It helps to separate agendas. The public agenda contains issues discussed widely by citizens and news media. The governmental agenda contains issues receiving serious attention from public officials. A narrower decision agenda contains proposals close enough to authoritative action that officials are prepared to choose among them. An issue can dominate public conversation yet never reach a committee vote, or it can move quietly through an agency while attracting little public attention. When a question asks which agenda is involved, identify the audience whose attention has changed.

Problem definition shapes entry to every agenda. A rise in housing costs may be described as a shortage of supply, a wage problem, discriminatory exclusion, excessive regulation, or speculative investment. Each frame identifies different causes and makes different remedies appear sensible. Policy entrepreneurs try to connect a persuasive problem definition, a workable proposal, and a favorable political climate when a window of opportunity opens. Their success depends on evidence and organization, but also on timing and on whether the frame fits existing public values.

Agenda power includes the ability to prevent action. Committee leaders can decline to schedule a hearing, chamber leaders can withhold floor time, and procedural rules can keep a proposal from receiving a vote. Organized groups often monitor an issue continuously, while a broad public may mobilize only after a visible event. Imagine repeated reports of unsafe drinking water. A dramatic test result and sustained local organizing may move the condition onto the public and governmental agendas. Officials are agenda setting when they begin hearings and demand alternatives; they have not yet formulated a complete policy or legally adopted one.

Video lesson: Shaping Public Opinion: Crash Course Government and Politics #34