Assess The Relative Importance Of Factors Likely To Lead To Success For Pressure Groups In Washington

Pressure groups aim to affect government policy using various methods such as lobbying and organising grass root movements. The separation of powers in the Constitution means there are numerous access points (people and places where pressure groups can apply pressure to promote their cause ) for pressure groups to target such as the Executive, the Supreme Court and Congress. However, factors such as the size, the aims, the wealth and the status of pressure groups all play an important role in determining how successful pressure groups will be in Washington.

Arguably, the most important factor to ensuring a pressure group s success is a large financial reserve. The more funds a pressure group has, the more there is to be spent on lobbying. For example, the US Chamber of Commerce is an umbrella pressure group that represents 300 000 businesses. Due to their large amount of wealth, the pressure group spent $301 million in 2009-10 lobbying for lower taxes. Electioneering and candidate endorsement also requires large amounts of money. Whilst it is difficult to prove that there is a link between donations and votes, donations buy greater access to politicians and make politicians somewhat in debt to the pressure group, thereby giving the pressure groups a greater opportunity to make their case heard. In 2000, the NRA part-funded George Bush s campaign hoping that he would not change gun laws. Consequently, Bush did not change legalisation but instead promised to introduce harsher penalties to gun crimes. However, there is no guarantee that wealth will always lead to success in Washington. In 2012, the NRA spent $11 million supporting candidates but achieved less than one percent of their favoured results in elections. Evidently, wealthier pressure groups are more likely to experience success in Washington due to their ability to hire lobbyists and endorse candidates which makes their voice more prominent, thus demonstrating the importance of wealth.

The status of the pressure group is also likely to influence their success in Washington. An insider group would be expected to have more success than an outsider group due to increased access points such as submitting amicus curiae briefs to the Supreme Court. Congress require the expertise of insider groups to inform them when deciding on legislation and this means that politicians are willing to listen to insider pressure groups who may provide bias information. This makes it hard for outsider groups or opposition of insider groups to compete. For example, the military-industrial complex means that Congress helps the defence sector by keeping defence spending high. In 2015, the US spent $581 billion on their military budget. The iron triangle between the defence sector, the Pentagon and Washington makes it near impossible for outsider groups such as the Anti-War Movement to have any success. Clearly, the status of a pressure group is important in deterring their success as insider groups have closer working relationships with Washington.

The aims of a pressure group are important in deciding whether they will have success in Washington or not. A pressure group with complicated, controversial goals are less likely to be successful than a pressure group with realistic goals which have broad public support. The context of time also plays a vital role in deciding which pressure groups have realistic aims. For example, as society has become more liberal and in favour of equality, it is unsurprising that LGBT pressure groups had success with legalising gay marriage in 2015. The growing support for this evidently played an important role as in 2001, 57% of Americans opposed same-sex marriage compared to 39% in 2015. The incumbent government will also affect how realistic aims are. The Tea Party Movement have voted over fifty times to repeal Obamacare but have been unsuccessful due to a Democratic President being able to veto their vote and the Democratic Senate blocking it. A pressure group s aims will undoubtedly impact their success in Washington as some aims are much more achievable than others.

Undoubtedly, the size of a pressure group will be important in achieving success as a bigger pressure group is able to exert more pressure on politicians in Washington. For example, the NRA has five million members. They publish scorecards to show how congress members vote and send this to their members. Due to the large size of their membership, congressmen may be influenced to vote pro-gun or face the risk of losing their seat. This shows that the NRA have success in Washington through their large membership. However, the wealth of the NRA may be more important in ensuring their success in Washington. Arguably, the size of a pressure group is not one of the most important factors in determining success as many members often join solely for material benefits. For example, the American Association of Retired Persons have forty million members but this is not to say that they are all politically active. It is more likely that the members join for benefits such as discounted travel.

Evidently, there are numerous factors which all play an important role in resulting in success for pressure groups in Washington. The aims of a pressure group are clearly very important as no politician will be able to justify supporting a pressure groups which has controversial goals if he/she wish to be reelected. A pressure group with unrealistic aims will obviously have very limited success. The wealth of a pressure group is also one of the most important factor is ensuring success as large financial reserves buy greater access to politicians through lobbying and candidate endorsement which in turn is likely to result in the pressure groups advancing in Washington. Whilst the status of a pressure group is important, it is less important than the factors mentioned afore as iron triangles can be broken and insider status revoked when the government changes, meaning it provides for less stable success. The size of a pressure group can be important but it is not vital in ensuring success as a large membership may not necessarily mean that all of the members are politically engaged. Therefore, the most important factors in contributing to pressure groups being successful in Washington is the amount of wealth they have and the achievability of their aims.