Lobbying influences the agenda but does not buy votes — As state legislatures across the country wrap their annual sessions, commentators are trying to explain why some bills passed while others failed. A common element in these explanations is lobbying — namely, that the advocacy efforts of organized interests for or against a bill led to its enactment or defeat. …

Undecideds and agenda-setters are key targets for lobbying — Lobbyists are pervasive in Washington, DC, so pervasive that in the last four months of 2020, interest groups filed nearly 17,000 reports detailing their lobbying, with most focused on Congress. Popular press accounts and academic studies often suggest that this lobbying influences Congress, and many conclude that lobbying skews policies…