Role of Public Opinion in Politics
Maribel Kultti
March 20, 2015

Role of Public Opinion in Politics

Introduction The topic that I have chosen for research for this paper is- “Role of Public Opinion in Politics.” Since in any civil society, politics works for the welfare of the people, it is important that the views of these very people are taken into consideration when making any policy decisions. The reason why I chose this topic is that in the recent time, traditional as well as social media has brought on a lot of public activism. Hence, it is important to revisit the role of the public in the political debates, discussions, and the overall decision making process.
Background to the topic Ever since the world moved ahead of the monarchy and the dictatorship system, the importance of the public opinion came naturally to those who were the primary stakeholders in the politics:- the administrators and the other politicians. In the history of mankind, public opinion has forced to change or alter many political decisions. Hence, the role of public opinion in politics is not a totally new concept. However, in the modern age of information technology, people are empowered to share their opinion and get noticed like never before. Hence, it will be interesting to understand how people are using this power and how the political fraternity is reacting to the situation (Lippmann, 2007).
Some recent incidents of interactions between people and politics In this section, we will see how in some recent cases, society influenced the political decision making process as well as the outcome. Back in 2003, the United Kingdom witness the grandest ever public demonstration in its entire history. On 15th Feb, people gathered to register their protest against the speculated move of British interference in Iraq. People were mostly of the opinion that Britain had purpose to interfere in the internal matters of Iraq. Moreover, they also believed that this intrusion will mean that Britain deploys its troops in the country which means significant burden on the taxpayer’s money. The protests which started from Britain soon spread all over the world and eventually became a loud voice against any such invasive moves. While the British government did not change its decision to go ahead with Iraqi intrusion, the move surely made an impact on Canadian government’s decision not to go ahead with any interference in the political framework of Iraq. The example shows how public opinion may have no geographical boundaries. The opinion which originates in a particular country may have been a deciding factor for any other country (Hobley, (n.d)). Another important scenario where the public opinion played an important role is same sex marriages. The religious and social beliefs all around the world did not acknowledge these relationships at all. However, the kind of support that this fraternity has got in the last couple of decades, has forced the political decision makers all over the world to revisit the legislations. For instance, currently there are as many as 34 states in the U.S. which allow the same sex marriages. This change has been brought by the constant public movements, protests, and opinion building. The public opinion movement which may have started from the U.S. has now spread to the rest of the world. Now there are many open debates on this topic which was once considered a big social taboo. Call it the vote bank politics or the change of tides, but the political fraternity can no more ignore the public opinions and work their way out with isolated decisions. Last but not the least, we can look at the Obamacare Bill brought in by the current U.S. President Barak Obama. The bill received a lot of public protest when it was presented in its original form back in 2004. People all over the country were on the streets to protest the bill as they believed that it will be a huge burden if they are forced to buy an insurance plan even if they believe that they may not need it. It is only after the months and months long tussle between the government and the public that the bill went through several revisions. Today, Medicaid is considered one of the most significant legislations in the history of the nation. This transformation from a much protested law to a highly appreciated public legislation was possible only through consideration of the ongoing public opinion. Had the American government ignored all the public uproar on the issue and went ahead with the initial draft, it would have never come to the more acceptable shape as it is in the present form.
The leaders and the political system often believes that the public memory is very short and hence, it is easy to get away with their decisions very quickly. However, there have been cases like Leveson inquiry in Britain where it was clearly felt that public can retain this ignorance for very long and can always hold the leaders responsible for their strategic decisions. Right from the French revolution back in the 17th century to the declaration in the U.S. that internet is a fundamental utility, public opinion has not just shaped the history but has often changed its course. A prominent incident to prove the same is back in the 1930s when the great economic depression was on its peak. As the American President Franklin D Roosevelt was not very interested in joining the sides fighting against Germany, the U.S. stayed away from the war for a very long time. However, the eventuality came in the form of bombing of Pearl Harbour. As the American public went furious after the incident, Roosevelt had no choice but to bow down to the public opinion and join the war. As Roosevelt got the public opinion and support in his favour, the course of the history changed forever (Olson, 2013).
