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When the Church Votes Left: How Progressive Bishops Supported the Workers’ Party in Brazil

Guadalupe Tuñón

American Political Science Review2026https://doi.org/10.1017/s0003055426101427article
AJG 4*ABDC A*
Weight
0.50

Abstract

Social scientists routinely characterize religious influence in electoral politics as conservative and left-wing parties as fundamentally secular. Against these claims, I argue that the relationship between religion and electoral politics is shaped by the redistributive beliefs and preferences of religious leaders, who can become valuable allies of left-wing parties. I evaluate this argument in Brazil following the appointment of Pope John Paul II, leveraging as-if random variation in municipalities’ exposure to progressive Catholic bishops. I show that bishops who actively supported state-led redistribution were essential to the electoral success of the left-wing Workers’ Party ( Partido dos Trabalhadores [PT]). Voters in municipalities with longer exposure to these bishops supported the PT at higher rates. The findings highlight the under-examined role of religious leaders in shaping the electoral influence of religion and provide evidence that these leaders can, in fact, be key for the development of left-wing parties, especially in the developing world.

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https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1017/s0003055426101427

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@article{guadalupe2026,
  title        = {{When the Church Votes Left: How Progressive Bishops Supported the Workers’ Party in Brazil}},
  author       = {Guadalupe Tuñón},
  journal      = {American Political Science Review},
  year         = {2026},
  doi          = {https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1017/s0003055426101427},
}

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When the Church Votes Left: How Progressive Bishops Supported the Workers’ Party in Brazil

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Evidence weight

0.50

Balanced mode · F 0.40 / M 0.15 / V 0.05 / R 0.40

F · citation impact0.50 × 0.4 = 0.20
M · momentum0.50 × 0.15 = 0.07
V · venue signal0.50 × 0.05 = 0.03
R · text relevance †0.50 × 0.4 = 0.20

† Text relevance is estimated at 0.50 on the detail page — for your query’s actual relevance score, open this paper from a search result.