This action is sponsored by: Civic Shout, Common Cause, DemCast USA, Democracy for America Advocacy Fund, Food & Water Watch, National Campaign for Justice, Progress America, TakeItBack.Org, The Juggernaut Project, The Workers Circle, and Voter Action Project.
Is there any evidence that petitions are effective when they’re not legally binding and are coming from the opposition?
If anything they’re the opposite. The petitions themselves are not binding, and if they’re not directly to institutions then they’re probably not even noticed.
…but they do convince signers that they’ve ‘done something’, the catharsis of which makes them less likely to do something that actually matters.
Yeah, that’s my thought. People sign a petition and go ‘welp, I’ve done my part!’ when they’ve literally done nothing constructive whatsoever.
This reminds me of a scathing bit in I think “Bowling for Columbine” that covered a group of well-meaning women and their ineffective political activism. They made a bit of ruckus in some senator’s office, then had tea and cake afterwards patting each other on the back.