Rallying to the President's Support: A Reappraisal of the Evidence

Abstract

This article examines the extent of the president's influence on American public opinion in questions of major policy and challenges the validity of the widespread followership concept. The author finds that the concept is not very helpful in explaining an important change in public opinion at a critical juncture in the Vietnam War. He points to the problem posed by the wording of poll questions and demonstrates the compelling force of such alternative explanations of public opinion changes as compassion for a discredited president. He also reverses the more commonly accepted causal link between Lyndon Johnson's resignation speech and the massive change in public opinion. His reappraisal gives us a better understanding of the complex relationship between president, public opinion, and foreign policy.