Introduction
Policy making, being one of the most important forms of government, is influenced by many factors nowadays, many of which are simply disturbing the legislature rather than forming an adequate and impartial opinion. Essentially, the democratic society of the US undergoes a stage of advanced development since the opinion of almost each citizen can be counted and conveyed to the top of legislative system. However, it is vital to take into account the existence of the variety of different public opinions in order to accumulate one unanimous public thought. Obviously, public opinion polls are not precise due to the number of people interviewed hence the opinions are rounded off. But not only the precision is inadequate because of the quantity of respondents, rather it is the initial goal of interest groups and lobbyists to present the public opinion according to the interests of the actual political parties. This paper will analyze the way interest groups and lobbyists arouse public opinion by using the surveys, as well as how they use public opinion to influence health policy making, and the actual influence the public opinion has on health policy making according to the recent political news.
Lobbyists Influence Health Policy Making
Surprisingly, lobbyists are the groups of people or certain individuals pursuing their own advantage and benefit. Although the entire system of gathering the public opinions through public opinion polls is considered to study nation’s interests, it is a fallacious belief. Usually, lobbyists are the individuals, industries, professional bodies, or community groups whose benefits are likely to be influenced by the health policy decision. Thus, they start using any available resources to influence health policy making as soon as possible in order to secure themselves with support of a politician who “also influences the public approach on a given opinion” (Boylan, 2008, p.173). As such, lobbyists gather the public opinions through the polls and surveys at same time providing the politician with the data beneficial for their own party. This is not accepted to be an illegal act since the polls are frequently correlative and the public opinion shift is large.
Lobbyists Influence Public Opinions
Lobbyists use the surveys to obtain information of the communities’ preference on a given issue and then it is used to shape and arouse the public interest significantly. “Surveys done on a given population give a generalized opinion on the sample target” (Baumgartner, Berry & Hojnacki, 2009, p. 257). However, lobbyists – most frequently they rank from lawyers to used-car sellers – do not present the overall unbiased opinion since their opinion is bound to their own interests. Therefore, different layers of the society react to the health policy decisions variously according to their own needs and indigence. Thus, interest groups are likely to form public opinion the way they need them to because lobbyists have some certain opportunities at their disposal to do that.
Role of public opinion
Lobbying enhances direct contact of individuals with the government representatives. Nevertheless, “… the influence of public opinion polls can be easily overstated, and it is misleading to argue that one poll by itself should determine a vote or accredit a policy.” (Perlstadt and Holmes, 1987, p.614). Moreover, recent observations showed the public polls are biased and hindering from carrying out legislative acts properly. “Individuals take part in public opinions at different degrees and capacities, thus public opinion polling cannot give what exactly the public is” (Weissert & Weissert, 2006, p. 312). Public opinion plays an important role in determining the relationship between the government and the public itself. Special interest groups have come up to get the fine details and information from the society by setting up questionnaires that are opened to anyone. However, there is a commonly false belief on the role of interest groups among the society and health policy making.
Conclusion
Lobbyists play a very important role in health policy making or any other legislative act performance. However, they role is often overstated. Lobbyists influence public opinions in order to get the society react to policy making the way interest groups want them to. This is carried out through surveys’ data presentation that ultimately forms public opinion. Moreover, having their own interests, lobbyists represent a very narrow layer of the society in order to present vast variety of public opinion, yet being sponsored by politicians.
References
Baumgartner, F., Berry, J., & Hojnacki, M. (2009). Lobbying and policy change: Who wins, who loses, and why. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Boylan, M. (2008). International public health policy and ethics. New York: Springer.
Persltadt, H., Holmes, R.E. (1987). The Role of Public Opinion Polling in Health Legislation. American Journal of Public Health. Vol. 77, №5.
Weissert, C., & Weissert, W. (2006). Governing health: The politics of health policy. Baltimore: JHU Press.