Canes-Wrone: President's Legislative Influence from Public Appeals

Here is a short summary of Canes-Wrone's 2001 article "President's Legislative Influence From Public Appeals."

a. Canes-Wrone (2001) President’s legislative influence from public appeals

i. Presidents must choose which issues to promote to the public.

ii. The president will promote issues

1. On which his view is popular

2. Congress is not likely to act in the president’s favor unless the president goes public

iii. Assumes:

1. President is rational and policy driven

2. Going public has the effect of increasing salience

3. Congress do not always vote the way their constituents want (for a number of reasons)

4. Congress will most likely vote the way their constituents want if the issue is salient to the public

5. Going public too frequently causes people to pay less attention to the president

iv. Assumptions imply:

1. The president won’t go public unless the public supports his view – otherwise Congress will vote against him

v. A president should gain influence on policy issues he chooses to promote in public appeals (and does)

vi. A president’s likelihood of appealing to the public over an issues will increase when Congress is likely to not act in his favor otherwise.