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The 2006 Mexican Elections: Manifestation of a Divided Society?

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The 2006 Mexican Elections: Manifestation of a Divided Society? PSC40~1! 07005 10612006006 8:05 am Page:1 The 2006 Mexican Elections: Manifestation of a Divided Society? hen the Institutional Revolutionary Party brief exploration of the major social and politi- W ~PRI! lost the presidency in 2000, the cal bases of the top three contenders in this central cleavage that defined Mexican politics election. In addition, I offer insight on how the in the last 15 years of the twentieth century— campaign dynamics worked in favor of the pro-regime vs. anti-regime—could no longer eventual winner, the PAN’s Felipe Calderón, by guide voters on Election Day. With no PRI to examining the political characteristics of the vote out of office ~or to defend!, Mexicans three presidential candidates’ constituents, with were impelled to turn their political attention to a view to understanding which segments of non-regime issues, such as economic policy, voters moved to Calderón’s camp during the social policy, relations with the United States, course of the race. In so doing, I underscore and crime control. As Kathleen Bruhn and the still-fluid character of partisan alignment in Kenneth Greene make clear in their contribu- Mexico’s new democracy. tion to this symposium, Mexican political elites are seriously divided on these issues, while the views of their bases are not far apart. Evidence The issues that animate Mexican political To explore the social bases of the three debate may nevertheless arise from important major parties’ candidacies, I draw on two main social divisions at the mass level. Were there sources. First, I use initial returns from the profound differences in the support bases in Federal Electoral Institute ~IFE! at the state social groups among the three main parties and ~Nϭ32!, electoral district ~nϭ300!, and pre- three major presidential candidates in 2006? cinct levels to examine regional voting pat- Did social groups with opposing interests on terns.2 For individual-level data, I use the matters of public policy line up behind the par- Mexico 2006 Panel Study.3 Comparisons to ties and candidates who most clearly repre- two major exit polls conducted by the news- sented their interests? A prevalent line of paper Reforma ~Reforma Investigación 2006! analysis posits a “blue-yellow divide” that geo- and by the polling firm Consulta Mitofsky graphically divides ~2006! for the Mexican broadcasting network Mexico, much akin to by Televisa suggest that the panel study results are the “red state-blue state very similar to those in the background Joseph L. Klesner, divide” trumpeted by population—a conclusion supported by a com- the media in recent U.S. Kenyon College parison of the final panel wave with a small elections. In this view, cross-section of respondents conducted contem- the nation separates into poraneously with the third panel wave. I use blue northern, Mexico, where the National Ac- the panel study here because it asks a wider ~ ! tion Party’s PAN Felipe Calderón won most range of questions than the exit polls and al- yellow states and southern, Mexico where An- lows us to explore changes in voting intention drés Manuel López Obrador of the Party of the over the course of the campaign. Democratic Revolution ~PRD, the core of the Coalition for the Welfare of All! carried most 1 states. Figure 1 illustrates this blue and yellow Social Bases of the Mexican cleavage, in grey ~states where Calderón won! Parties and white ~López Obrador victories!. But just as the U.S. red-blue division both The López Obrador campaign and the PRD illuminates a central truth about contemporary made economic policy a central campaign American politics and masks important com- issue. López Obrador openly criticized the plexities below the surface ~Gimpel and “neoliberal model” for its failure to address Schuknecht 2003; Ansolabehere, Rodden, and distributional justice and suggested that Mexico Snyder 2006; Gimpel and Karnes 2006!, Mexi- reconsider one element of the North American can states do not easily fall into the blue and Free Trade Agreement ~NAFTA!. Most observ- yellow categories. Nor are Mexican sociologi- ers labeled López Obrador a populist, suggest- cal categories so simply separated into pro- ing that his approach to social policy would PAN and pro-PRD groups. The added emphasize government spending with little complexity of Mexico’s three-party system, concern for the likely impact on broader mac- which includes the continued presence of the roeconomic indicators ~for examples, see PRI, complicates any analysis of cleavage pat- McKinley 2006!. Calderón, meanwhile, prom- terns in Mexican politics: the fact that wealthy ised to hew to the main lines of President voters disproportionately favor Calderón does Vicente Fox’s economic policy, which was in not mean that the poor disproportionately vote turn similar to that pursued by the preceding PRI for López Obrador. In this article, I provide a governments of Ernesto Zedillo ~1994–2000! PSOnline www.apsanet.org 1 PSC40~1! 