56 Examples of Political Influence

John Spacey, updated on October 03, 2023

Political influence is the power to change the direction, decisions and actions of groups. This can apply to any group but is most often used to describe the power to influence the decisions, policies and actions of governments. Political influence includes power structures that have leverage over government such as voters or a large industry. It can also include techniques such as activism or lobbying that are used to generate influence. The following are common examples of political influence.

Activism	Boycotts
Bureaucratic power structures in government	Campaign contributions
Celebrities	Constituent pressure on elected officials
Corporate influence	Corruption such as bribery
Courts and the justice system may have the power to influence elections or politicians	Cronyism
Diplomacy	Disinformation campaigns
Economic leverage of corporations, industries and foreign governments	Fake grassroots organizations known as astroturfing
Films & television	Focus groups
Foreign aid	Foreign influence
Grassroots organizations	Groupthink
Ideology	Industry groups
Influence of international organizations	Influence of religions
International alliances	International pressure
Lobbying	Media
Military alliances	Military power of other nations
Nepotism	News organizations & journalism
Petitions	Political advertising
Political committees	Political debate & discussion
Political influence of universities, colleges and other schools	Political parties
Political pundits	Politically motivated research
Propaganda	Protests
Public opinion	Revolving door practices whereby politicians expect to be employed by industry
Slogans	Social media as a venue for debate, propaganda, information and misinformation
Social media influencers	Social movements
Special interest groups	State controlled or influenced media
Think tanks	Trade agreements
Unions and labor actions	Voters
Voting blocs	Word of mouth