Astroturf vs grassroots
Definition
Grassroots lobbying mobilizes people who already care about an issue to contact lawmakers themselves. Astroturfing fakes that same appearance of organic public support, using paid actors, generic-sounding front groups, or fabricated letters, while actually being funded and directed by a narrow private interest.
Why it matters
Legislators often weigh how much genuine public support a position has, so astroturf campaigns exploit that signal by manufacturing the appearance of a groundswell that does not really exist. Distinguishing the two matters because astroturf lets well-funded interests disguise narrow lobbying as broad citizen demand, drowning out authentic constituent voices in the same inbox or hearing room.
Seen in the wild
Citizens for a Sound Economy, founded in the 1980s with funding from the Koch family foundations, described itself as a grassroots movement of "hundreds of thousands" of citizens while functioning as a vehicle for its funders' business and political interests, a widely cited early astroturfing example.