A DERROTA DE TASSO JEREISSATI NA DISPUTA PARA O SENADO EM 2010: COMO ENTENDER A DISSOLU O DE SUAS BASES ELEITORAIS?

In this paper, we review the press coverage of politics and analyze the election results and the data from post-election survey that we conducted in the State of Ceará to explain why the supposedly solid Tasso Jereissati's electoral bases quickly dissolved after two decades of political domain. The case of Ceará in the 2010 elections indicates that voters, when voting to governor and senator, tend to choose candidates who are perceived as being in the same political side: government or opposition. The tendency of political leaders is to ally with the government and either remain at or go to the opposition only in campaigns whose competitiveness suggest the decline of the political dominance of a particular group or political party and the rise of other political forces.