Sociologist Esther Solano was tired of hearing left-wing militants calling Jair Bolsonaro supporters “stupid.” A professor at the Federal University of São Paulo (UNIFESP) and at the Universidad Complutense de Madrid, she believed ignorance, racism, or anti-democratic views were not the only motivating factors behind supporters of the former Army captain. Ms. Solano knew, of course, that the far-right candidate and frontrunner in the presidential race (when Lula is not on the ballot) rose to prominence despite (or maybe because of) his outrageous comments about LGBTQ people, blacks, and other minorities.
But she decided to investigate what leads...