Media, public opinion and parliamentary agendas' effect in political parties' agenda-setting

Abstract

Why do parties give attention to some policy issues in detriment of others? To what extent policy attention conveyed by the media, the public opinion, and the parliament explain parties' agenda-setting in manifestos? And, more specifically, to what extent the media agenda strengthens the other agendas' effects? This paper addresses these questions originally analyzing the influence of these three agendas - media, public opinion and parliament - in parties' manifestos elaboration. The analysis relies on an extensive database of the Portuguese Policy Agendas Project that includes media attention, voters' preferences, parliamentary questions and pledges in manifestos, between 1995 and 2015. Findings show that the media agenda is the most influential in party manifestos' elaboration, and that it has a strengthening effect over the other agendas, depending on the political party being in cabinet or opposition, as well as on the economic context. These findings have important implications for party competition literature.