Is there a link between lobbying and perceptions of political distrust among citizens? An explorative research note

This research note explores the link between the advocacy activity of organized interests and political distrust among citizens. It sets out an argument for why such a link could exist and why it is worth exploring empirically. In addition, it sets out a preliminary future research agenda on how this link can best be empirically assessed. The role of interest groups within contemporary democracies is often seen as one that functions as a so called ‘transmission belt’ between citizens and politics (Albareda, 2018; Albareda & Braun, 2019) giving the former group a voice and therewith making them more eager to participate in and trust politics (Dahl, 1961; Putnam, 1993). Unfortunately, this ideal type of idea does not always work well in practice (Binderkrantz, 2009; Gilens & Page, 2014; Halpin, 2006) as interest representation often reproduces societal inequalities regarding agenda setting, policy representation and access (Albareda, 2021; Strolovitch, 2005; Aizenberg & Hanegraaff, 2020; Schlozman, 1984; Salisbury, 1984). What is more, the activity of interest groups can be linked to behavior that is characterized by a lack of transparency as well as regulation and leads to the occasional lobbying scandal widely covered in the news media. We know from the literature that political scandals, negative news and a lack of transparency can all, under certain circumstances and to some extent, lead to feelings of political distrust among citizens (Bowler & Karp, 2004; Grimmelikhuijsen, et al., 2014; Kleinnijenhuis, 2006), yet we do not know whether and to what extent these dynamics are assigned by citizens to the activity of lobbying and whether they are related to feelings of political distrust among them. This paper taps into these questions by building on these literatures and presenting an argument on why there is a plausible link between lobbying activity by organized interests and perceptions of political distrust among citizens. In addition, it sets out a future research agenda on how to study it empirically.