Political Science Week 7 Discussion

Initial Post Instructions Agenda setting can be a difficult task in government. Why? Who do you consider an important agenda setter in government? How does this participant help set the agenda? Give an example of an attempt at agenda setting in government. Was it successful? Why or why not? Consider how factors such as culture, political positions, etc. might impact your own, or the agenda setters’ priorities.

Use evidence (cite sources) to support your response from assigned readings or online lessons, and at least one outside scholarly source.

Follow-Up Post Instructions Respond to at least two peers or one peer and the instructor. Further the dialogue by providing more information and clarification. Minimum of 1 scholarly source, which can include your textbook or assigned readings or may be from your additional scholarly research.

Writing Requirements

Grading This activity will be graded using the Discussion Grading Rubric. Please review the following link:

Course Outcomes (CO): 2, 4, 6

Due Date for Initial Post: By 11:59 p.m. MT on Wednesday Due Date for Follow-Up Posts: By 11:59 p.m. MT on Sunday

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Textbook: Chapter 11 Lesson Minimum of 1 scholarly source (in addition to the textbook)

Minimum of 3 posts (1 initial & 2 follow-up) Minimum of 2 sources cited (assigned readings/online lessons and an outside scholarly source) APA format for in-text citations and list of references

Link (webpage): Discussion Guidelines

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(https://chamberlain.instructure.com/courses/68288/users/72720)Samuel Angus (Instructor) Aug 19, 2020

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PLURALISM, ELITISM, AND AGENDA SETTING MORE GENERALLY Class,

What is elite theory? What is pluralism? (Whitman Cobb, 164) How is agenda setting visualized according to each?

If I was to assert that the internet and social media pushed us in the direction of pluralism, would I be right?

How can the Me Too Movement, Black Lives Matter, and other similar movements be seen through each of these two lenses? What about other ‘grass roots’ movements? Have these movements played a critical role in agenda setting? If so, how and why? If not, how come?

Sam

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Angela Walker (h!ps://chamberlain.instructure.com/courses/68288/users/169532) Sunday

10/14/20, 2:20 AM Page 2 of 17

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The president is a vital agenda-setter in government. He or she is vocal about specific issues, and thru the mass media coverage, the president can influence the public’s perception of what issues are important. The State of the Union address, given by the president every year, is one of the most visible acts of presidential agenda setting (Cobb, 2020). The media is an excellent vessel for agenda-setting to be done. Through the media, we, the public, are fed information about issues. And though they, the media, do not tell us what to think, they help tell us what to think and talk about. Political Science Week 7 Discussion

President Trump has been a large and controversial figure in the media for four years now. With the fast election approaching, you can’t help but become entangled in the mess these two candidates have created. Almost immediately after President Trump took office, some Democrats wanted to impeach him. The House of Representatives voted to impeach President Trump for abuse of power and Congress’s obstruction on December 18, 2019 (“President Donald Trump impeached,” 2019). However, the Senate acquitted Trump (“President Donald Trump impeached,” 2019). More and more, the media has focused on Trump or Biden’s character instead of the issues. Even the presidential debate left you questioning what either candidate stands for.

Reference

President Donald Trump impeached. HISTORY. ( 2019). Retrieved October 11, 2020, from https://history.com/this-day-in-history/president-trump-impeached-house-of-representatives (https://history.com/this-day-in-history/president-trump-impeached-house-of-representatives) .

Cobb, W. (2020). Political Science Today (p. 105). SAGE Publications Ltd.

(https://chamberlain.instructure.com/courses/68288/users/72720)Samuel Angus (Instructor) Monday

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THE PRESIDENT Angela and Class,

The President is indeed one of the most important agenda setters. How can the President help bring about recognition of a problem, identify solutions, and manufacture the necessary political will? What specifically can a President do? What tools does he have at his disposal? What examples best show the power of the President when it comes to setting the agenda?

Sam

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Traci East (h!ps://chamberlain.instructure.com/courses/68288/users/153410) Monday

10/14/20, 2:20 AM Page 3 of 17

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Professor and Class,

Agenda setting in government is difficult because it must have a problem, solution, and the political will to handle it. With these three areas together sets the groundwork and a good policy worker set it in motion. I feel like a great agenda setter in government is the President. The president has the most power and can influence the media and congress when they focus their time and energy on a topic of concern (Whitman Cobb, 2020). There are two factors the active participants and the process that affect agenda setting. The Active participants would be the president, other government officials, and congress. The process is made up of discussions that lead into passing of the new policy and problems with the legislation. This process can be influenced by outside sources and can cause legislators to make policy decisions based on what the media covers.

Agenda setting for President Tramp coming in to 2020 was supposed to be for drug prices, healthcare, and infrastructure. So, when the President did his State of the Union address, he briefly discussed infrastructure and never addressed drug prices or healthcare and even two months after his address the issues have never been addressed. Then in this case this agenda setting was not successful due to ignoring the issue but then the pandemic hit, and his focus switched as did most Americans. Political Science Week 7 Discussion