Difference between revisions of "Republican Party"

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Republican Party

Party Chairman	Michael Whatley
Senate Leader
House Speaker	Mike Johnson
House Leader	Steve Scalise
Founded	March 20, 1854
Headquarters	310 K Street SE Washington, D.C. 20003
Political ideology	Conservatism Classical Liberalism Libertarianism Right-wing populism Paleoconservativism Abolitionism/Emancipation Constitutionalism Patriotism Nationalism Neoconservatism (RINO minority)
Political position	Fiscal: Right-wing, Free Market Social: Centre-Right to Right-wing, Conservative, Libertarian, Patriotic
International affiliation	International Democrat Union Alliance of Conservatives and Reformists in Europe (regional partner)
Color(s)	Red (unofficial)
Website	www.gop.com

The Republican Party (R) or informally the GOP (short for Grand Old Party), is one of the two major political parties in the United States and founded on the principles of opportunity, meritocracy and "one person, one vote."

The Republican Party is the only major U.S. political party that is pro-life. The Republican Party is also pro-free enterprise, pro-religious liberty, pro-school choice, pro-Second Amendment, and pro-traditional marriage, while opposing the defunding of police departments. At its first national convention, in 1856, the Republican Party platform stated, "It is the duty of Congress to prohibit in the territories those twin relics of barbarism, polygamy and slavery."^[1]

The Republican Party was created in 1854 by anti-slavery activists and has always stood for equal rights and the dignity of the individual. It soon swept to control of all the northern states, and in 1860 elected Abraham Lincoln president. The South seceded, and the Union side of the American Civil War was directed by Lincoln and the new party, with help from "War Democrats." The GOP (as it was increasingly made up of veterans of the GAR or Grand Army of the Republic) dominated the elections of the Third Party System (1854–1896) as well as the Fourth Party System or Progressive Era (1896–1932). However, the Democrats built a liberal New Deal Coalition under President Franklin D. Roosevelt, and dominated the Fifth Party System (1932–1968), with the GOP only electing Dwight D. Eisenhower in that era. The Sixth Party System, since 1968, has been dominated by the GOP.

Unable to suppress minority voting rights for another century, in the 1960s Democrats sought to make Blacks dependent for food and housing on the Democratic party again with the War on Poverty, as Blacks had been in the pre-Civil War plantation system.^[2] Throughout the voter suppression of the Jim Crow era and beyond the War on Poverty, Democrats were always determined that the party that freed the slaves would not become beneficiaries of the Freedmen's vote. The system of economic co-dependency and patronage between white liberal racists and African Americans that existed for centuries was renewed in the mid-1960s.^[3] Only now the system of co-dependency was paid for with federal money rather than the private sector plantation system of the pre-Civil War era.^[4]

20 of the 30 US Presidents since 1861 have been Republicans and since that same year, a Republican has won 24 of the last 38 presidential elections. The party's most recent candidates Free Soil Republicans Donald Trump of New York, along with his running mate, Indiana Governor Mike Pence, won the 2016 presidential election against Southern Democrat challengers Hillary Clinton of Arkansas and her running mate Tim Kaine of Virginia.

It is important to vote for someone who's more conservative on the issues rather than for someone who represents their party only by name due to the fact some Republicans are less conservative and more liberal/progressive than typical Republicans (see: RINO).

1877 Thomas Nast drawing of the Republican elephant.

Symbol

The official symbol of the Republican Party is the elephant. Although the elephant had occasionally been associated with the party earlier, a political cartoon by Thomas Nast, published in Harper's Weekly on November 7, 1874, is considered the first important use of the symbol.^[5] In the early 20th century, the traditional symbol of the Republican party in some Midwestern states was the eagle, as opposed to the Democratic cock (rooster). The eagle still appears on Indiana ballots.

A political term referring to the party is "G.O.P.", which was originally an acronym of "Grand Old Party". The term was coined in 1875.

Ideology

Donald Trump has made the Republican Party more focused on immigration issues and blue-collar worker issues.

The Republican Party was established to successfully end the relics of slavery, barbarism and polygamy. Historically, the fundamental philosophy and political ideals of the Republican Party are founded on the idea that societal health is rooted in personal responsibility and actions. The Republican Party holds the belief that all material things are earned, not owed. This is seen most often in the party's push for lower taxes. This is fought for in an attempt to treat all citizens equally despite income, race, gender, or religion. They also see taxes as a drag on the economy, and believe private spending is usually more efficient than public spending.

