which model of representation most directly translates public opinion and public policy course hero

What is the relationship between public opinion and representation?

This pathway public opinion and adjust policy accordingly. The two ways to representation actually are related. That is, the first way implies the s econd, at least assuming in cumbent politicians are interested in remaining in office or else motivat ed to represent our preferences for other reasons.

Is public opinion a function of Public Policy?

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.

Do policymakers respond to changes in public opinion?

There is strong evid ence that policymakers respond to changes in public opinion. responsiveness to policy change. Dynamic models such as these are lik ely best-equipped for investigating the causal rela tionships between opinion and policy. Work along these lines environmental policy. and the UK.

What can research tell us about representation in policy?

Research on representation in positions tells us something about the representation of opinion, but tells us less about representation in actual policy. While positions and policies are related, after all, they are not the same things, and there is a growing body of work focused directly on policy.

Why are people who have low levels of political knowledge and a lack of interest in political issues more likely to vote?

What is reference group?

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POLS Quiz 15 (Exam 3), american national gov final

Start studying POLS Quiz 15 (Exam 3), american national gov final. Learn vocabulary, terms, and more with flashcards, games, and other study tools.

POLSCI Exam #3 Flashcards | Quizlet

Study with Quizlet and memorize flashcards containing terms like Compared with people in other industrialized democracies, Americans tend to have low levels of political knowledge and information. True or False, As part of an election-year survey you are asked: "If you knew Candidate A had donated money to al-Qaeda, would you be more or less likely to vote for her?" This survey is a A. a straw ...

Chapter 9 Vocabulary Flashcards

A group of poll respondents that does not accurately represent the target population and provides inaccurate estimates of the true opinions and attitudes of the target population.

Why is representation of public opinion important?

The representation of public opinion in public policy is of obvious importance in representative democracies. Not surprisingly, then, there is a considerable body of research addressing the connection between the public and the government. This work is broad and varied. Some research focuses on “descriptive representation”—whether the partisan and demographic characteristics of elected politicians match the characteristics of the electorate itself. Other studies examine the positions of policymakers, observed, for instance, through the roll call voting behavior of politicians. Still other research focuses on policy more directly, concentrating on legislative (and budgetary) outcomes.

What is the link between public opinion and public policy?

Summary. 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 ...

How does policy covariation work?

Policy covariation studies involve a slightly more data-intensive approach to the link between opinion and policy. While consistency studies measure preference for policy change at a single point in time, covariation studies rely on cases in which the same policy question was asked at two different points in time. Changes in the distribution of responses over that period are compared with proximate policy change. Measures of policy also tend to be more comprehensive in this approach. Policy is typically examined both before and after the period of opinion change, so it is clearer when opinion precedes policy, or vice versa. The central question, then, is: To what extent do changes in policy follow related changes in public preferences for policy?

Why are majoritarian governments more responsive to change?

There is reason to think that governments in majoritarian systems actually are more responsive to opinion change. First, it presumably is easier for a single party to respond to changes than a multiparty coalition, as coordination in the latter is more difficult and costly. Second, majoritarian governments may have more of an incentive to respond to opinion change. Since a shift in electoral sentiment has bigger consequences on Election Day in majoritarian systems, governments there are likely to pay especially close attention to the ebb and flow of opinion. Thus, it may be that the two systems both work to serve representation, but in different ways, where proportional systems provide better indirect representation via elections and majoritarian systems better direct representation in between elections. Basic empirical work (Wlezien & Soroka, 2012) supports the expectation.

What is the principle of democratic government?

A fundamental principle of democratic government is that policy will be a function of opinion (see, e.g., Pitkin, 1967; Dahl, 1971 ). We can express this expectation formally, as follows:

Who developed the thermostatic model of the reciprocal links between preferences and government spending?

There is strong evidence that policymakers respond to changes in public opinion. Wlezien ( 1995) developed a “thermostatic” model of the (dynamic) reciprocal links between preferences and government spending—that is, a model which examined both opinion representation over time and public responsiveness to policy change.

How does representation occur?

The first way is indirect, through elections, where the public selects like-minded politicians who then deliver what it wants in policy. This is the traditional pathway to representation and is deeply rooted in the literature on responsible parties (Adams, 2001 ).

Why are people who have low levels of political knowledge and a lack of interest in political issues more likely to vote?

People who possess low levels of political knowledge and a lack of interest in political issues are more likely to vote because they are not burdened by too much information

What is reference group?

Reference groups are groups that influence the attitudes of people who

Why is the responsiveness of governments to public opinion mixed?

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.

Which presupposes the policy change?

the public preference for change precedes the policy change.

What is responsiveness to policy change?

responsiveness to policy change. The ongoing existence of both policy representation and public

What is the most common criticism of political parties?

One of the most common critiques of political parties is that they no longer represent the interests of their voters. On one hand, representation literature tasks all parties equally to ensure high ideological congruence with their voters. On the other hand, party behaviour literature acknowledges that parties have legitimately different primary goals, in particular vote-maximisation or policy-seeking. Thus, this article analyses whether ideological congruence depends on the general goals that parties pursue. Furthermore, this article proposes a novel, distribution-based measure of party-voter ideological congruence that reduces the loss of voter information stemming from the many-to-one data relationship. This measure is applied to 470 data points from parties in 10 Western European countries from 1970 to 2009. The article finds that vote-maximising parties create higher levels of congruence than policy-seeking parties. On this basis, the article calls for evaluations of party behaviour considering party-type specificity.

How many cases did Monroe find consistency?

change. Across 556 cases from 1981 to 1993, for inst ance, Monroe finds a consistency score of

Is the inclusion of as many policy domains as possible critical?

concerned, the inclusion of as many policy domains as possible is critical. Polling questions deal

Is policy a function of public preferences?

policy is considered to be a function of public preferences. The mechanics by which preferences

Edited by John C. Courtney and David E. Smith

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Abstract and Keywords

The key function of representative democracy is to provide a mechanism through which public opinion and public policy are regularly connected. On one hand, there should be policy representation; public preferences for policy should be reflected in policy itself.

Why are people who have low levels of political knowledge and a lack of interest in political issues more likely to vote?

People who possess low levels of political knowledge and a lack of interest in political issues are more likely to vote because they are not burdened by too much information

What is reference group?

Reference groups are groups that influence the attitudes of people who