Attention to Issues in a System of Separated Powers: The Macrodynamics of American Policy Agendas

Flemming, Roy B.; Wood, B. Dan; Bohte, John

doi:10.2307/2647776

Cited by 73 publications

(60 citation statements)

References 27 publications

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“…More attention to an issue in presidential speeches is associated with increased public concern about it ( Behr and Iyengar, 1985;Cohen, 1997;Hill, 1998). But this correspondence may simply be a result of media agendasetting, because presidents set the agenda for the news media to some degree (Behr and Iyengar, 1985;Edwards and Wood, 1999;Gonzenbach, 1996;Wanta and Foote, 1994), and presidential focus on an issue is inspired partly by heightened media attention to it (Edwards and Wood, 1999;Flemming et al, 1999;Gonzenbach, 1996;Wood and Peake, 1998). Previous investigations of the presidential rhetoric hypothesis have not controlled for media attention to the issue, so the apparent effects of presidential rhetoric may be attributable to media attention instead.…”

Section: Presidential Rhetoricmentioning

confidence: 96%

The Origins and Consequences of democratic citizens' Policy Agendas: A Study of Popular Concern about Global Warming

et al. 2006

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This article proposes and tests a model of the causes and consequences of Americans' judgments of the national seriousness of global warming. The model proposes that seriousness judgments about global warming are a function of beliefs about the existence of global warming, attitudes toward it, the certainty with which these beliefs and attitudes are held, and beliefs about human responsibility for causing global warming and people's ability to remedy it. The model also proposes that beliefs about whether global warming is a problem are a function of relevant personal experiences (with the weather) and messages from informants (in this case, scientists), that attitudes toward global warming are a function of particular perceived consequences of global warming, and that certainty about these attitudes and beliefs is a function of knowledge and prior thought. Data from two representative sample surveys offer support for all of these propositions, document effects of national seriousness judgments on support for ameliorative efforts generally and specific ameliorative policies, and thereby point to psychological mechanisms that may be responsible for institutional and elite impact on the public's assessments of national problem importance and on public policy preferences.

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Section: Presidential Rhetoricmentioning

confidence: 96%

The Origins and Consequences of democratic citizens' Policy Agendas: A Study of Popular Concern about Global Warming

et al. 2006

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“…These factors have led to the reliance of media coverage on issues as the measure of the systemic agenda in many studies (Edwards and Wood 1999;EshbaughSoha and Peake 2005;Flemming, Wood, and Bohte 1999;Wood and Peake 1998). The benefit of media coverage variables over the survey-driven "most-important problem" question is that media coverage is flexible and refined in terms of the time interval one can collect information about (e.g., weekly or daily), as opposed to the relatively infrequent time intervals more likely with survey information (e.g., quarterly or annually).…”

Section: Difficulty With Measuring Public Attentionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Unfortunately, a substantial amount 256 C. OLDS of the scholarship (e.g., Edwards and Wood 1999;Eshbaugh-Soha and Peake 2005;Flemming, Wood, and Bohte 1999;Wood and Peake 1998) examines only the capacity of the president to influence the mass media's policy agenda when evaluating presidential leadership of the systemic agenda. The assumption here is that the president will ultimately influence the public's policy agenda if the chief executive can shape issue coverage of the mass media.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Assessing Presidential Agenda-Setting Capacity: Dynamic Comparisons of Presidential, Mass Media, and Public Attention to Economic Issues

Olds

2013

Congress & the Presidency

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Research on presidential agenda setting has rarely attempted to simultaneously assess the ability of the president to influence the policy agendas of the mass media and the public. This is primarily due to the lack of time-refined measures of public issue attention.With advances in technology, information about Internet search engine behavior can provide an indication of the level of interest the public has over time about specific issues. Using Google Trends weekly data about public search interest levels, this project contrasts dynamic attention to several economic issues: unemployment, recession, and inflation. The vector autoregression analyses performed suggest the president does not have the capacity to directly guide public attention, nor does the president have the capacity to indirectly guide public attention through the media. There is some indication that the president can indirectly guide public attention by influencing actual economic conditions, and that the president is responsive to attention from the mass media and the public. The moving-average representation analyses indicate that an increase in presidential attention has the potential to produce a small contemporaneous increase in either mass media or public attention to some economic issues. The duration of these positive shifts in mass media or public attention are all very brief, indicating the president has a limited capacity through either direct or indirect leadership to sustain the attention other actors in the political system place on the specific issues studied. Strong evidence in all three of the issue areas studied supports that mass media attention and public attention are closely related.

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“…In many instances, the signals that compete for and stimulate public attention in the political domain are substantive issues-like the wars in Afghanistan or Iraq, the economy, or global warming (e.g., Flemming, Wood, and Bohte 1999;Henry and Gordon 2001;Zhu 1992;Neuman 1990;Wlezien 2005;Jones and Baumgartner 2005;Jennings and John 2009). During election season, however, political candidates are added to the list of signals that compete for and elicit attention.…”

Section: Using Public Attention To Predict Fundraising Success In Conmentioning

confidence: 99%

Public Attention and Head-to-Head Campaign Fundraising: An Examination of U.S. Senate Elections

Ellis

Ripberger

Swearingen

2017

ARP

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Does public attention to political candidates impact fundraising margins in U.S. Senate elections? Applying a novel conceptualization of public attention, we examine U.S. Senate elections from 2004 through 2014 and find that increases in relative public attention relate to increases in head-to-head fundraising margins in open seat races. We conclude by asking whether or not all attention to candidates is "good" attention. Evidence from the 2006 Allen/Webb election suggests that all attention is not "good" attention. This race demonstrates that candidates can supply attention-grabbing action that increases relative public attention while stimulating exceptional losses in relative fundraising margins. Further research must clearly theorize conditions under which supplying public attention-grabbing behavior may damage political campaigns.

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Attention to Issues in a System of Separated Powers: The Macrodynamics of American Policy Agendas

Cited by 73 publications

References 27 publications

The Origins and Consequences of democratic citizens' Policy Agendas: A Study of Popular Concern about Global Warming

The Origins and Consequences of democratic citizens' Policy Agendas: A Study of Popular Concern about Global Warming

Assessing Presidential Agenda-Setting Capacity: Dynamic Comparisons of Presidential, Mass Media, and Public Attention to Economic Issues

Public Attention and Head-to-Head Campaign Fundraising: An Examination of U.S. Senate Elections

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