Hi Lala,

I have the impression that, for some reason, the effect on foreign policy seems to be more freuquently asked, so it is not trivial to seek domestic issues. However, a good start for a mainstream perspective on that question could be the following research paper: Paul Burstein 2003, The Impact of Public Opinion on Public Policy: A Review and an Agenda, in: Politicsl Research Quarterly 56, No. 1. (See link below).

best

Ulf

http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/106591290305600103

Please  let me know if the references/sites below are helpful to you:

1.  Effects of Public Opinion on Policy

http://www.uvm.edu/~dguber/POLS234/articles/page.pdfFeb 5, 2001 ... Effects of Public Opinion on Policy. Benjamin I. Page ... normative and empirical theories of democracy. Examining public opinion and policy data for the. United States .... foreign and domestic issues, for large versus small opinion changes ... ceilings, making it impossible for them to respond any further to ...

2.  The effect of domestic politics on foreign policy decision making

http://www.e-ir.info/2011/02/07/the-effect-of-domestic-politics-on-foreign-policy-decision-making/Feb 7, 2011 ... For the head of government in a democracy such as India consensus of the office and public opinion will play an important role. A socialist ...

3.  How and why does public opinion affect foreign policy in ...

https://web.stanford.edu/~tomz/working/TWY-PublicOpinion-2017-02.pdfpredicting foreign policy in democracies, and assessing how and to what extent ... religious policy, and was slightly greater than the effect of economic policy. ... leaders care about public opinion when making their decisions because they are.

4.  Public Opinion, Domestic Structure, and Foreign Policy in Liberal ...

https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0043887100019729policy impact of public opinion does not depend so much on the specific. * Drafts of ... policy—making process in four liberal democracies with distinct domestic.

Dennis

Dennis Mazur

 Dear Ulf and Dennis,

Thank you so much for all this information. Yes, indeed, I am also more acquainted with the literature on the public opinion-foreign policy nexus. Thanks a million to both of you. I will read the recommended papers.

Best

Hi Lala,

I also think familiarising yourself with Walter Lippmann's seminal work on theory of public opinion won't be a bad place to start.

best wishes

The impact of public opiinion on policy making has often been overestimated. In 1960, E.E. Schattschneider had already criticized the classical definition of democracy as government by the people. Many years later, Dan Wood (2009) and James Druckman and Lawrence Jacobs (2015) also questioned the theory of the presidential mandate because of its  theoretical simplicity and lack of empirical support. Main critiques: 1)citizens are often ignorants of public issues; 2) the assumption of a unimodal distribution of citizen preferences, which would push the president to compulsory respond to it, is not realistic; 3) the president (and other policy makers) is also subject to pressures or demands by special interest groups (lobbying). In regard to salient issues, the impact of public opinion on policy makers grows in order to avoid the loss of popularity.// Schattschneider, The semisovereign people// Wood, The myth of presidential representation// Druckman and Jacobs, Who governs? Presidents, public opinion and manipulation.

Dear Herbert, thanks for this valuable information. Indeed some, especially the proponents of Lipmann-Almond consensus, put forth the arguments that you have stated against the assumption that the public influences policy making in democracies. I have not read a piece by Schattschneider, thank you for your contribution, I will definitely read it.