Lobbyists and legislators who socialize together are more likely to make policy together

One group received a lobbying request for a meeting in their Capitol offices. A second group received a request to meet in a local restaurant. The third group, the control group, received no request or contact. Regardless of meeting location, the lobbyist asked the legislator or staffer in the first two groups to do the same thing: Support a state policy and post their support on one of the legislator’s social media platforms. All state legislators were part of the study, but only one-third were contacted as part of the social lobbying group and only one-third were contacted as part of the office lobbying group. Not all legislators who were asked to have meetings complied with the request, though the proportions complying was quite high in both groups.