Is Having A Voice Enough?
The Importance of Influence in Political Trust and Policy Assessments
Stacy G. Ulbig
Southwest Missouri State University
901 S. National
Springfield, MO 65804
Phone: 417-836-8574; Fax: 417-836-6655
E-mail: ## email not listed ##
Webpage: http://courses.smsu.edu/sgu646f/
ABSTRACT
Procedural justice researchers have long argued that giving people more of a voice in decision-
making proceedings leads to heightened satisfaction with the outputs of that process and enhanced
compliance with decisions. More recently, this concept has been applied to the political arena with
the suggestion that simply having a voice in the proceedings may not be enough. Here, I argue that
giving people a voice in politics is not a universal remedy for ailing democracy. A voice that is not
perceived to have an influence can be more detrimental than not having a voice at all. Using survey
data collected in a 2001 study of attitudes toward municipal government, I examine the impact that
perceptions of one’s voice and influence have on feelings of policy satisfaction and political trust.
Findings suggest that voice and influence do indeed have an impact on feelings of political trust and
policy satisfaction. Neither political trust nor policy satisfaction respond to increased voice alone.
Believing that one’s voice, loud or quiet, has an influence is important. Feelings of policy
satisfaction were increased only when citizens believed they had both increased voice and
influence, and feelings of political trust were diminished when only a loud voice was present.
Paper prepared for presentation at the Annual Meeting of the Northeastern Political Science
Association Meeting. November 6-9, 2003. Philadelphia, PA.
This research has been supported in part by a National Science Foundation Dissertation
Improvement Grant (SES-0001954) and the Center for the Study of Institutions and Values at Rice
University.
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