On Independence Day – We Must Ask - Is INDIVISIBLE Changing The Narrative?

This Article is almost 3 years old but little has changed since this study was published. To many, things are getting worse.  Is INDIVISIBLE the ‘mass-based interest group’ that will have sustained influence? If we remain silent, the answer in NO. Who have you called, emailed, written a postcard to, used ResistBot today? Any Day? It MUST be EVERYDAY!

“Multivariate analysis indicates that economic elites and organized groups representing business interests have substantial independent impacts on U.S. government policy, while average citizens and mass-based interest groups have little or no independent influence.”

Testing Theories of American Politics: Elites, Interest Groups, and Average Citizens

Cambridge University Press

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S1537592714001595

Published online: 18 September 2014

https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/perspectives-on-politics/article/testing-theories-of-american-politics-elites-interest-groups-and-average-citizens/62327F513959D0A304D4893B382B992B

• Volume 12, Issue 3
• September 2014, pp. 564-581

Authors: Martin Gilens and Benjamin I. Page

Abstract

“Each of four theoretical traditions in the study of American politics—which can be characterized as theories of Majoritarian Electoral Democracy, Economic-Elite Domination, and two types of interest-group pluralism, Majoritarian Pluralism and Biased Pluralism—offers different predictions about which sets of actors have how much influence over public policy: average citizens; economic elites; and organized interest groups, mass-based or business-oriented.”

“A great deal of empirical research speaks to the policy influence of one or another set of actors, but until recently it has not been possible to test these contrasting theoretical predictions against each other within a single statistical model. We report on an effort to do so, using a unique data set that includes measures of the key variables for 1,779 policy issues.”

“Multivariate analysis indicates that economic elites and organized groups representing business interests have substantial independent impacts on U.S. government policy, while average citizens and mass-based interest groups have little or no independent influence. The results provide substantial support for theories of Economic-Elite Domination and for theories of Biased Pluralism, but not for theories of Majoritarian Electoral Democracy or Majoritarian Pluralism.”

https://wws.princeton.edu/faculty-research/research/item/testing-theories-american-politics-elites-interest-groups-and-average