American Government: The Public on Public Policy

Running head: THE PUBLIC ON PUBLIC POLICY1
The Public on Public Policy: Opinion Essay
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THE PUBLIC ON PUBLIC POLICY

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The Public on Public Policy


The public is, for policy makers, a Holy Grail whereby policies succeed or fail. For millennia, rulers, policy makers and powerful community leaders have invoked, often swayed, public opinion in order to achieve goals for public good and/ore private interest. The ways public opinion is manipulated have evolved, of course, over time and across different political, economic, social and cultural lines. The underlying rationale of using public opinion in politics – and, for that matter, in any given public domain of influence – is till, however, unchanged: influencing public policy to achieve gains. Understandably, public opinion has gained much power in influencing public policy more so in media-controlled/inundated societies. The emergence of certain unconventional media platforms including, primarily, social media (aka New Media) has, moreover, made public opinion, now more quickly and easily swayed, even more powerful, if not ultimate go-to platforms to shape public policy. To put matters into perspective, a discussion of public opinion influence on public policy particularly using social media. This short opinion essay aims, accordingly, to offer insights into changing ways of public opinion as a major public policy shaper under a new age of social media.
Today, public opinion is a constant given in government. In order for politicians to gain grounds in rapidly changing waters of politics, support is critical. To gain support, politicians – and policy makers in general – appeal to public opinion. The appeals policy makers perform are not, however, enough to gain much needed support, if not legitimacy, for one or more public policies or, of course, any given set of public matters. Instead, polling organizations, usually coupled by extensive lobbying efforts, are most often used in order to sway public opinion into some desired direction. In U.S. context, polling – and pollsters – is as a staple in political life as