Elite Ideological Differentiation and Demographic-Based Voting in Latin America

Electoral divisions along class, religious, and ethnic lines differ in strength across countries and within them over time. I argue that the lack of meaningful ideological choices in many countries explains some of the variation in demographic-based electoral divisions in Latin America. Demographic divides are insignificant in countries where the parties are not ideologically polarised, but are stronger in countries where parties ideologically differentiate from each other. Forms of polarisation that are not directly connected to ideology have a less consistent effect on demographic-based voting, although ethnic-based voting tends to be stronger in polarised societies. Even in a region where programmatic politics is not universal, the electoral divisions that emerge are contingent upon the kinds of options voters are provided. The recent growth in ideological differentiation in many countries may thus strengthen voters’ connections to parties and remind observers that ideological polarisation has some beneficial features for democracy.