Public opinion, public policy and privatization in the debate over reforming medicare : how do governments respond to the conflicting demands of different sectors of the public?

2003 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kari Elliott
Keyword(s):  
Public Policy ◽  
Public Opinion ◽  
The Public ◽  
Conflicting Demands

scholarly journals Public Opinion and Public Policy in Advanced Democracies

2011 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher Wlezien
Keyword(s):  
Public Policy ◽  
Public Opinion ◽  
Voting Behavior ◽  
Descriptive Representation ◽  
Political Systems ◽  
Roll Call ◽  
Political Actors ◽  
The Public ◽  
Self Interest ◽  
The Government

The representation of public opinion in public policy is of obvious importance in representative democracies. While public opinion is important in all political systems, it is especially true where voters elect politicians; after all, opinion representation is a primary justification for representative democracy. Not surprisingly, a lot of research addresses the connection between the public and the government. Much of the work considers “descriptive representation”—whether the partisan and demographic characteristics of elected politicians match the characteristics of the electorate itself. This descriptive representation is important but may not produce actual “substantive representation” of preferences in policy. Other work examines the positions of policymakers. Some of this research assesses the roll call voting behavior of politicians and institutions. The expressed positions and voting behavior of political actors do relate to policy but are not the same things. Fortunately, a good amount of research analyzes policy. With but a handful of exceptions noted below, this research focuses on expressed preferences of the public, not their “interests.” That is, virtually all scholars let people be the judges of their own interests, and they assess the representation of expressed opinion no matter how contrary to self-interest it may seem.

Public opinion and public policy in the United States

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Saundra K. Schneider ◽  
William G. Jacoby
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Public Policy ◽  
Public Opinion ◽  
The United States ◽  
Aggregate Level ◽  
The Public ◽  
Democratic Responsiveness ◽  
Policy Attitudes ◽  
Policy Field ◽  
The Relationship

In a properly-functioning democracy, public opinion should not only be correlated with, but also a major determinant of, public policy. Is that the case in the United States? In this chapter, we address that question by covering the major lines of empirical research on the relationship between American public opinion and public policy. We begin with early work that emphasized the limits of popular thinking about government, creating the apparent need for democratic elitism in governmental action. More recent literature includes perspectives from the public policy field, and research on democratic responsiveness at both the national and state levels. Major lines of work emphasize the existence of rational public opinion at the aggregate level which ‘smooths out’ the inconsistencies that may exist within individual policy attitudes. Seminal studies have considered both the degree of correspondence between opinion and policy (i.e., ‘the rational public’), and models that specify how policy responds to opinion (thermostatic responses and the macropolity). Recent methodological innovations have led to new insights about democratic responsiveness in the American states. Our general conclusion is cautiously optimistic: Policy generally does follow the contours of citizen preference, but elites also have opportunities to shape manifestations of public opinion.

Public Opinion and Morality Policy: Lessons from Canada and the United States

2019 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-32 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mildred A. Schwartz ◽  
Raymond Tatalovich
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Public Policy ◽  
Public Opinion ◽  
Political Action ◽  
The United States ◽  
Moral Values ◽  
Morality Policy ◽  
The Public

Abstract To clarify why research examining the responsiveness of governments to public opinion produces mixed results, the authors focus on issues involving contested moral values that are known to be highly salient to the public and hence more likely to be linked to public policy. Canada and the United States, where the same issues have emerged, allow them to isolate the factors resulting in majoritarian congruence, where policies follow public opinion. The authors attribute finding even less congruence than previous research to the dominance of the courts in ruling on morality issues, although they also find a greater role for the legislature in Canada. The authors raise the possibility that the very salience of the issues inhibited political action from conflict-avoidant politicians.

scholarly journals Policy Responsiveness to Public Opinion

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert S. Erikson
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Public Policy ◽  
Public Opinion ◽  
The United States ◽  
Causal Chain ◽  
Causal Mechanism ◽  
Policy Responsiveness ◽  
The Public ◽  
Policy Representation ◽  
Advanced Democracies

