The Reverse Coattails Effect: Local Party Organization in the 1989 Brazilian Presidential Election.



[http://www.jstor.org.proxy2.library.illinois.edu/stable/2944884 Ames, Barry. 1994. “The Reverse Coattails Effect: Local Party Organization in the 1989 Brazilian Presidential Election.” American Political Science Review 88: 95-111.]

Overview
Ames shows that local party organizations can mobilize votes for national elections.

Ames also shows support for a very charismatic Brazilian candidate (Brizola) was high in Rio (controlled by his party) but low in Sao (belongs to opposition party). While local political organization was important reason for this difference, the charisma of Ames allowed him to win in areas that his party didn't control. Another important factor in Sao is that his support was only found in areas of migration from the last 40 years. A charismatic candidate was able to penetrate an opposition controlled state, but only along a migration path. His support did not spread past this migration path because of cultural segregation of natives and immigrants.

Place in Literature
Langton reveals how neighborhoods matter for mobilization; a  worker's likelihood to vote socialist increases a s an area's proportion of workers increases. Ames shows how cultural barriers can matter just as much as spatial barriers; cultural segregation of immigrants prevented support for Brizola among the immigrants to spread to non-immigrants of the same area.

How does a message spread? There is a spatial and cultural component to the spread of a message. Technology seems to be reducing the significance of spatial factors. This question is answered from a group-pyschological perspective in the following set of readings. Perhaps the non-natives of Rio were even less willing to support Brizola because they associated him with their negative perceptions of immigrants.