Platforms talk foreign affairs; laws handle public lands
Source. Comparative Agendas Project, platforms and public laws
Method and data
Method. Platform share is the mean across the 39 platforms in the files (20 Democratic, 19 Republican) of each topic's share of policy quasi-sentences; law share is the mean across the 81st to 117th Congresses of each topic's share of non-commemorative public laws. The CSV holds all 20 topics.
| Topic | Platform share (%) | Law share (%) | Law minus platform (points) |
|---|---|---|---|
| International affairs | 16.3 | 4.4 | −11.9 |
| Civil rights | 7.6 | 1.1 | −6.5 |
| Macroeconomics | 8.7 | 2.3 | −6.4 |
| Labor | 4.5 | 1.5 | −3 |
| Education | 5.3 | 2.5 | −2.8 |
| Housing | 3.4 | 1.3 | −2.1 |
| Social welfare | 3.7 | 1.6 | −2.1 |
| Health | 5.7 | 4.7 | −1 |
| Energy | 2.9 | 2.2 | −0.7 |
| Law and crime | 5.9 | 5.3 | −0.6 |
| Immigration | 1.6 | 1 | −0.6 |
| Defense | 10.1 | 10.2 | 0.1 |
| Foreign trade | 2.4 | 2.6 | 0.2 |
| Agriculture | 3.4 | 3.6 | 0.2 |
| Environment | 2.8 | 3.2 | 0.4 |
| Technology | 1.6 | 2.3 | 0.7 |
| Domestic commerce | 2.7 | 5.6 | 2.9 |
| Transportation | 1.7 | 5.8 | 4.1 |
| Government operations | 5.7 | 18 | 12.3 |
| Public lands | 4 | 20.9 | 16.9 |