Republicans also show concerns about having big government in charge of such vital issues as food, shelter, or health care, as they believe the private sector and/or the individual are better suited to control their own lives. President Ronald Reagan who became a Republican in the early 1960s after being a New Dealer at one time, has been quoted as saying "Government is not the solution, it is the problem."

The party tends to hold both conservative and libertarian stances on social and economic issues respectively. Major policies that the party has recently supported include a conservative foreign policy, including War on Terror, liberating of Afghanistan and Iraq, and strong support for democracy, especially in the Middle East. Many party members and politicians have shown a distrust of the United Nations due to the organization's incompetent bureaucracy, anti-capitalist undertone, corruption on the Security Council and in UN humanitarian programs. Along with demanding radical reforms in the UN, many Republican politicians also opposes the Kyoto Protocol due the protocol's unfair application to certain countries (especially the United States) and the fact that it prevents economic growth and slows the reduction of poverty.

The Republican Party generally supported free trade to promote democracy, especially NAFTA and CAFTA. It is responsible for a series of across-the-board tax cuts since 2001 that have bolstered the economy and reduced the punitive aspect of the income tax. It has sought business deregulation, reduction of environmental regulations that restrict fair use of land and property, and other policies that are pro-capitalism. It supports gun ownership rights, and enterprise zones (low taxes for investing in poverty areas). On social issues the majority of its national and state candidates usually favor the death penalty, call for stronger state-level control on access to abortion, support a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage at the federal level and by the states, favor faith-based charitable initiatives, support school choice and homeschooling, social welfare benefit reform, and oppose reverse racism, such as racial quotas.

In recent years the party has called for much stronger accountability in the public schools, especially through the "No Child Left behind Act" of 2001 (which also increased federal funding for schools). The party is split on the issue of federally funding embryonic stem cell research that involves the cloning and killing of human embryos. Many in the party think it is unethical to force taxpayers who believe this type of research is morally wrong to finance it. Historically Republicans have had a strong belief in individualism, limited government, and business entrepreneurship.

In recent years, the Republican party has downplayed its emphasis on small government. Under the administration of George W. Bush, the federal government has been expanded to record levels, surpassing even the Great Depression era.^[6] Additionally, the Bush administration has acted to nationalize the country's banking institutions in an effort to stymie the decline of the U.S. economy^[7]

In 2016, the Republican Party adopted the most pro-life party platform in its entire history, with strong language recognizing the right to life of unborn human beings and condemning Planned Parenthood.^[8] Between 1995 and 2018, the GOP become significantly more pro-life on the issue.^[9]

Contrary to the claims of liberals and Democrats, the GOP better represent the poor in the U.S., while Democrats represent the wealthy.^[10]

History

GOP Presidents by Andy Thomas; clockwise from right: Nixon, Ford, Lincoln, GHW Bush, Reagan, GW Bush, Eisenhower, Teddy Roosevelt

The party began in 1854, at the start of the Third Party System. The GOP (or "Grand Old Party" as it was nicknamed after 1880 by veterans of the Grand Army of the Republic, the GAR) dominated national politics as the victors of the American Civil War, including most of the Fourth Party System until 1932. Then the Fifth Party System (or "New Deal Coalition") was dominant until the late 1960s. Since 1968 the GOP has won 8 of 13 presidential elections (losing in 1976, 1992, 1996, 2008 and 2012). Its great rival is the party of segregation, slavery, Jim Crow and the Ku Klux Klan, the Democrat Party.

Third Party System: 1854–1896

The Republican party began as a spontaneous grassroots protest against the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854, which allowed slavery into western territories where it had been forbidden by earlier compromises. The creation of the new party, along with the death of the Whig Party, realigned American politics. The central issues were new, as were the voter alignments, and the balance of power in Congress. The central issues became slavery, race, civil war and the reconstruction of the Union into a more powerful nation, with rules changed that gave the vote to Blacks and former slaves.

