Page 369 - Essencials of Sociology

342 Chapter 11 politics and the economy

Table 11.2 How the Two-Party Presidential Vote is Split

1988 1992 1996 2000 2004 2008 2012
Women
Democrat 50% 61% 65% 56% 53% 57% 55%
Republican 50% 39% 35% 44% 47% 43% 44%
Men
Democrat 44% 55% 51% 47% 46% 52% 45%
Republican 56% 45% 49% 53% 54% 48% 52%
African Americans
Democrat 92% 94% 99% 92% 90% 99% 93%
Republican 8% 6% 1% 8% 10% 1% 6%
Whites
Democrat 41% 53% 54% 46% 42% 44% 39%
Republican 59% 47% 46% 54% 58% 56% 59%
Latinos
Democrat NA NA NA 61% 58% 66% 71%
Republican NA NA NA 39% 42% 34% 27%
Asian Americans
Democrat NA NA NA 62% 77% 62% 73%
Republican NA NA NA 38% 23% 38% 26%
Sources: By the author. Based on Gallup Poll 2008; Statistical Abstract of the United States 1999:Table 464; 2002:
Table 372; 2013:Table 412; Roper 2013.

Lobbyists and Special-Interest Groups
Watch on MySocLab
Video: Lobbying and Special Suppose that you are president of the United States, and you want to make milk more af-
Interest Groups
fordable for the poor. As you check into the matter, you find that part of the reason prices
are high is because the government is paying farmers billions of dollars a year in price
supports. You propose to eliminate these subsidies.
Immediately, large numbers of people leap into action. They contact their senators and
representatives and hold news conferences. Your office is flooded with calls, faxes, and
e-messages.
Reuters and the Associated Press distribute pictures of farm families—their
Holsteins grazing contentedly in the background—and inform readers that your harsh
proposal will destroy these hard-working, healthy, happy, good Americans who are strug-
gling to make a living. President or not, you have little chance of getting your legisla-
tion passed.

Lobbying by Special-Interest Groups. What happened? The dairy industry went
to work to protect its special interests. A special-interest group consists of people who
think alike on a particular issue and can be mobilized for political action. The dairy
industry is just one of thousands of such groups that employ lobbyists, people who are
paid to influence legislation on behalf of their clients. Members of Congress who want
to be reelected must pay attention to them, since they represent blocs of voters who
share an interest in some proposed legislation. Well financed and able to contribute huge
sums, lobbyists can deliver votes to you—or to your opponent.
Lobbying has led to a revolving door. People who served as assistants to the president
special-interest group a group or to powerful senators are sought after as lobbyists (Vidal et al. 2010). With their con-
of people who support a particular tacts swinging open the doors of the powerful, some even go to work for the same com-
issue and who can be mobilized for
political action panies they regulated when they worked for the president (Delaney 2010).
To try to reign in some of this influence peddling, Congress made it illegal for former
lobbyists people who influence senators to lobby for two years after they leave office. Yet senators do lobby immediately
legislation on behalf of their clients after leaving office. How do you suppose they get around this law? It’s all in the name.