360 Chapter 10Chapter 10 || Interest GroupsInterest Groupsencourage grassroots lobbying. For example, the AARP’s
website has a page where members can find contact information
for their elected leaders in Washington.^41 Other links allow
members to e-mail or to fax their representatives letters that
are prewritten by the AARP to express the group’s positions
on various proposals, such as pension protection legislation
and proposals to curb identity theft. The AARP also organizes
district meetings with elected officials and encourages its
members to attend.
Mass protests are another form of grassroots lobbying.
In addition to trying to capture the attention of government
officials, mass protests also seek to draw media attention, with
the idea of publicizing the group’s goals and perhaps gaining
new members or financial support. For example, after the
election of Donald Trump, hundreds of groups partnered with
the organizers of the Women’s March on January 21, 2017, in
673 marches on all seven continents (yes, there was one in Antarctica!), including 408
marches in the United States. There were more than 5 million participants worldwide
(the estimates for the United States range from 3.3 to 5.2 million).^42 The marches were
aimed at drawing attention to a range of progressive issues connected with women’s
rights. The lead sponsors were Planned Parenthood and the Natural Resources
Defense Council; more than 550 organizations were listed as “partners” on the
Women’s March website.^43
Grassroots strategies are useful because elected officials are loath to act against
a large group of citizens who care enough about an issue to express their position.^44
These officials may not agree with the group’s goals, but they are likely to at least
arrange a meeting with its staff, so that they appear willing to learn about their
constituents’ demands.^45 However, these member-based strategies work only for a
small set of interest groups. To take advantage of these strategies, groups first need
a large number of members. Legislators begin to pay attention to a letter-writing
campaign only when they receive several thousand pieces of mail.
In addition, for grassroots lobbying to be effective, the letters or other efforts have
to come from a Congress member’s own constituents. The effectiveness of grassroots
lobbying also depends on perceptions of how much a group has done to motivate
participation. Suppose a representative gets 10,000 e-mails demanding an increase
in student aid. However, virtually all the messages contain the same appeal because
they were generated and sent from a group’s website. Congressional staff refer to these
efforts as Astroturf lobbying.^46 Given the similarity of the letters, the representative
may discount the effort, believing that it says more about the group’s ability to make
campaign participation accessible than it does about the number of district residents
who strongly support an increase in student aid. Even so, politicians are sometimes
reluctant to completely dismiss Astroturf efforts—the fact that so many people
participated, even with facilitation by an interest group, means that their demands
must at least be considered.Mobilizing Public Opinion One strategy related to grassroots lobbying involves
trying to change what the public thinks about an issue in the hope that elected officials
will see this change and respond by enacting (or opposing) new laws or regulations to
keep their constituents happy.
Virtually all groups try to influence opinion. Most maintain a website that presents
their message, and they write press releases to get media coverage. Most groups are
also very active on social media, using Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram to keep inAstroturf lobbying
Any lobbying method initiated by an
interest group that is designed to look
like the spontaneous, independent
participation of many individuals.Mass protests such as the 2017
Women’s March, which attracted more
than 5 million protesters worldwide,
are intended to attract media
attention and demonstrate the depth
of public support for a group’s goals.Full_11_APT_64431_ch10_340-373.indd 360 16/11/18 10:26 AM