Policy responsiveness is a goal of democratic government—that government action responds to the preferences of its citizens. It is conceptually distinct from “representation,” whereby government actions mirror the preferences of public opinion. Governments can be representative without a direct responsiveness causal mechanism. Policy can respond to public opinion but remain biased due to other influences besides the public. Responsiveness is no certain result in a democracy, as there are many links in the causal chain that must be unbroken for it to be at work. Citizens can vote politicians in or out of office based on the adequacy of their policy representation. But are they up for the task? Do elected officials believe they must follow public opinion, and do they know what their constituents want? Ultimately, how strongly does government policy reflect citizen views? This essay addresses these questions. The literature reviewed here covers only policy representation in the United States. For related coverage, including outside the US sphere, see essays by Will Jennings (Mechanisms of Representation) and Christopher Wlezien (Advanced Democracies: Public Opinion and Public Policy in Advanced Democracies) as part of this Oxford Bibliographies in Political Science series. One conclusion is that public opinion is an influential force in determining public policy in the United States, especially when it comes to setting the ideological tone of policy in the states or the nation. The degree of influence may seem surprising given what we know about voters’ capabilities. Yet there is reason for caution as well as optimism. The general public’s influence sometimes faces the headwinds of hostile economic forces. Influence is not equally distributed across all segments of the public.

scholarly journals Public Opinion and Public Policy

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher Wlezien ◽  
Stuart N. Soroka
Keyword(s):  
Public Policy ◽  
Public Opinion ◽  
Policy Change ◽  
Political Institutions ◽  
Political Representation ◽  
Empirical Literature ◽  
Public Preferences ◽  
The Public ◽  
Basic Model ◽  
Policy Representation

The link between the public opinion and public policy is fundamental to political representation. The current empirical literature tests a general model in which policy is considered to be a function of public preferences. The mechanics by which preferences are converted to policy are considered along with extensions of the basic model - extensions through which the magnitude of opinion representation varies systematically acorss issues and political institutions. Thus, public opinion is an independent variable - an important driver of public policy change. With the consideration of 12/1 opinion as a dependent variable, specifically, its responsiveness to policy change - the ongoing existence of both policy representation and public responsiveness is critical to the functioning of representative democracy.

Strategic Position with the Public

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
George C. Edwards
Keyword(s):  
Public Policy ◽  
Public Opinion ◽  
Public Support ◽  
Presidential Leadership ◽  
Opportunity Structure ◽  
General Direction ◽  
The Public ◽  
Strong Position ◽  
Strategic Position

This chapter illustrates the advantages of focusing on the president’s existing opportunity structure by analyzing Barack Obama’s strategic position with the public to explain why he faced such difficulties in obtaining the public’s support. It argues that all presidents wishing to make important changes in public policy should seek to answer the following questions about their strategic position with public opinion: Did the public provide the president an electoral mandate for his policies? Does the public support the general direction of the president’s policies? How polarized is public opinion? How malleable is public opinion? By answering these questions, we are in a strong position to understand the potential of presidential leadership of the public and more importantly, to predict the likelihood of the president obtaining the public’s support for his programs.

The Working of the State-Wide Referendum in Illinois

1911 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 394-417
Author(s):  
C. O. Gardner
Keyword(s):  
Public Policy ◽  
Public Opinion ◽  
The State ◽  
Popular Vote ◽  
Constitutional Convention ◽  
The Public ◽  
Public Sentiment ◽  
Fundamental Law

The Illinois constitution of 1870 contains several specific provisions for state-wide referenda. In addition to a popular vote on all proposed changes in the fundamental law, a referendum is required on the question of disposing of Illinois and Michigan Canal lands, on incurring state indebtedness above a certain sum, on acts or amendments thereto creating banking corporations, and on additional appropriations for the state house. The Public Opinion law of 1901 enlarged the field of the referendum by providing for the submission of questions of public policy, the result to be considered merely as an expression of public sentiment. This law and the constitutional provisions mentioned above constitute the sum total of all sources for referenda affecting the entire state.The constitutions of 1818 and 1848 provided for even fewer opportunities for a popular vote on public measures. The earlier of these documents contained only one section relating to a referendum of any sort, and it dealt with the question of calling a constitutional convention. The second constitution enlarged the total number of possible questions so as to include two others.

Public opinion and public policy in Turkey

2018 ◽  
pp. 163-180
Author(s):  
Sedef Turper
Keyword(s):  
Public Policy ◽  
Public Opinion ◽  
Policy Change ◽  
Political Attitudes ◽  
Public Support ◽  
Political Interest ◽  
Policy Preferences ◽  
Policy Issues ◽  
The Public ◽  
Public Opinion Surveys

This chapter focuses on political attitudes and policy preferences of Turkish citizens in various salient policy domains. The chapter makes use of several public opinion surveys conducted in Turkey during the period between 1990 and 2015. Firstly, the chapter is concerned with levels of political interest among the Turkish public, and across different subpopulations. The chapter then goes on to consider the public policy issues which have been salient to the Turkish public over the last ten years and the policy preferences of Turkish citizens regarding these salient public policy issues. The current analysis of the policy preferences of the Turkish public points at probable causes of discontent with certain public policies in Turkey as well as the potential areas for policy change where substantial public support can be consolidated.

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