Issues: Slavery

Republican activists denounced the Kansas-Nebraska act as proof of the power of the Slave Power—the powerful class of slaveholders who were conspiring to control the federal government and to spread slavery nationwide. The name "Republican" gained such favor in 1854 because "republicanism" was the paramount political value the new party meant to uphold. The name also echoed the former Jeffersonian party of the First Party System. The party founders adopted the name "Republican" to indicate it was the carrier of "republican" beliefs about civic virtue, and opposition to aristocracy and corruption.^[11]

Abraham Lincoln was the first Republican president

Two small cities of the Yankee diaspora, Ripon, Wisconsin, and Jackson, Michigan, claim the birthplace honors.^[12] Ripon held the first county convention on March 20, 1854. Jackson held the first statewide convention where delegates on July 6, 1854, declared their new party opposed to the expansion of slavery into new territories and selected a statewide slate of candidates. The Midwest took the lead in forming state party tickets, while the eastern states lagged a year or so. There were no efforts to organize the party in the South, apart from a few areas adjacent to free states. The new party was sectional, based in the northeast and northern Midwest—areas with a strong Yankee presence. It had only scattered support in slave states before the Civil War.^[13]

The first presidential nomination in 1856 when to an obscure western explorer John C. Fremont, as the party crusaded against the Slave Power with the slogan, "Free Soil, Free Labor, Free men, Fremont and victory!" Democrats warned darkly that disunion and Civil War would result. The remnants of the Know Nothing movement prevented the new party from sweeping the North, and the Democrats elected James Buchanan. By 1858 the Know Nothings were gone and the Republicans swept the North. The 1860 election seemed a certain victory, for the party had majorities in states with a majority of the electoral votes. In the event, the opposition split three ways, and Abraham Lincoln coasted to an easy victory, carrying 18 states with 190 electoral votes, while the opposition carried 15 states (mostly in the South) with 123 electoral votes. Lincoln had 1.9 million popular votes.

Modernization

Besides opposition to slavery, the new party put forward a modernizing vision—emphasizing higher education, banking, railroads, industry and cities, while promising free homesteads to farmers. It vigorously argued that free-market labor was superior to slavery and the very foundation of civic virtue and true American values - this is the "Free Soil, Free Labor, Free Men" ideology explored by historian Eric Foner.^[14] The Republicans absorbed the previous traditions of its members, most of whom had been Whigs, and some of whom had been Democrats or members of third parties (especially the Free Soil Party and Know-Nothings (American Party). Many Democrats who joined up were rewarded with governorships.^[15] or seats in the U.S. Senate.^[16] Since its inception, its chief opposition has been the Democratic Party, but the amount of flow back and forth of prominent politicians between the two parties was quite high from 1854 to 1896.

Ethnocultural voting

Historians have explored the ethnocultural foundations of the party, along the line that ethnic and religious groups set the moral standards for their members, who then carried those standards into politics. The churches also provided social networks that politicians used to sign up voters. The pietistic churches, heavily influenced by the revivals of the Second Great Awakening, emphasized the duty of the Christian to purge sin from society. Sin took many forms—alcoholism, polygamy and slavery became special targets for the Republicans. The Yankees, who dominated New England, much of upstate New York, and much of the upper Midwest were the strongest supporters of the new party. This was especially true for the pietistic Congregationalists and Presbyterians among them and (during the war), the Methodists, along with Scandinavian Lutherans. The Quakers were a small tight-knit group that was heavily Republican. The liturgical churches (Roman Catholic, Episcopal, German Lutheran), by contrast, largely rejected the moralism of the GOP; most of their adherents voted Democratic.^[17]

Politics 1854–1860

John C. Frémont ran as the first Republican nominee for President in 1856, using the political slogan: "Free soil, free labor, free speech, free men, Frémont." Although Frémont's bid was unsuccessful, the party showed a strong base. It dominated in New England, New York and the northern Midwest, and had a strong presence in the rest of the North. It had almost no support in the South, where it was roundly denounced in 1856-60 as a divisive force that threatened civil war. The election of Abraham Lincoln in 1860 ended the domination of the fragile coalition of pro-slavery southern Democrats and conciliatory northern Democrats which had existed since the days of Andrew Jackson. Instead, a new era of Republican dominance based in the industrial and agricultural north ensued. Republicans still often refer to their party as the "party of Lincoln" in honor of the first Republican President.

