Direita, volver?! The Decline of Conservatism in Contemporary Brazil

Abstract

This article aims to analyze a supposed conservative shift in Brazil. Therefore, the focus of analysis is changed from conservative political elites to Brazilian voters. The analysis of the phenomenon is grounded in a wide survey database, from 1989 to 2014, and a longitudinal model of Item Response Theory with Bayesian approach in order to capture changes in preferences of Brazilians in the last three decades. Thus, it is argued that while there is indeed a predominance of conservative leaders and a greater publicity of right-wing movements nationwide, the electorate in Brazil are less conservative.