The reality of policy and public opinion:
Policy positions have undergone massive polarization as political parties continue moving stances closer to the extremes. The reality of the reactive approach has become abundantly clear, as change on a larger scale has come at the heels of considerable public scrutiny, from public safety debates on gun control to abortion access. Properly packaging policy to appeal to public sentiment plays a significant role in political messaging, as the American public relies on these generalizations to form their own opinions on the policy itself.
Trust in elected leaders is crucial for understanding policies, as the American public often relies on narratives to contextualize specific issues. The visibility of policy makes for its ultimate success or failure, as the public can ultimately decide whether their representatives should support or oppose possible changes. The grandest attempt at a policy overhaul in US history came through the FDR-era New Deal policies, which relied heavily on public approval to ensure their effectiveness. Through his radio fireside chats to the American people, which had gifted him with Democratic majorities in Congress, Roosevelt led the charge in visibly proving to the American public that these policies would aid in fixing the crippling economy (Tackett & Boak, 2020). This large-scale push to show the public that the government was doing the right thing resulted in the success of these changes. However, creating New Deal-level changes in today’s government has become extremely difficult due to the lack of public support in such significant changes.
There are two significant barriers to rallying public support behind the policy change. First is the inability to create a legitimate problem for governments to solve, which may result from inadequate support behind an issue (Cairney, 2011). An example is poverty, as many believe this is an individual responsibility rather than a federal one, leading to very few shifts in the actual policy addressing the issue. The reactive approach reflects this issue, as many fundamental policy changes are made due to significant failures in previous procedures that went unaddressed until there was enough support. Additionally, those in power can keep issues off the agenda to block change. The diversity of views and opinions on many issues throughout the country makes it very difficult to create and build a consensus surrounding policy proposals, allowing political leaders to keep these issues off the agenda. Political polarization leads to gridlock in many case scenarios as consensus cannot be reached and, in turn, affects the strength of the policy itself (Cairney, 2011).
Another factor in creating policies relies on legitimate reasoning to support it; however, large corporations come in the way of change to protect their profits. The Clean Air Act of 1970 is a clear example of how large corporations hid vital information that affected the American public's health so as not to cause a public uproar. A study of air pollution in US cities in 1971 found that the public was not alerted to the problem at hand, and cities were not taking the initiative necessary. In Gary, Indiana, the mayor had delayed the air pollution study. The study’s authors, whom manufacturing companies funded, “underestimated the contribution of manufacturing to air pollution” (Crenson, 1971). The deliberate withholding of information from the public was intentional by these manufacturing companies as they knew public sentiment would turn on them after the evidence came out. As we turn to the following few decades, climate change will be an essential topic for legislation. It will be up to large corporations to be transparent in aiding the government by finding renewable energy or looking into overconsumption.
Creating mass public support surrounding issues has become increasingly tricky as political polarization grows throughout the country. Nevertheless, support can flood the country when faced with an imminent issue. The Black Lives Matter movement forever shifted the public discourse on the issues affecting African Americans in this country while paving a new road to change. The BLM movement primarily relied on social media to carry its message throughout the nation, allowing for large-scale protests and organizations and amplifying the message for policymakers. BLM took issues that had been largely swept under the rug and brought them to the forefront of people’s minds, causing political leaders to respond in kind (Dunivin et al., 2022). The ripple effect it had in addressing systemic racism embedded into our systems was tackled by politicians, raising the issue for the American public to debate. This mass social change was something that not only occurred through a worldwide pandemic but also exhibited the newfound power behind social media as a source of information and change (Dunivin et al., 2022).
As we enter an era of increased political participation from younger generations, many issues are yet to be tackled by current governing leaders. The uproar from the overturning of Roe v. Wade left the public questioning the government's allegiance to public opinion. The effect of protests has shown that citizens' feelings are not to be ignored, and midterm elections reflected that as the public voted for those who reflected their views.
References
Bloomberg, T. C. |. (2022, September 1). Analysis | what is the purpose of public policy? The Washington Post. Retrieved January 11, 2023, from https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/what-is-the-purpose-of-public-policy/2022/09/01/52f6f26a-29fa-11ed-a90a-fce4015dfc8f_story.html
Cairney, P. (2011). Chapter 3 Power and Public Policy. In Understanding Public Policy: Theories and Issues 2nd edition (pp. 1–19). essay, Bloomsbury Academic.
Dunivin, Z. O., Yan, H. Y., Ince, J., & Rojas, F. (2022). Black lives matter protests shift public discourse. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 119(10). https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2117320119
Merelman, R. M. (1973). The Un-Politics of Air Pollution: A Study of non-decisionmaking in the cities. by Matthew A. Crenson. (Baltimore and London: The Johns Hopkins Press, 1971. pp. 227. $10.00.). American Political Science Review, 67(1), 216–217. https://doi.org/10.2307/1958549
Tackett, M. (2020, April 25). Out of pandemic crisis, what could a new new deal look like? AP NEWS. Retrieved January 11, 2023, from https://apnews.com/article/financial-markets-us-news-ap-top-news-international-news-virus-outbreak-06bc980d01efba6f1252ad042ea7d29b
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