Is government policy actually “virtually unrelated to the desires of the low- and middle-income citizens”?

Peter Enns shares a new article, which states: The finding that government policy is “virtually unrelated to the desires of the low- and middle-income citizens” (Gilens 2005:789) is one of the most influential social science results of the last two decades. This article offers a new perspective on this finding. I [Enns] show that the seemingly innocuous decision to restrict analyses to data where different income groups’ policy support differs (i.e., a preference gap exists) introduced Simpson’s paradox, leading to misleading conclusions about whose preferences policy reflects. The same concerns apply to analyses of responsiveness to men and women and to partisan groups. I also present evidence that other common approaches for evaluating policy responsiveness can produce equally misleading conclusions. These findings suggest a need to reconsider conventional wisdom about political influence. The conclusion offers methodological recommendations and discusses implications related to…