Ordinary citizens hold little independent influence over U.S. policy

Evidence

The world hegemon’s public sphere has been reoccupied, yet the burst of repoliticization has not increased popular control over government, nor has it put important areas of policymaking within grasp. The spectacular mismatch between input and output, which American political scientists had long diagnosed—public support for a proposal (for instance, Medicare) being negatively correlated with its chance of being implemented as a policy—has only deepened, as the Biden-Harris record shows. — Anton Jäger, Hyperpolitics, 26 (#exemplifies, via linked claim)

It turns out, in fact, that the preferences of average citizens are positively and fairly highly correlated, across issues, with the preferences of economic elites (refer to table 2). Rather often, average citizens and affluent citizens (our proxy for economic elites) want the same things from government. This bivariate correlation affects how we should interpret our later multivariate findings in terms of “winners” and “losers.” It also suggests a reason why serious scholars might keep adhering to both the Majoritarian Electoral Democracy and the Economic-Elite Domination theoretical traditions, even if one of them may be dead wrong in terms of causal impact. Ordinary citizens, for example, might often be observed to “win” (that is, to get their preferred policy outcomes) even if they had no independent effect whatsoever on policy making, if elites (with whom they often agree) actually prevail. — Martin Gilens and Benjamin I. Page, Testing Theories of American Politics, 75 (#qualifies, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: U.S. policy outcomes contradict majority preferences whenever elites or organized interests disagree; Citizens can win policies without influencing them when elites agree. — Martin Gilens and Benjamin I. Page, Testing Theories of American Politics:…, 75; Repoliticization has not translated into popular policy control — Anton Jäger, Hyperpolitics: Extreme Politicization…, 26

Related

• Citizens can win policies without influencing them when elites agree. (similarity 0.91)
• Average citizens have almost no independent influence over U.S. policy. (similarity 0.85)
• Repoliticization has not translated into popular policy control (similarity 0.85)
• Average citizens have little independent influence on U.S. policy relative to economic elites. (similarity 0.83)
• Economic elites dominate US policy while average citizens exert little influence (similarity 0.82)
• Correlated elite and mass preferences do not reflect citizen influence on policy. (similarity 0.82)
• U.S. policy outcomes contradict majority preferences whenever elites or organized interests disagree (similarity 0.81)
• General public opinion barely moves policy outcomes when elite preferences are held constant. (similarity 0.81)
• Majorities of citizens lose when elites and organized interests disagree. (similarity 0.78)

Broader Connections

• Repoliticization has not translated into popular policy control #exemplifies (0.90) — Anton Jäger, Hyperpolitics, 26
• Citizens can win policies without influencing them when elites agree. #qualifies (0.85) — Martin Gilens and Benjamin I. Page, Testing Theories of American Politics, 75