07005 20612006006 8:05 am Page:2 Figure 1 PRI’s Madrazo was the candidate that Blue and Yellow Mexico gained most of the votes from the poor, as has been the case for PRI candidates for many years ~Klesner 2005!. These findings mirror those for educational levels. A strong positive relationship between educa- tion and voting for Calderón emerges, while a powerfully inverse relationship between education level and vote share for Madrazo is clear. Again, López Obrador polled well across all educational levels. Exploring three more socioeconomic indicator variables, we find that Calderón polled very well among those identified by the interviewer as White, whereas White Mexicans showed considerably less enthu- siasm for either of his main opponents.5 Notably, Madrazo did well among darker- skinned Mexicans, indicating that the PRI continues to pull its votes disproportion- ately from the millions of Mexicans of indigenous heritage. Again, these figures suggest that while Calderón’s support comes disproportionately from upper so- cial strata, and the PRI’s from lower social strata, López Obrador received votes across social groups. The PRI has had a long relationship with organized labor ~Middlebrook 1995!, while the PAN has not. Calderón polled much more poorly among the small seg- ment of unionized families in this survey than among those with no union associa- and Carlos Salinas ~1988–1994!: a market-oriented, internation- tions; Madrazo performed better among union families. Despite alist economic model. Calderón ran a strongly negative cam- his populist rhetoric, López Obrador received votes in almost paign that sought to portray López Obrador as a dangerous the same proportions from union and non-union families. Of populist, on the model of Venezuela’s Hugo Chávez, who would course, as organized labor has withered, this population segment polarize the country and endanger the economic gains made in is growing smaller and smaller. On the other hand, Calderón the last three years of the Fox administration. and the PAN had greater success in winning the votes of those Table 1 reports cross-tabulations of several of the electorates’ with family members working in the U.S. Those families may key demographic and socioeconomic characteristics alongside have both economic interests in good relations with the U.S. voters’ self-reported vote in the presidential election. We see and a more favorable view of the U.S. than those with no fam- that López Obrador polled much more strongly among men ily members working across the border. than women, with Calderón winning more of the women’s vote. While religious issues have been at the root of much violent Mexican men’s vote for López Obrador is easier to understand conflict in post-independence Mexico, in recent decades reli- in the context that they are more willing risk-takers than Mexi- gion has not been central in shaping the major issues on the can women. In 2000, for instance, men were more likely to public agenda. As Bruhn and Greene note in their article in vote for Fox, while women opted disproportionately for the this symposium, although the party elites for the PAN and the PRI’s Francisco Labastida, the virtual incumbent ~Klesner PRD are quite divided on moral issues like abortion, those 2001, 110!.4 themes did not prove central mobilizers of opinion in the cam- In terms of the age profile of his supporters, Calderón contin- paign. The PAN, however, has clearly identified itself as pro- ued Fox’s trend of performing well in age groups outside of the Catholic since its founding. Bishops have also been willing to elderly. PRI candidate Roberto Madrazo, not surprisingly, per- speak out on political positions over the past two decades, es- formed best among voters over age 50, suggesting that the PRI pecially in promoting participation and democratic change base continues to age and that its decline in voting strength as ~Chand 2001!. In 2006, Catholics—especially church-goers— well as partisan dealignment in Mexico probably have as much were more likely to vote for Calderón than Protestants, those to do with the generational replacement of PRI stalwarts as any- with no religion, and those who rarely attend religious ser- thing else. López Obrador did best among those in their thirties vices. López Obrador, meanwhile, did especially well among and forties, but no worse among the young than the old. This the non-religious, although again this is a small segment of the relatively widespread support across age groups mirrors López population. Obrador’s relative success across different categories on the var- These results, along with those for the age profile of the ious socioeconomic variables explored here. candidates’ supporters, suggest that while Calderón did draw Moving to socioeconomic factors, we see that Calderón votes disproportionately from the younger, the better-educated, clearly polled better among higher-income groups than with and those with higher incomes, López Obrador’s voters poorer voters.
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