Dialogue in campaign: an analysis of the communicative strategies of confrontation in the Brazilian presidential election of 2014

Abstract This article intends to identify the dialogue, as well as its nature and contribution to the clarification of the electoral proposals, of the three main candidates competing in the 2014 presidential elections: Dilma Rousseff (PT), Aécio Neves (PSDB), and Marina Silva (PSB). The primary source of information was the Free Time of Electoral Advertising (block and spots) aired during the two rounds of the elections. The first objective was to elaborate a quantitative analysis of the occurrence of direct dialogue between the candidacies, identifying the candidates who had the most dialogue. The second objective was to qualify the nature of the dialogue undertaken by each candidacy, classifying it based on three categories: deconstruction of personal image; deconstruction of political image; criticism of the opponent’s political project. Such classification will assess to what extent the dialogue between the candidates has allowed discerning with greater or lesser clarity the ideological-political contours between the governmental projects in dispute. It is concluded that the occurrence of dialogue between the candidates in 2014 was increased by the sudden rise in competitiveness of the campaign.

摘要 本文旨在剖析2014年巴西总统选举三位主要参选候选人的竞选对话及其本质，以及该对话对阐明选举政见的作用，涉及候选人分别为迪尔玛·罗塞夫（PT）、阿埃西奥·内维斯（PSDB）与玛丽娜·席尔瓦（PSB）。本研究的核心信息源为两轮选举期间播出的选举广告免费时段（广告区块与插播点位）。本研究的首要目标是对各参选阵营间直接对话的发生频次进行定量分析，甄别出对话频次最高的候选人。其次，本研究旨在界定各参选阵营所开展对话的本质，并依据三大类别进行归类：个人形象解构、政治形象解构，以及对对手政治纲领的批判。通过上述分类，本研究将评估候选人之间的对话在多大程度上可帮助人们更清晰地辨识各竞逐执政纲领间的意识形态与政治分野。研究结论显示，2014年总统选举中候选人对话频次的提升，源于竞选活动竞争力的骤然提升。