Did the many protests against killing the Affordable Care Act — including loud demonstrations at public forums — convince moderate members of the House of Representatives to vote no? A number of left-leaning commentators, including New York magazine’s Jonathan Chait, argue they did.
Newly published research provides hard data that backs up Chait’s anecdotal evidence. It finds protests can and do change lawmakers’ minds — if they are well-organized and well-behaved.
“Can protesters — by who they are, and how they behave — send cues to politicians that affect their opinions? Our results suggest they can,” write Ruud Wouters of the University of Amsterdam and Stefaan Walgrave of the University of Antwerp. Their study is published in the April issue of the American Sociological Review.
[For more of this story, written by Tom Jacobs, go to https://psmag.com/political-pr...ed-work-a1400aa47921]
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