William_T._Bianco,_David_T._Canon]_American_Polit

The key players in social policy making 583

The key players in social

policy making

Congress, the president, and the bureaucracy all play key roles in shaping social policy.

State governments also play a central role in some policy areas such as education and

welfare policy, while interest groups are especially important for policies that affect

the elderly.

Congress and the president

Given the differences between how the Democratic and Republican parties approach

social policy as a tool for reducing income inequality, it may not be surprising that the

poverty rate is more likely to fall during Democratic presidencies than Republican.

This is exactly what Figure 16.3 shows. Between 1960 and 2017, Democrats controlled

the White House for 28 years and Republicans for 29 years. During Democratic

presidencies, the poverty rate fell from the previous year in 22 of those 28 years and

for 2 years remained the same as in the previous year. The poverty rate fell during

Republican presidencies in only 14 of the 29 years they were in power and remained

the same in 3 years. Overall, the mean change in the poverty rate was –0.47 percent

in Democratic years and it went up by 0.07 percent in Republican years. These

differences may not sound like much, but given that each percentage point change

in the poverty rate represents more than 3 million people today, the differences are

significant. Political scientist Larry M. Bartels finds that in the past six decades the

inflation-adjusted incomes of working poor families increased six times faster under

Democratic presidents than under Republican presidents.^26 This makes some sense

given the political base of the two parties: Democrats win large percentages of the votes

of poor people, and Republicans usually do better among wealthier voters.

DESCRIBE THE ROLES

PLAYED BY EACH BRANCH

OF THE NATIONAL

GOVERNMENT AND BY

THE STATES IN MAKING

AND IMPLEMENTING

SOCIAL POLICY

FIGURE

16.3

–3.0

–2.5

–2.0

–1.5

–1.0

–0.5

0

0.5

1.0

1.5

1960 1964

Percentage

change

2%

1968 1972 1976 1980 1984 1988 1992 1996 2000 2004 2008 2012 2016

Democratic

presidents

Republican

presidents

Changes in Poverty Rates by Party

The poverty rate tends to decrease under Democratic presidents and to go up by about the same

margin under Republican presidents. What could explain this difference?

Source: Data from the U.S. Census Bureau, Poverty: Historical Tables, available at http://www.census.gov (accessed 9/24/16).

Full_17_APT_64431_ch16_572-613.indd 583 16/11/18 11:28 AM