Influence of tradition and social media on public opinion Couple of decades back, public opinion was scattered and it was hard to map the collective opinion. However, this has changed with the presence and the activity of the social as well as traditional media. While the traditional media like print, radio, and television helps the people to form their opinion by providing them the right and the most contextual information, social media has a slightly different role. Social media allows the people to express their views more freely. While the first forms the opinion with passive involvement of people, the second one lets them take the lead and a story formed. The advantage with the second medium is that it can be mapped for the sentiments using various quantitative tools available. Hence, the government and the administration can understand the public demand and can align their decision making process accordingly. These days, the governments all over the world use various social media accounts to stay connected with their people. They understand the importance of this engagement for the long term. The process may be only in the nascent stages in some countries but it is surely going to get bigger and better. The more informed governments are deploying various data analytics tools to make sure that they map the social media based public sentiment in the right manner. So far, all these efforts have paid off and are expected to pay even better in the longer run. The key here is to understand that public opinions matter for a sustainable and acceptable political system. Those who understand this, never ignore the public sentiment.
Type of political system The important of public opinion also differs from one type of political system to other. As we all know, democracy theoretically values the public opinion more than any other system. Even the political leaders are selected based on the opinion of the voters. On the other hand, the systems like monarchy or dictatorship has the least space to hear out the opinions of the others. However, there are always exceptions. The Jasmine revolution which spurted back in 2012 and threw away the regime of dictatorship in many African and Middle Eastern countries was a classic example of how public opinion can actually change the entire destiny of a particular nation. This revolution which started from a very small protest somewhere in Tunisia went on to capture the attention of a large population in the world and eventually managed to turn a few thrones here and there. It also allowed many other people to think what they can do only if they can structure, organize and mobilize their opinions about any particular subject (Hanafi, 2011). To put it in different words, we can say that all the revolutions that have taken place in the world at any point of time were because of the public opinions. When the public opinion is organized, it is a powerful mechanism to initiate conversation with the people leading the political system of the country.
Takeaways and conclusions Having discussed the significance of public opinion for political landscape, it is not important to analyse how the public leaders in the present time leverage this opinion to their better use and bring round the ministerial set public policy objectives declared/undeclared at the beginning of their term. The first and foremost lesson is to make sure that they map the widest number of traditional as well as social media publications as they play an important role in forming the public opinion. If this landscape is mapped to some good extent by the politicians, their engagement and understanding about the public opinion will improve significantly and will bring some long term value to them as well as to their political agenda. Another important factor is never to ignore the important of public opinion even on the smallest of issues. The Jasmine Revolution is a testimony of how even a small street protest, if not understood and considered properly, can change the history of many- many countries. Hence, the message to the political leaders here is to always respect and listen to what public has to say to you. And to make sure that you get back to them on their demands and communicate proactively. The third important lesson here is to not just wait for the formation of the public opinion on any subject but lead the same by initiating the conversation around the same. This can be understood by how Obama administration brought round the situation on Medicare reforms. The initial negative public sentiment was mapped by the social media as well as the public relations team. They prepared an active communication plan. Executing this plan, the President decided to go all out to the public seeking their views on what they made out of this law, how did they interpret this, and what changes can be made to the initial draft to make it a successful provision. After months of online as well as offline conversation, the administration had enough data of about the public opinion that they could present a more people friendly draft in the Senate. As a result, the draft became a legislation which is admire by one and all in the states. The government provided value to the public opinion and was ultimately rewarded for its patience, persistence, and effort to engage with the target audience. Had they pursued the initial draft by ignoring the initial uproar, the situation would have been completely different by now. Sure, Medicare would have still been a law due to the majority held by the Obama government in both the houses but the public anguish against such legislation would have made it a failed piece of document. This example can very well be quoted in the text books on public administration as well as the modern history on how giving importance to the public opinion brought around an extremely successful law as well as provided another term to a government which was once hated for the same law (Tate, 2012). At the end of the day, it is important to iterate that the public opinion is a very delicate issue. Hence, any haste of decision making regarding the same can dearly cost a government or politicians.

References
Hanafi, S. (2011, Jan 23). Lessons of the Jasmine Revolution. Retrieved from Al Jazeera : http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2011/01/201111985641326468.html
Hobley, M. (n.d.). Public opinion can play a positive role in policy making. Retrieved from The Guardian: http://www.theguardian.com/public-leaders-network/2012/sep/03/public-opinion-influence-policy
Lippmann, W. (2007). Public Opinion. Filiquarian Publishing, LLC.
Olson, L. (2013). Those Angry Days: Roosevelt, Lindbergh, and America's Fight Over World War II, 1939-1941. Random House Publishing Group.
Tate, N. J. (2012). ObamaCare Survival Guide: The Affordable Care Act and What it Means for You and Your Healthcare. Humanix Books.