Content analysis of the electoral discourses of the 2018 presidential run in Brazil

Abstract

The article addresses the connection between democracy and rhetoric, analyzing how the main candidates of Brazil’s 2018 presidential run had built their speeches throughout their campaigns and which subjects were most covered, comparing the candidates’ different communication platforms and also the candidates among themselves. Using Laurence Bardin’s content analysis, categories were created to synthesize and characterize the tenor of the speeches, allowing to develop a profile on the posture of the candidates before the main subjects that mobilize politics. The effects of the political polarization were prominent on each candidate's speech and wide similarities were found among them. However, important aspects that distinguish one from the other were also found. In front of the relevance of the changing period of Brazilian politics, it is necessary that more studies can address the subject aiming for a better understanding of the political speeches’ roles on the contemporary’s age exercise of democracy.