AGENDAS, PREFERENCES, COMPETITION: PT and PSDB in presidential disputes

In the Brazilian political science, there is a debate about the bipolarization of the party system resulting from the concentration of the competition in the presidential elections in two parties: PT and PSDB. This article aims to identify the content and the terms of competition among such parties concerning their thematic emphasis by comparing government plans of each party for the presidential elections from 2006 to 2014. The hypothesis, derived from saliency theory, is that the competition between them is based on the selection of specific themes and alternative agendas. The method used to measure agendas and preferences is the content analysis, applying the categories of the Manifest Research Group – MARPOR. The results reveled that platforms come closer to each other due to the inclusion of themes of the national public agenda, but they are distinguished in the priorities that each party establish and in the direction in which they adapt their emphases over time.

Manifests; content analysis; political parties; presidential elections; public policy agenda