See also: Third Party System

Civil War: 1861–1865

Lincoln proved brilliantly successful in uniting the factions of his party to fight for the Union.^[18] However he usually fought the Radical Republicans who demanded harsher measures. Most Democrats at first were War Democrats, and supportive until the fall of 1862. When Lincoln added the abolition of slavery as a war goal, many war Democrats became "peace Democrats." All the state Republican parties accepted the antislavery goal except Kentucky. In Congress, the party passed major legislation to promote rapid modernization, including a national banking system, high tariffs, an income tax, many excise taxes, paper money issued without backing ("greenbacks"), a huge national debt, homestead laws, and aid to education and agriculture. The Republicans denounced the peace-oriented Democrats as Copperheads and won enough War Democrats to maintain their majority in 1862; in 1864, they formed a coalition with many War Democrats as the "National Union Party" which reelected Lincoln easily, then folded back into the Republican party. During the war, upper-middle-class men in major cities formed Union Leagues, to promote and help finance the war effort.

Reconstruction: Blacks, Carpetbaggers and Scalawags

A cartoon threatening that the KKK will lynch scalawags (left) and carpetbaggers (right) on March 4, 1869, the day President Grant takes office. Tuscaloosa, Alabama, Independent Monitor, September 1, 1868. A full-scale scholarly history analyzes the cartoonː Guy W. Hubbs, Searching for Freedom after the Civil War: Klansman, Carpetbagger, Scalawag, and Freedman (2015).^[19]

In Reconstruction, how to deal with the ex-Confederates and the freed slaves, or Freedmen, were the major issues. By 1864, Radical Republicans controlled Congress and demanded more aggressive action against slavery, and more vengeance toward the Confederates. Lincoln held them off, but just barely. Republicans at first welcomed President Andrew Johnson; the Radicals thought he was one of them and would take a hard line in punishing the South. Johnson, however, broke with them and formed a loose alliance with moderate Republicans and Democrats. The showdown came in the Congressional elections of 1866, in which the Radicals won a sweeping victory and took full control of Reconstruction, passing key laws over the veto. Johnson was impeached by the House, but acquitted by the Senate. With the election of Ulysses S. Grant in 1868, the Radicals had control of Congress, the party and the Army, and attempted to build a solid Republican base in the South using the votes of Freedmen, Scalawags and Carpetbaggers, supported directly by U.S. Army detachments. Republicans all across the South formed local clubs called Union Leagues that effectively mobilized the voters, discussed issues, and when necessary fought off Ku Klux Klan attacks. Thousands died on both sides.

Grant supported radical reconstruction programs in the South, the 14th Amendment, and equal civil and voting rights for the freedmen. Most of all he was the hero of the war veterans, who marched to his tune. The party had become so large that factionalism was inevitable; it was hastened by Grant's tolerance of high levels of corruption typified by the Whiskey Ring. The "Liberal Republicans" split off in 1872 on the grounds that it was time to declare the war finished and bring the troops home. Many of the founders of the GOP joined the movement, as did many powerful newspaper editors. They nominated Horace Greeley, who gained unofficial Democratic support, but was defeated in a landslide. The depression of 1873 energized the Democrats. They won control of the House and formed "Redeemer" coalitions which recaptured control of each southern state, in some cases using threats and violence.

Reconstruction came to an end when the contested election of 1876 was awarded by a special electoral commission to Republican Rutherford B. Hayes who promised, through the unofficial Compromise of 1877, to withdraw federal troops from control of the last three southern states. The region then became the Solid South, giving overwhelming majorities of its electoral votes and Congressional seats to the Democrats until 1964.

In terms of racial issues, "White Republicans as well as Democrats solicited black votes but reluctantly rewarded blacks with nominations for office only when necessary, even then reserving the more choice positions for whites. The results were predictable: these half-a-loaf gestures satisfied neither black nor white Republicans. The fatal weakness of the Republican party in Alabama, as elsewhere in the South, was its inability to create a biracial political party. And while in power even briefly, they failed to protect their members from Democratic terror. Alabama Republicans were forever on the defensive, verbally and physically." [Woolfolk p 134]

Social pressure eventually forced most Scalawags to join the conservative/Democratic Redeemer coalition. A minority persisted and formed the "tan" half of the "Black and Tan" Republican party, a minority in every southern state after 1877. (DeSantis 1998)

Gilded Age: 1877–1894

The "GOP" (as it was now nicknamed) split into factions in the late 1870s. The Stalwarts, followers of Senator Conkling, defended the spoils system. The Half-Breeds, who followed Senator James G. Blaine of Maine, pushed for civil service reform. Independents who opposed the spoils system altogether were called "Mugwumps". In 1884 they rejected James G. Blaine as corrupt and helped elect Democrat Grover Cleveland; most returned to the party by 1888.

