... as sources of information. It has been argued that Congressmen are increasingly uncertain about which group has credibility and deserves attention and in turn means that they do not want to be associated with them. This means that pressure groups are not necessarily good for democracy as some pressure groups are not very credible and do not possess a great deal of specialist knowledge. Congress and government departments often use pressure groups as a 'sounding board'. This is especially apparent by decision makers in the formulation stage of the legislative process. For example President Lyndon Johnson consulted George Meany the head of the trade-union confederation, the AFL-CIO, so as to gauge opinion on his proposals for anti-poverty measures. This shows how effective pressure groups can be to things such as public opinion and at the same time, organizations offer opportunities for political participation in between election time. This allows the public ...

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