The Moral Foundations Theory and the Brazilian Presidential Elections in 2018 and 2022

The Moral Foundations Theory postulates that liberals and conservatives are guided by distinct moral foundations, which can be used as a strategy for political persuasion, as well as influencing voting behavior. In the present paper, we carried out four studies. Participants responded to an online instrument composed of the Moral Foundations Questionnaire, their intention to vote, to assign the position to candidates for the presidency, and their demographic data. The studies identified that the individualizing foundations influenced the intention to vote for left-wing candidates, while the binding foundations influenced the intention to vote for right-wing candidates in Brazil's 2018 and 2022 presidential elections. Therefore, the MFT is a robust model for understanding aspects of Brazilian political behavior.