As the Northern post-bellum economy boomed with heavy and light industry, railroads, mines, and fast-growing cities, as well as prosperous agriculture, the Republicans took credit and promoted policies to keep the fast growth going. They supported free enterprise generally, hard money (i.e. the gold standard), high tariffs, and high pensions for Union veterans. By 1890, however, the Republicans had agreed to reform with the Sherman Anti-Trust Act and the Interstate Commerce Commission, in response to complaints of large enterprise monopoly control by small business owners and farmers. The high McKinley Tariff of 1890 hurt the party and the Democrats swept to a landslide in the off-year elections, even defeating McKinley himself.

Ethnocultural Voters: pietistic Republicans versus liturgical Democrats

From 1860 to 1912, the Republicans took advantage of the association of the Democrats with "Rum, Romanism, and Rebellion". Rum stood for the liquor interests and the tavern keepers, in contrast to the GOP, which had a strong dry element. "Romanism" meant Catholics, especially Irish Americans, who ran the Democrat Party in every big city, and whom the Republicans denounced for political corruption. "Rebellion" stood for the Confederates who tried to break the Union in 1861, and the Copperheads in the North who sympathized with them.

Demographic trends aided the Democrats, as the German and Irish Catholic immigrants were Democrats, and outnumbered the English and Scandinavian Republicans. During the 1880s and 1890s, the Republicans struggled against the Democrats' efforts, winning several close elections and losing two to Grover Cleveland (in 1884 and 1892). Religious lines were sharply drawn [Kleppner 1979]. Methodists, Congregationalists, Presbyterians, Scandinavian Lutherans and other pietists in the North were tightly linked to the GOP. In sharp contrast, liturgical groups, especially the Catholics, Episcopalians, and German Lutherans, looked to the Democratic party for protection from pietistic moralism, especially prohibition. Both parties cut across the class structure, with the Democrats more bottom-heavy.

Cultural issues, especially prohibition and foreign language schools became important because of the sharp religious divisions in the electorate. In the North, about 50% of the voters were pietistic Protestants (Methodists, Scandinavian Lutherans, Presbyterians, Congregationalists, Disciples of Christ) who believed the government should be used to reduce social sins, such as drinking. Liturgical churches (Roman Catholics, German Lutherans, Episcopalians) comprised over a quarter of the vote and wanted the government to stay out of the morality business. Prohibition debates and referenda heated up politics in most states over a period of decades, as national prohibition was finally passed in 1918 (and repealed in 1932), serving as a major issue between the wet Democrats and the dry GOP.^[20]

Fourth Party System: 1896–1932: The Progressive Era

The election of William McKinley in 1896 was a realigning election that changed the balance of power, and introduced new rules, new issues and new leaders. It did not, however, see the emergence of a new major party. The Republican sweep of the 1894 Congressional elections presaged the McKinley landslide of 1896, which was repeated in 1900, thus locking the GOP in full control of the national government and most northern state governments. The GOP made major gains as well in the border states. The Fourth Party System was dominated by Republican presidents, with the exception of the two terms of Democrat segregationist Woodrow Wilson, 1912-1920.

McKinley and realignment

McKinley promised that high tariffs would end the severe hardship caused by the Panic of 1893, and that the GOP would guarantee pluralism in which all groups would benefit. He denounced William Jennings Bryan, the Democratic nominee, as a dangerous radical whose plans for "Free Silver" at 16-1 (or Bimetallism) would bankrupt the economy.

McKinley relied heavily on industry and the middle classes for his support and cemented the Republicans as the party of liberty; his campaign manager, Ohio's Mark Hanna, developed a detailed plan for getting contributions from the business world, and McKinley outspent his rival William Jennings Bryan by a large margin. McKinley was the first president to promote pluralism, arguing that prosperity would be shared by all ethnic and religious groups.

Progressive Republicans

At the dawn of the 20th century, the Republican Party was regulating monopolies and promoting civil service reform, with progressivism finding a home within the GOP.

Theodore Roosevelt, who became president in 1901, had the most dynamic personality in the nation. Roosevelt had to contend with men like Senator Mark Hanna, whom he outmaneuvered to gain control of the convention in 1904 that renominated him. More difficult to handle was conservative House Speaker Joseph Gurney Cannon.

