Ideologia Política Esquerda e Direita: presença no programa eleitoral, no discurso político e conhecimento por parte do eleitorado

Abstract

The validity of Left-Right political ideology has been criticized over the years, with its end to be defended by several authors. However, since the French Revolution it has manifested itself as a fundamental mechanism in assigning to all those involved in the political universe a sense of orientation and understanding of an increasingly complex political system. This political dichotomy has undergone changes of meaning with respect to each political field, whether Left or Right, related to the emergence of new social and cultural cleavages associated with the ideological evolution of society.
There are numerous studies in the area of communication, sociology, and political science that in recent years have addressed and/or evaluated the ideological behavior of both political parties and voters, exposing them to the Left-Right political dimension (Eg, Freire, 2006b; Belchior, 2008; Guedes, 2012b). Thus, our investigation sought to understand how the Left-Right dichotomy manifests itself in the Vila Real constituency, in the discursive content of the PS and PSD party leaders, and in the respective electoral programs during the election campaign season of the legislatures of 2015.
In this sense, first, we analyzed, in detail, the programmatic content of the electoral programs of both parties related to the legislative of 2015. Second, we analyzed data made available to the academic community by various platforms to assess the impact of the economic crisis, namely, Troika in the political ideologies of the PS and PSD. Third, we analyze the television debate between António Costa (PS) and Pedro Passos Coelho (PàF) in order to ascertain their ideological positions within the Left-Right political dimension. Fourth, in order to evaluate the presence of this political dyad in the electorate of the municipality of Vila Real, we proceeded to the analysis of respondents responses to the survey by the considered questionnaire.
Thus, our research seeks to ascertain whether the PS and PSD parties are ideologically distinct within the Left-Right political dimension, not only through the way they communicate through their programs, but also through the discursive content of each political leader. This study also seeks to evaluate the capacity of the electorate of the municipality of Vila Real to orient and self-position in the various fields of this political spectrum and to verify to what extent this political dyad continues to make sense both ideologically and linguistically in the current political sphere.