Because grassroots lobbying is geared toward local organizations and communities, these types of media outlets are used mainly by large associations that can afford them.
[4] Implementing social media tactics in grassroots lobbying would provide a much broader outreach and would allow activists to not only inform but interact with various people about their cause.
Some advocates are now using social media to reduce the cost of traditional campaigns, and to more precisely target public officials with political messages.
Another example is Urban Legend, a Virginia-based startup launched in 2020 by former Trump administration staffers that recruited social media influencers including makeup artists, Nascar drivers, home improvement gurus, mommy bloggers, NFL athletes and Olympians.
These tactics are used after the lobbying group gains a portion of the publics trust and support through speaking out in crowded areas, passing out flyers and even campaigning through web and television outlets.
More recently, due to the potential of other modern communication devices, grassroots lobbying is expected to only increase as a form of shaping public opinion.
[11] The Tea Party sees themselves as a "movement that calls awareness to any issue that challenges the security, sovereignty, or domestic tranquility of our beloved nation, the United States of America.
Trends from the past decade in grassroots lobbying have been the increase in aggressive recruiting of volunteers and starting campaigns early on, way before the legislature must make a decision.
[14] With the added devices of today such as Facebook and Twitter, Grassroots lobbyists have an even easier, cheaper, and faster way to reach the masses and develop a strong base for their issues to be heard.
An experiment completed by John Cluverius, published in Political Research Quarterly, found that due to the ease and inexpensive nature of emails, legislatures are now untrusting of mass lobbying efforts.
[16] Cluverius found that astroturfing and the grassroots movement efforts of interest groups have a negative effect on legislators’ perception of issue salience because their inauthenticity provides no information about constituencies.
Fowler and Shaiko[17] found that members of Congress are partial to the stances of their party within their constituency while also balancing policy disputes on focal issues.
A study done in 2009 shows that over 20 percent of lobbying groups put health concerns such as disease prevention, Medicare, or prescription drugs as a top priority.
A study by JAMA Internal Medicine found that from 1999-2018 the pharmaceutical and health product industry spent the most money on lobbying and campaign contributions in the US, totaling $4.7 billion.
Congress passed a 2019 repeal of taxes in relation to the Affordable Care Act which benefits medical device manufacturers and health insurance companies.
Some states disclosures are minimal and require only registration, while some states disclosure requirements are extensive, including but not limited to: filing of monthly to quarterly expense reports, including all legislative activity relevant to the individual or groups activities, amounts of contributions and donations, as well as the names and addresses of contributors and specified expenses.
Although many don't agree with this form of activism because it somewhat dismisses the general public's involvement, Astroturf lobbying groups defend their position, saying that monitoring the collection of peoples voices would infringe on First Amendment rights.