2018 Elections, the Pentecostal Factor

Abstract

In his book, A religião distrai os pobres? O voto econômico de joelhos para a moral e os bons costumes, Victor Araújo discusses the voting trends that altered the result of the presidential election in Brazil in 2018, presenting what I call the “Pentecostal factor”. Among the main arguments, he proves by crossing geographic information of the conservative electorate and the location of Pentecostal churches, that the evangelical public, especially Pentecostals, demonstrates a voting preference aligned with the moral guidelines defended by candidates who demonstrate a more conservative bias. It is seen, then, the possibility of a dialogue with Pierucci by resuming the theory of “secularization” proposed by Weber, in a new guise considering the Brazilian scenario, the religious presence in public spheres, the visible rise of Pentecostalism in the national scenario, and the paradigm shift that we have been living in the last decades.