The United States is built on the core idea that the government is run by the people. Vital to this idea is that the public opinion of the masses is a main consideration of political elites in the formation of policy. By analyzing six issues, looking at both the policy opinion of the masses and actual related policy, levels of correlation between opinion and policy will be demonstrated. The results vary depending on the issue, ranging from a very high correlation to a very low correlation. The research also looks at saliency, or importance, of each issue to the respondents. This serves to demonstrate which public opinion political elites are acknowledging when forming policy, those who care about the issue or those who do not. Understanding levels of saliency can help to better prioritize the importance of which issues should be addressed by elites in order to create greater governmental efficiency.