Public opinion is important in a democracy because the people are the ultimate source of power. Therefore, any governmental official has to take public opinion into account when deciding how to act.
I am not trying to say that politicians always do what the people want. Clearly, there are a lot of people who are angry with the government, especially right now. But politicians do need to avoid making the majority of the people too unhappy. If they anger enough people badly enough, they will be voted out of office.
So, public opinion is important in a democracy because the people have the right to remove their representatives from office. Therefore, the representatives must at least pay attention to public opinion.
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lit24 | College Teacher | (Level 3) Valedictorian
Posted on August 5, 2010 at 10:50 PM
Democracy is often explained as "a government of the people, by the people for the people." In a democracy the rulers are elected by the citizens of a country who are eligible to vote. As such the rulers are answerable to the voting public. Some democratically elected governments even permit to recall the elected representative if he does not satisfy the public which has elected him.
Consequently, public opinion is of paramount importance in a democracy. Freedom of speech and expression is the cornerstone of democracy and the elected representatives had better respond to the needs of the public or else they will be thrown out of power in the next election.
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