How public opinion affects policy making

Reference no: EM133413832

Case Study: When it comes to public opinion, how do we know what it really is? We actually rely heavily on public opinion surveys. Many people think that our elected officials listen to and respect public opinion - but the question remains, how do they know what it is?

A fun fact about public opinion surveys is that how you frame the issue and how you ask the question affects the answer you get ("Public Opinion," n.d.). If you look at opinion polling on abortion -- one of the most contentious issues in the domestic policy sphere and a perennial political litmus test as we are experiencing right now!-- you will find that the majority of Americans approve of legal abortion *but* with limits ("Abortion," n.d.; Montenero, 2019). And yet this is rarely how the issue is discussed. Instead, it is framed as all-or-nothing, an apocalyptic disaster is coming, and almost never mixed into the discussion is the issue of father's rights, instead, abortion is framed as a " women's health issue," in particular by those that favor the least amount of limits (Lithwick, 2002; The Metaphor Project, n.d.). Issue framing means that how an issue is framed affects how you think about it if you aren't careful to identify that framing.

Thus, public opinion on abortion is - like most measured public opinion - both clear and yet, in many ways unclear. There are myriad ways to limit the occurrence of abortions (limit the number of clinics, limit funding, limit the timeframe it's permissible, limit the age one can obtain an abortion, etc.) and each limit will affect public opinion on the issue overall.

Questions: Respond to the following in-depth:

What does this mean for how public opinion affects policymaking?
Does it mean that we need to pay more attention to organized interest groups that often have the most access to policymakers?
Does it mean that voting is insufficient for citizen participation when it comes to expressing our opinion on the issue?
What are some ways that we can enhance how public opinion affects lawmaking? Or should we think about the instability of public opinion when it comes to issues and give more deference to lawmakers who almost always have more information at hand about an issue than we personally do?

Reference no: EM133413832

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