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CHART 1 • South America could flip from left to right
A couple of weeks ago, I had to drive my wife to Zurich to vote at the town hall. Not for any Swiss election, but for the Brazilian elections. She’s from Brazil, and in Brazil it’s mandatory to vote regardless of where you are in the world.
I never really asked her who she was going to vote for, but she said that she was unsure. Not because she liked both candidates. Quite the opposite, actually. She thought both were rather useless.
She had a choice between Lula (left), whom she deemed too corrupt, which is not an unusual view in Brazil, and the son of former President Bolsonaro, whom she considered far too radical (right).
So naturally, when I saw this map, it caught my attention. There has been a dramatic shift in politics in South America. The question is: what does that actually mean? It certainly presents a political landscape that is far more accommodative to the US Government. And it suggests quite a dramatic shift from South America’s traditional socialist past. But will anything actually change for the better? I’m doubtful.
Many parts of South America still suffer from the age-old issues of corruption and lack of progress. The problems have never been ideological, but rather structural when it comes to democracy.
Source: The World in Maps
Paid subscribers get access to the other four charts: Brazil’s entrepreneur vote, Republican midterm exposure, Donald Trump’s approval tracker and British opinion on rejoining the EU. Together, they show how personal leadership and economic identity reshape political choices.
