… My new book, Artists of the Possible, will offer little solace to those concerned with the public’s absence from public policy. I find a policy process driven by experienced insiders and behind-the-scenes deal making with little room for public input. Policy history, however, does challenge the claim that the public’s influence is declining: policymaking has always been insular.
My results show that the public plays a surprisingly limited role in policy outcomes. I find only tenuous connections between ideological trends in public opinion and policy results since 1945. Even clear election results do not usually translate into shifts in policy direction. CONT.
Matt Grossmann (Michigan State), The Monkey Cage