When Booker T. Washington's autobiography, Up From Slavery, was published in 1901, it became a bestseller and had a major impact on the African American community, and its friends and allies. Washington in 1901 was the first African-American ever invited to the White House as the guest of President Theodore Roosevelt – white Democrats complained loudly, although Washington remained as an advisor to Roosevelt.^[21]

Roosevelt achieved modest legislative gains in terms of railroad legislation and pure food laws. He was more successful in Court, bringing antitrust suits that broke up the Northern Securities trust and Standard Oil. Roosevelt moved left in his last two years in office but was unable to pass major Square Deal proposals.

Roosevelt did succeed in naming his successor Secretary of War William Howard Taft who easily defeated Bryan again in 1908.

Progressive insurgents vs. Conservatives

The GOP was divided between insurgents and stand-patters (liberals and conservatives, to use 21st-century terms). Theodore Roosevelt was an enormously popular president (1901–1909), and he transferred the office to William Howard Taft. Taft, however, did not have TR's enormous popularity nor his ability to bring rival factions together. When Taft sided with the standpatters under Speaker Joe Cannon and Senate leader Nelson Aldrich, the insurgents revolted. Led by George Norris the insurgents took control of the House away from Cannon and imposed a new system whereby committee chairmanships depended on seniority (years of membership on the committee), rather than party loyalty.

The tariff issue was pulling the GOP apart. Roosevelt tried to postpone the issue but Taft had to meet it head on in 1909 with the Payne-Aldrich Tariff Act. Eastern conservatives led by Nelson A. Aldrich wanted high tariffs on manufactured goods (especially woolens), while Midwesterners called for low tariffs. Aldrich tricked them by lowering the tariff on farm products, which outraged the farmers. In a stunning comeback, the Democrats won control of the House in 1910, as the GOP rift between insurgents and conservatives widened.

Roosevelt sided with the insurgents and, after long indecision, decided to run against Taft for the 1912 nomination. Roosevelt had to steamroll over insurgent Senator Robert LaFollette of Wisconsin, turning an ally into an enemy. Taft outmaneuvered Roosevelt and controlled the convention. Roosevelt walked out and formed a third party, the "Progressive" or "Bull Moose" party. Very few officeholders supported him, and the new party collapsed by 1914. With the GOP vote divided in half, Democrat Woodrow Wilson easily won the 1912 election, and was narrowly reelected in 1916.

With the defeat of Theodore Roosevelt and the Progressive Bull Moose party, along with the election of Woodrow Wilson, the parties switched progressive leadership, and the Democrat Party has been the party of big government ever since.

State and local politics

The Republicans welcomed the Progressive Era at the state and local level. The first important reform mayor was Hazen S. Pingree of Detroit (1890–97) who was elected governor of Michigan in 1896. In New York City the Republicans joined nonpartisan reformers to battle Tammany Hall, and elected Seth Low (1902–03). Samuel "Golden Rule" Jones was first elected mayor of Toledo as a Republican in 1897, but was re-elected as an independent when his party refused to renominate him. In Iowa Senator Albert Cummins came up with the "Iowa Idea" that blamed the trust or monopoly problem on the high tariff, angering the eastern industrialists and factory workers. Many Republican civic leaders, following the example of Mark Hanna, were active in the National Civic Federation, which promoted urban reforms and sought to avoid wasteful strikes.

Harding-Coolidge-Hoover, 1920–1932

The party controlled the presidency throughout the 1920s, running on a limited government platform, opposition to the League of Nations, high tariffs, and promotion of business interests. Warren G. Harding, Calvin Coolidge and Herbert Hoover were resoundingly elected in the elections of 1920, 1924 and 1928 as the Democrats were deeply split on prohibition and religion. Running on a campaign of returning to normalcy, Harding and Coolidge led a repudiation election of both the war as well as the big government progressivism of Woodrow Wilson.^[22]^[23]

Calvin Coolidge

The breakaway efforts of Senator Robert LaFollette in 1924 failed to stop a landslide for Coolidge, and his movement fell apart. The Teapot Dome Scandal threatened to hurt the party but Harding died and Coolidge blamed everything on him, as the opposition splintered in 1924. The pro-business policies of the decade seemed to produce unprecedented prosperity—until the Wall Street Crash of 1929 heralded the Great Depression. Although the party did very well in large cities and among ethnic Catholics in presidential elections of 1920-24, it was unable to hold those gains in 1928. By 1932 the cities—for the first time ever—had become Democratic strongholds.

