Interest Groups in Politics

Interest groups are private organizations that attempt to influence decisions made by public officials. These organizations typically represent a group of individuals with a common interest, or corporations with shared concerns. Interest groups use political communications to appeal to their membership, the general public, and political officials. The influence of interest groups in U.S. politics has grown in recent years with the advent of mass communication and the increasing cost of elections.

There are two basic types of interest groups in America: private and public. Private interest groups represent a small segment of the community and are formed in an effort to protect and improve members' material interests. Examples of private interest groups are AARP, which advocates for the interests of senior citizens, and the National Rifle Association (NRA), which represents gun owners. Public interest groups are established to promote a cause that benefits the whole community, such as animal rights organizations or interest groups promoting environmental protection.

Political scientists disagree about which interest groups have the most political power. Some scholars think that citizen interest groups have the most influence in policymaking, while others propose that corporate interests are more dominant. The number of corporate lobbyists in Washington, D.C., far exceeds the number of citizen lobbyists, and corporate interest groups contribute a much great amount of money to campaigns than do citizen interest groups. Whether these gaps translate into disparities in policy influence is debatable; however, most scholars agree that corporate interest groups have greater access to members of Congress and the White House than do citizen interest groups.

Interest groups engage in different tactics to influence public policy outcomes. The “inside game” refers to direct lobbying of public officials. The “outside game” refers to more public tactics seeking to influence public policy, such as endorsing certain candidates or policies, contributing money to campaigns through political action committees (PACs), or running political advertisements. Interest groups have taken advantage of new communication technologies—namely, television and the Internet—to influence public policy.

Interest groups have played a more prominent role in influencing public opinion, public policy, and elections with the advent of mass communication and the high price of contemporary elections. Candidates are able to appeal to voters directly through communication technology instead of going through the political parties, and, as a result, national elections now cost about 20 times more than they did in the 1950s. Candidates now rely more than ever on the resources of interest groups to support them and to criticize their opponents. Some prominent examples include the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth campaign against Senator John Kerry in the 2004 presidential election and the http://MoveOn.org Voter Fund that works to elect Democratic candidates.

Interest groups have amassed great influence in politics in recent decades, partially as a result of their savvy use of political communications. Most notably, these organizations have been able to capitalize on the new importance of television in persuading the public to support certain policies and candidates. Interest groups will remain a prominent force in American politics through lobbying efforts and effective use of political communications.

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