Public opinion indicates the attitudes and views of the electorate, and its assessment instantiates the intercourse between existing or prospective public policy and its popularity among the masses. For this reason, contending governance agencies seek popularity to ensure voters’ confidence before elections. Polls or political research surveys provide a baseline of the operative attitudes that encumber proposals of legislative action or the performance of existing ones (Stokes, 2020). In this regard, polls ensure that policymakers keep the public interest at the core of their agenda to ensure majority support. Similarly, polls exhibit the satisfaction levels of current governments in light of public expectations against a backdrop of the mediating offers of the opposition.
Interest groups influence public opinion regarding the policies of the day’s government. However, such groups cannot influence policymakers’ directions regarding matters of public interest. Consequentially, lobbyists have developed an alternative route of shaping public opinion to influence public views concerning policy frameworks such as universal healthcare programs. Lobbying groups use modern and traditional methods to mold public opinion. Notably, the organizations utilize social media campaigns, rallies, and campaign posters, among several other means to mobilize the attitudes of the masses.
A political party is a group of people organized with the ambition to form a government. People who belong to the same political party share similar ideologies; as such, they serve as a link between the people and the governing bodies. Similarly, they inform people about the ideologies that they represent. The winning party forms and runs the state, thereby playing a significant role in shaping public opinion through the launching of movements for solving problems faced by the people (Stokes, 2020). Generally, political parties have made it easier for electors to make choices about a few groups and then apply the party’s policies to all the candidates affiliated with that group.
Interest groups and political parties shape public opinion before an election and have several similarities. To begin with, both organizations are formal and enjoy membership. Second, these entities use similar means to shape public opinion. Third, regarding funding, both depend on donations and member contributions. The profound difference between political parties and interest groups is the inability of the latter to get members into the legislature.
Reference
Stokes, L. C. (2020). Short-circuiting policy: Interest groups and the battle over clean energy and climate policy in the American States. Oxford University Press, USA.