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CIAO DATE: 5/5/2007
The Enduring Presence of Religion in Chilean Ideological Positionings and Voter Options
J. Samuel Valenzuela, Timothy R. Scully, Nicolás Somma
March 2007
Abstract
Analysts of Chilean politics assert that the Pinochet dictatorship created a new political cleavage characterized as “authoritarianism versus democracy.” It fostered the formation of two party coalitions that took positions for and against Pinochet’s continuation as head of state in the plebiscite that he lost in October 1988. As a result, they argue, while the religious and class cleavages had powerfully shaped voter options and the party system in the pre-dictatorship past, these fissures have lost their salience in the current context.
Using a survey based on a national sample of urban areas, this paper presents a different perspective. The fact that the two party coalitions created at the time of the plebiscite continue to predominate in the Chilean party system has not obliterated the earlier religious and class divisions. Our main focus here is on religion, and we show that religious and political attitudes continue to be closely interwoven. Religion remains an important factor in shaping voter choices along three polarities: irreligiosity versus religiosity, Catholicism versus Protestantism, and progressive versus traditional forms of religiosity. All three reflect the continuing presence of long-standing religiously based divisions in Chilean politics. The irreligious, Protestants, and religious people with a progressive view of their own religiosity self-place more on the left of the ideological spectrum, and are more supportive of the Concertation coalition that championed the “no” vote that defeated Pinochet.
