The text aims to think about the middle class and its role in the 2018 presidential elections, which took Jair Messias Bolsonaro, from the Social Liberal Party (PSL), to the Planalto Palace. As a main thesis, the text argues that the middle class does not have a class identity of its own and thus assimilates the cultural references of the upper classes. As a consequence of this absence of its own ideology, the middle class, in an attempt to differentiate itself, demonstrates prejudice against the popular classes. To understand this issue, the text is divided into three moments. Initially, a historical analysis of the formation of the middle class is made; then the emergence of the “new” middle class is discussed; in a third moment, the perception of the middle class about the global economic crisis that started in 2008 is presented.