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Interest Groups and Presidential Approval
Author(s) -
COHEN JEFFREY E.
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
presidential studies quarterly
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.337
H-Index - 5
eISSN - 1741-5705
pISSN - 0360-4918
DOI - 10.1111/j.1741-5705.2012.03988.x
Subject(s) - presidential system , abortion , political science , interest group , perspective (graphical) , public relations , special interest group , public administration , law , politics , pregnancy , artificial intelligence , biology , computer science , genetics
This article investigates the impact of interest group membership on presidential approval. Data come from the 2006 Cooperative Congressional Election Study, which asked respondents about membership in 11 interest groups. Distinguishing between easy and hard issues, I argue that interest groups will tighten the relationship between issue position and approval for hard issues because of the information that groups provide it members. Analysis looks at interest group effects on five issues: abortion and the Iraq War, both deemed easy; the environment and Social Security Reform, which are harder issues; and stem cell research, which is harder for some. As hypothesized, membership in abortion or veterans groups has no impact on members' approval either directly or through the relevant issues. But for members of environmental and senior groups, the relevant issues are found to have statistically significant impact on approval. And membership in abortion rights groups affects stem cell research. The conclusions put the findings into perspective and discuss directions for future research.