Question

The tea party movement and other factors have led to increased polarization between political parties at the state and national levels. this polarized situation affects the ability of legislatures to enact policies. this situation describes a strong impact of the ____ context on policy making.

Answer 1

The political context.

Policy makers in state and national legislatures cannot ignore the political feelings and movements that are happening at the grass roots level. If policy makers create policies that in and of themselves are workable and sound, but those policies go against the views of voters who placed them in office, the elected representatives risk losing their positions in government. Or at the very least they will need to "sell" the policy measures to their constituents, convincing them that the policy decisions are indeed necessary and prudent.