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About this quote

What does it mean?
Public opinion is the foundation of political success; those who shape it have more power than those who make laws.
In plain terms
Public support makes things work, and whoever controls that support controls what laws can actually happen.
What can you take from it?
Influence public opinion to enable or block policy.

Where it applies

  • campaigning
  • policy advocacy
  • legislative strategy

Putting it to work

  • public relations
  • community organizing
  • media outreach

Questions to consider

  • How do you shape public opinion responsibly?
  • What if public sentiment contradicts justice?

Another view

Public sentiment can be volatile or misinformed.

More from Abraham Lincoln

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  3. Let us discard all this quibbling about this man and the other man, this race and that race and the other race being inferior and therefore they must be placed…

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