Publics are small groups of people who follow one or more particular issue very closely. They are well informed about the issue(s) and also have a very strong opinion on it/them. They tend to know more about politics than the average person, and, therefore, exert more influence, because these people care so deeply about their cause(s) that they donate a lot of time and money. Therefore, politicians are unlikely be reelected by not pleasing the publics while in office.[1]
Issue publics are groups of people who pay attention to one particular issue. One can be part of more than one issue public.[1]
Attentive publics are groups of people who pay attention to several particular issues.[1]