download data is not yet available.
+
−