“How Does the Other Half Tweet?”: Analyzing the Construction of “Otherness” During the 2022 Brazilian Presidential Campaign

This study focuses into the dynamics of discursive othering and populist mobilization in Brazilian politics, specifically focusing on the highly contentious 2022 presidential election between Jair Bolsonaro and Lula da Silva. Drawing from a dataset of tweets from Bolsonaro's and Lula's official accounts during the crucial second round of the campaign, we employ a comparative approach to elucidate how these candidates leveraged social media platforms to construct and legitimize discourses of “Otherness”. Through qualitative analysis, we explore (1) the nuanced strategies employed by each campaign to otherize opponents and their supporters; (2) the role of discursive othering in reinforcing polarization within Brazilian society; and (3) the nexus between discursive othering and populist rhetoric in the context of the 2022 election.