ABSTRACT

This chapter starts out with a short overview of the debate concerning the relationship between public opinion and public policy on the macro level by addressing one of the key questions about the state of today's democracies: whether public policies are responsive to public opinion. It looks at how some of the prominent theoretical frameworks in public policy conceptualize public opinion as an explanatory factor. The chapter explores the messy lowlands of public opinion and public policy, and details how policy analysts investigate how political actors actually use public opinion research and data within the policymaking process as a tool and resource at various stages of the policy process. It focuses on governmental public opinion research, namely how various governmental actors utilize public opinion research in the crafting of public policies. This includes, for example, designing various policy instruments or measuring whether policies have reached their target audiences or, alternatively, looking at the impact of specific policy decisions.