Sondagens, voto e democracia: pesquisas eleitorais nas eleições municipais de Natal/RN - 2012

Abstract

This study aimed to understand the role played by the election poll, especially in conditioning the electoral behavior of voters. For this a survey was applied during the election. Perceptions have also worked within the political market composed by professionals, journalists, candidates and political analysts expressed in the media during the election process through monitoring how the surveys were publicized and circulated by the newspapers during the election year of study. The city of Natal/RN was investigated in this case that was focused on the 2012 municipal elections for the executive. The study was able to reach the conclusion that there are voters who believes, monitor and uses the polls during the election. However, it did not confirm the hypothesis that the publicity of the data decisively influenced the election, in other words, generating an early end of the election in the first round, favoring a particular candidate or a particular electoral scene.