HOW MUCH POWER DO INTEREST GROUPS HAVE? | 249of bargaining and compromise, with no groups getting exactly what
they want—which is what happened with health care reform.
Health care reform also illustrates that being large or well
funded does not always help an interest group convince govern-
ment offi cials to comply with its requests. Although many people
worry that well-funded interest groups will use their fi nancial
resources to dominate the policy-making process, even if public
opinion is against them, these fears are largely unfounded. The
conditions that are ripe for well-funded interest groups to become
involved in a policy debate typically ensure that there will be well-
funded groups on all sides of a question. Then no group is likely to
get everything it wants, and no group’s lobbying eff orts are likely to
be decisive. Some groups may not get anything.How Groups Succeed
Even when issues attract much attention and involve heated confl ict, interest
groups can still be infl uential. Research and testimony may help members of Con-
gress develop legislative proposals and give them arguments to use in the bargain-
ing process. Grassroots and media eff orts may mobilize public opinion, pressuring
members of Congress to vote for options that their constituents favor. If a particu-
lar group decided against doing these things and no other group took its place, then
groups on the other side of the debate might carry the day. But interest group lead-
ers are aware of the potentially dire consequences of not getting involved and are
unlikely to be inactive on questions that matter to them and their group—even if a
full-fl edged lobbying eff ort is unlikely to produce many identifi able benefi ts, given
the opposition by other groups.
Lobbying eff orts may produce identifi able benefi ts when they target relatively
small details of a policy change. However, groups are successful in these eff orts pre-
cisely because they seek modest policy changes, which are nonetheless important to
their members but generate minimal opposition. Particularly when policy ques-
tions are complex, interest groups may focus on achieving seemingly minor policy
changes that have large benefi ts for their members.
Another measure of the limits of lobbying on confl ictual questions is evident
in groups’ decisions about which issues to avoid lobbying on. Think about one of
the most powerful interest groups, the NR A, and its advocacy of concealed carry
laws. There is little doubt the NR A’s leaders and most of its members favor the pas-
sage of such laws, but its eff orts are unlikely to be successful given public opin-
ion and well-funded opposition. As a result, the NR A chooses to lobby on other
matters—policy questions where it might succeed or where its eff orts are neces-
sa r y to prevent other groups from succeeding in cha nging policies in ways that the
NRA opposes.
Thus, success depends on what the group is asking for and whether there is
signifi cant opposition from opposing groups or public opinion. It would be a con-
siderable overstatement to say that interest groups have no power and lobbying
makes no diff erence, because, if nothing else, groups may lobby to prevent the
policy changes that would occur if they stayed inactive. And interest groups often
succeed in eff orts to change policies that are less important to the public or in the
IF YOU HAVE EVER HEARD OF THE
National Turkey Federation,
it’s probably because of their
participation in the annual
presidential “pardoning” of a
turkey before Thanksgiving. The
Federation’s relative anonymity
has been benefi cial: its effort to
increase the amount of turkey
served in federally funded school
lunches was aided by most
Americans’ lack of awareness of
the proposal.