A poll shows that almost half of the Brazilian population takes religion into consideration when casting a vote | Image: Luis Quintero/Licensed free to use In the middle of a deeply polarized election, with polls led by former center-Left president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and incumbent far-Right Jair Bolsonaro by a wide margin, religion has been one of the issues at the core of the Brazilian political scenario. With a population of 215 million people and more than 150 million voters, Brazil has around 80% of its population identifying either as Catholic or evangelical. Both candidates have worked strategically to attract this electorate whose support may get to decide the next president when Brazilians go to vote on October 2. A poll by Datafolha institute shows that around 48% of Brazilians do consider religion when choosing their vote, while 34% claim they do not. It's important to notice that neither evangelicals nor Catholics are homogenous or unanimous groups. Incumbent Jair Bolsonaro is known for using a recurrent slogan: “Brazil above everything, God above everyone”. Despite the fact that he identifies himself as Catholic, many people believe he is actually an evangelical. The confusion is understandable since he is closer to evangelicals in politics, got married to an evangelical woman by a pastor, and was baptised by another pastor, in the Jordan river, in 2016, wearing a white robe. In 2018, when he was elected president, after almost three decades in Congress, many evangelicals in Brazil saw Bolsonaro as “an answer to their prayers“. Three years later, when he had to appoint a justice to the Supreme Court he said the person should be “terribly evangelical” and chose his then Justice Minister André Mendonça, also a pastor. Currently, Bolsonaro has the support of nearly 50% of the evangelicals, according to a Datafolha poll from September 23, against Lula's 32%. Ana Maria, a Catholic and public school teacher, is one of them. She is identified here under an alias, since she wants to remain anonymous for safety reasons. She told Global Voices (GV) on WhatsApp: A while ago, if I thought the candidate understood economy, I would vote for them. Today I understand this is not all that matters. The president cannot be pro-abortion, just as he cannot have a socialist/Marxist ideology. These are some of the criteria I evaluate. Lula, also a Catholic, leads among this population — he has 52% against Bolsonaro's 28%, also according to Datafolha. The former president said he opposed mixing religion and politics; but in the beginning of September, he also appeared praying with pastors in Rio. At Bolsonaro's party's convention, back in July, First Lady Michelle Bolsonaro, presented her husband as “the one chosen by God” who has a “project of freedom for the nation”. Vinicius do Valle, a political scientist at the University of Sao Paulo and director of the Evangelical Observatory, told to GV in a phone interview, that especially in the last decade, polarization between evangelical conservative sectors and Left-wing social movements has intensified in the country. On the one side, there are speeches in defense of conservative and moral agendas, anti-abortion and LGBTQIA+ rights, and in defense of a “heteronormative nuclear family”. On the other side, social movements raise debates on gender, sexuality, and human rights. “This created an electoral coalition between evangelical sectors and right-wing parties. Within that, in 2018, a national alliance with Bolsonaro was seen”. Brazil is a deeply Roman Catholic country, making up 50% of the population, and around 30% of evangelicals, also according to Datafolha. The number of evangelicals, however, has doubled over the past two decades. “The country is going through a religious transition where Catholicism is losing importance and Brazil is becoming more evangelical,” said Do Valle. With 181 deputies and 8 senators, the “Evangelical Parliamentary Front” is composed of members from 80% of the parties represented in the National Congress — and votes are more in line with the Bolsonaro government's proposals than the set of deputies, points out the Observatory of the Brazilian Legislature (OLB) and the Institute of Social and Political Studies from the State University of Rio de Janeiro (UERJ). Nevertheless, evangelicals in the National Congress are not a monolithic bloc, but a plural group, he says. “If evangelicals formed a political party today, it would be the largest party in the National Congress”, explains Do Valle. “They have their differences, but for the most part they are similar in terms of ideology.” Between tax exemptions for pastors and nominations to the Courts, strategic Cabinets were occupied by pastors and religious leaders during Bolsonaro's term.