Public Opinion and Presidential Agenda Setting

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Table of Contents

LITERATURE REVIEW1

Agenda-Setting and Political Power1

Presidential Power and Agenda-Setting2

Presidential Agenda Setting Through Televised Addresses8

END NOTES13

LITERATURE REVIEW

Presidential power can be described as the power to persuade because the actions of a president depend on the actions of other actors within government. It is important for the president to persuade the members of the Congress for the purpose of advancing the legislative agenda. Furthermore, the President also needs to persuade the leaders of the bureaucratic agencies. It is because the persuasion of agencies affects the implementation of public policies. The perquisite to persuade all actors is the power of agenda setting. According to Edwards and Barrett (2000), one of the most imperative powers of the President is the power to set the Congressional Agenda. Once the President secures agenda space, the policy bargaining takes place. In order to comprehend the power of the President, it is important to gain an insight of the ability of the President to set agendas within a political system.

Agenda-Setting and Political Power

Agenda setting is different from other aspects of the process of policy making in different ways. The different nature of the agenda setting has been indicated in different earliest studies. According to Schattschneider (1960), in the agenda setting, the power players are those who have the ability to control the conflict. In American politics, the interested parties have the ability to control conflicts that surround a policy area. On the other side, he actors who want to upset the balance of a policy debate expand the scope of the conflict. It suggests that the political system consists of a variety of players and thus different perspectives. In Congress, monopolies can be created because members have the ability to select their membership positions. The expansion of conflicts upset political subsystems (Jones, Baumgartner, and Talbert, 1993).

Presidential Power and Agenda-Setting

Power is considered to be a major focus of studies related to America Presidency. The Office of the President is considered to be the central point of policy and politics in the political system of America. According to Light (1999), the office can be referred as the no-win presidency because the public places mounting expectations upon the President in order to solve the problems associated with public policy. The expectations of the public have a little prospect of being fulfilled. It suggests that there is an expectation gap. Despite this gap, it is justified to argue that the President has some power.

The personal power of the President is a reflection of the prestige of the public as well as professional reputation. The President who has a high public standing may not decisively exercise power. The second component of the presidential power is the professional reputation. The professional reputation makes persuasion easier or impossible. Personal power can be defined as the ability of individuals to influence others in order to abandon their positions to fulfill the interests of the individuals. In order to exercise political powers, it is important for the President to get strategic ...