Grassroots movements and how did they affect elections?

Answer 1

These days, it often seems like big-money political action committees or billionaire donors are the main thing that affect elections; but the truth is that there are many examples of ordinary citizens (few of whom have big bucks to donate) rallying around a candidate and helping him or her to get elected. A good example is the presidential campaign of Barack Obama in 2008; many of his most passionate supporters were young adults, including a number of activists. One of their causes was ending the war in Iraq. They saw Mr. Obama as someone who would accomplish that, so they donated their time and energy to promote his candidacy, and helped to push him over the top.

Another grassroots effort is around the issue of "net neutrality"-- the idea that giant corporations should not be allowed to charge customers more for fast internet access, and that everyone, whether rich or poor, should have equal access to fast service. It took ten years of grass roots activity and advocacy to move this issue forward to the point where in February 2015, the FCC finally ruled in favor of the people, rather than the corporations. Also, there are many examples of grass roots activism influencing votes in congress: if it seems an issue is really resonating with the public, it can leads to changes in policy, as we saw with the Net Neutrality case. The problem with grass roots activism is it is often gradual. For change to work its way up from the grass roots can take time, and that gives some people the perception that what they are doing isn't having an impact. But while grass roots activism may not bring immediate results, things can and do change, and activists are part of that process.