RACE AND POLITICAL-BEHAVIOR

The article endeavors to answer this question: independent of social inequalities (especially educational level), how does a voter's race influence his or her vote? The study is based on the results of a survey conducted in four municipalities (Presidente Prudente, Sao Paulo; Niteroi, Rio de janeiro; Juiz de Fora, Minas Gerais; and Taguatinga, a lower-class dormitory city outside Brasilia, DF) during the 1989 elections. Logistic regression is used to determine the influence of the following factors on interviewees' voting intentions: race, interest in politics, age, educational level, and municipality of residence. It is concluded that while not the prime factor, race is a variable that has an inherent explanatory power, independent of other factors. Non-white voters (i.e. pretos and pardos) tend to alienate themselves more than white voters from the election process and also are more likely to choose candidates classified as leftists.