The Impact of Policies on Public Opinion

Traditional policy research is often focussed on agenda setting and decision-making phases of the policy process. In contrast, the impact of public policy on society are a less studied field - although research on policy feedback has expanded tremendously in recent decades. This contribution gives an overview of how policies affect society with a special focus on public opinion and electoral outcomes. It will review the state of the art and discuss avenues for future research reflecting on recent advances in the policy feedback literature and how it can inform theories of the policy process.