The Almond-Lippmann consensus is a widespread negative view jointly articulated by Gabriel Almond

Gabriel Almond

Gabriel A. Almond was an American political scientist best known for his pioneering work on comparative politics, political development, and political culture.-Biography:...

 and Walter Lippmann

Walter Lippmann

Walter Lippmann was an American intellectual, writer, reporter, and political commentator famous for being among the first to introduce the concept of Cold War...

 that U.S. public opinion is volatile, incoherent, and irrelevant to the policy-making process.

Mood Swings or Pragmatism

Scholars in the early twentieth century echoed Alexis de Tocqueville

Alexis de Tocqueville

Alexis-Charles-Henri Clérel de Tocqueville was a French political thinker and historian best known for his Democracy in America and The Old Regime and the Revolution . In both of these works, he explored the effects of the rising equality of social conditions on the individual and the state in...

's concerns about the public's role in U.S public affairs. Lippmann, a prominent journalist and social commentator, faulted Americans for ignoring German entry into World War I. The same criticism came after World War II, when popular commentators and prominent scholars cited the U.S. public's apathy during the interwar period as a contributing factor in the rise of fascist regimes

Regime

The word regime refers to a set of conditions, most often of a political nature.-Politics:...

 in Europe

Europe

Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

 and Asia

Asia

Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...

Almond's 1950 book, The American People and Foreign Policy, provided a bleak view of the connection between public attitudes and U.S. foreign policy. Drawing on survey data provided by the newly founded Gallup Organization, Almond complained that Americans generally felt so secure at home that "foreign policy, save in moments of grave crisis, has to labor under a handicap; it has to shout loudly to be heard even a little." Making matters worse, Almond argued, were the "mood swings" in public opinion that led to constantly shifting demands for global activism and withdrawal.

The similarities between Almond's view and Lippmann's produced what became known as the Almond-Lippmann consensus, which is based on three assumptions:

1. Public opinion is volatile, shifting erratically in response to the most recent developments. Mass beliefs early in the twentieth century were "too pacifist in peace and too bellicose in war, too neutralist or appeasing in negotiations or too intransigent"
2. Public opinion is incoherent, lacking an organized or a consistent structure to such an extent that the views of U.S. citizens could best be descried as "nonattitudes"
3. Public opinion is irrelevant to the policy-making process. Political leaders ignore public opinion because most Americans can neither "understand nor influence the very events upon which their lives and happiness are known to depend."

Contrasting Opinions

In contrast, more recent research challenges the Almond-Lippmann consensus, detecting greater consistency and coherence in mass attitudes and greater concern among decision makers with public opinion that the early pessimists allowed. Surveys conducted since 1974 by the Chicago Council on Foreign relations register ongoing support among the public, as well as foreign policy elites, for active U.S. participation in foreign affairs. Although the mass public tends to be more nationalistic on economic issues than elites, especially the protection of US jobs against foreign competitions both groups favor U.S. engagement in the United Nations and other forms of multilateral cooperation. Small segments of the public do consider themselves to be "isolationist," but most favor an internationalist foreign policy. The only question among these citizens is whether the United States should pursue a policy of militant internationalism or cooperative internationalism. Whereas realists, embracing a competitive and zero-sum world view, prefer the former approach, liberals favor active government collaboration and pooling of resources.

Public Opinion is Irrelevant

The Almond-Lippmann assumption that public opinion is irrelevant in the policy process in contradicted by elected officials' vigorous efforts to gauge and manipulate that opinion in recent years. All presidents since John F. Kennedy have created elaborate polling operations within the White house to guide their decisions in foreign and domestic policy. In the 1990s, Bill Clinton was so concerned about public opinion that he shaped the nation's military strategy in Bosnia and Kosovo

Kosovo

Kosovo is a region in southeastern Europe. Part of the Ottoman Empire for more than five centuries, later the Autonomous Province of Kosovo and Metohija within Serbia...

 around the need to maintain support for both interventions. The growing reliance of presidents on public diplomacy,demonstrates the relevance of public opinion - even to trustees

Trustee

Trustee is a legal term which, in its broadest sense, can refer to any person who holds property, authority, or a position of trust or responsibility for the benefit of another...

prone to override majority preferences.