Not (So) Political: Politics, Everyday Life and Stereotypes in Argentina

This dissertation analyzes the interaction between politics and everyday life in Argentina, a context characterized by weak political parties and a primary cleavage centered on adherence to—or rejection of—Peronism, a charismatic movement. In particular, this work focuses on stereotypes as associations between political positions and traits or choices. The first paperexamines how everyday preferences — such as food, music, or sports — become politicized and associated with Peronism or anti-Peronism. Using expert surveys, public opinion data, and a pre-registered within-subject survey experiment resembling the parallel design logic, I find that these stereotypes shape negative perceptions of political outgroups, even though they are often inaccurate. Perceived political orientation mediates these effects, showing how imprecise cues candrive social rejection. The second paper explores how the aggressive tone of voice used by populist candidates functions as a political heuristic. Through two pre-registered survey experiments with audio treatments, I show that an aggressive tone signals strong, personalistic leadership and anti-institutional attitudes—but harms candidates’ perceived competence and support, especially among independents. Tone, then, can effectively communicate political positioning but also limits electoral appeal (except for those voters that support the current president the most). The third paper analyzes political branding in the marketplace, using a vignette experiment on Peronist-themed restaurants. I find that political theming deters outgroup and neutral consumers and only appeals to extreme Peronists. These results highlight the reach of affective polarization into everyday decisions and the risks of politicizing consumer spaces. Across the three papers, I use evidence from two national surveys and a range of experimental and statistical methods to show how politics interact with everyday domains like lifestyle, communication, and consumption—even in a context with weakly institutionalized parties.