Marketing Political and Electoral Behavior: Reflections on the Political Marketing Strategies in Election Campaigns

Abstract

This article reflects on the relationship between political marketing and voting behavior. Since knowledge about voting behavior is critical to the success of political campaigns, this reflection aims to illustrate the relationship between theories of political science and voting behavior and review strategic political marketing and its applicability in the context of election campaigns. The discussion is based on literature references in the area of communication and political science. Initially, the paper presents an analysis of the theoretical and conceptual aspects of political marketing. Next, it presents the schools of voting behavior and their main characteristics. The end is a discussion of marketing strategies in political campaigns. We assert that the different theories about voting behavior contribute to the analysis of individuals, groups, and social classes, and to the challenges of politics in contemporary society. In multiparty systems, as is the case of Brazil, the political marketing strategies require a pluralistic approach to instill the knowledge necessary to understand the political process such as it is established within the capitalist democracies.