The role of public opinion in policy argument: an examination of public opinion rhetoric in the federal budget process.

From: Argumentation and Advocacy | Date: January 1, 2005| Author: Levasseur, David G. | Copyright information

Public opinion holds great importance in democracies because a democracy, by its very definition, connotes a form of government that is responsive to the people (Williams & Edy, 1999). Alluding to such importance, Mill (1859/1975) observed the "ascendancy of public opinion" in modern democracies where "the idea of resisting the will of the public ... disappears more and more from the minds of practical politicians" (p. 69). Bryce (1898/1927) similarly argued that in the United Stat...

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