Intensity signal
Definition
An intensity signal is costly political action, like donating, showing up to testify, or organizing others, that reveals how strongly someone cares about an issue, beyond a simple yes-or-no opinion. Because a single vote can't show intensity, people signal it through actions that take real time or money.
Why it matters
Elections and opinion polls treat every voter's preference equally, but intensity signals let a small, highly motivated group outweigh a larger but apathetic majority. This is exactly how a concentrated industry lobby, whose members care intensely about a narrow rule, can beat a diffuse public that mildly opposes it but has no comparable way to express how much it minds.
Seen in the wild
Political scientists studying preference intensity, including work published in the American Political Science Review and the Journal of Politics, point to phenomena like sustained industry lobbying campaigns as classic cases where a small group's high-intensity, well-funded advocacy overrides broader but low-intensity public preference.