The African American vote held for Hoover in 1932, but started moving toward Roosevelt. By 1940 the majority of northern blacks were voting Democrat. Southern blacks who could vote (in border states) were split; disenfranchised blacks in the South probably preferred the Republicans.

The Great Depression cost Hoover the presidency with the 1932 landslide election of Franklin D. Roosevelt. Roosevelt's New Deal coalition controlled American politics for most of the next three decades, excepting the two-term presidency of Republican Dwight Eisenhower.

Fifth Party System: 1932–1980

Graham Jackson shedding tears at news of FDR's death. The photo was widely circulated in Life magazine and interpreted to mean even Republicans cried at the death of FDR. It was later re-circulated in the 1960s to create the myth that African Americans were beneficiaries and part of the New Deal coalition. New Deal programs often specifically excluded Blacks by legislation passed by the Democrat Congress.^[24]

Minority parties tend to factionalize and after 1936 the GOP split into a conservative faction (dominant in the West and Southeast) and a liberal faction (dominant in the Northeast) – combined with a residual base of inherited progressive Republicanism active throughout the century. In 1936 Kansas governor Alf Landon and his young followers defeated the Herbert Hoover faction. Landon generally supported most New Deal programs, but carried only two states in the Roosevelt landslide.

Senator Robert Taft of Ohio represented the Midwestern wing of the party that continued to oppose New Deal reforms and continued to champion isolationism. Thomas Dewey, governor of New York, represented the Northeastern wing of the party. Dewey did not reject the New Deal programs but demanded more efficiency, more support for economic growth, and less corruption. He was more willing than Taft to support Britain in 1939-40. After the war, the isolationists wing strenuously opposed the United Nations, and was half-hearted in opposition to world Communism. Senator William F. Knowland of California, sobriquet Senator from Formosa (Taiwan).

Dwight Eisenhower, an internationalist allied with the Dewey wing, challenged Taft in 1952 on foreign policy issues. The two men were not far apart on domestic issues. Eisenhower's victory broke a 20-year Democrat lock on the White House. Eisenhower did not try to roll back the New Deal, but he did expand the Social Security system and built the Interstate Highway system.

The conservatives in 1964 made a comeback under the leadership of Barry Goldwater who defeated Nelson Rockefeller as the Republican candidate in the 1964 presidential convention. Goldwater was strongly opposed to the New Deal and the United Nations, but he rejected isolationism and containment, calling for an aggressive anti-Communist foreign policy.

Any long-term movement toward the GOP was interrupted by the Watergate Scandal, which forced Nixon to resign in 1974 under threat of impeachment. Gerald Ford succeeded Nixon and gave him a full pardon—thereby giving the Democrats a powerful issue they used to sweep the 1974 off-year elections. Ford never fully recovered, and in 1976 he barely defeated Ronald Reagan for the nomination. The taint of Watergate and the nation's economic difficulties contributed to the election of Democrat Jimmy Carter in 1976, running as a Washington outsider.

Civil Rights

Dr. Martin Luther King's meeting with Vice President Nixon marked national recognition of King as leader of the civil rights movement.^[25]

Vice President Richard Nixon invited Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. to Washington, D.C., for a meeting on 13 June 1957. This meeting, described by Bayard Rustin as a “summit conference,” marked national recognition of King's role in the civil rights movement (Rustin, 13 June 1957). Seeking support for a voter registration initiative in the South, King appealed to Nixon to urge Republicans in Congress to pass the 1957 Civil Rights Act and to visit the South to express support for civil rights. Optimistic about Nixon's commitment to improving race relations in the United States, King told Nixon, “How deeply grateful all people of goodwill are to you for your assiduous labor and dauntless courage in seeking to make the civil rights bill a reality.”

Republican Attorney General Herbert Brownell originally proposed the Civil Rights Act of 1957. The bill passed 285–126 in the House with Republicans providing the majority of votes 167–19 and Democrats 118–107.^[26] It then passed 72–18 in the Senate, with Republicans again supplying the majority of votes, 43–0 and Democrats voting 29–18. John Kennedy voted for the jury trial amendment which gutted Title IV concerning voting rights, rendering meaningless any efforts to secure injunctions against vote suppression.^[27] It was the first federal civil rights legislation passed by the United States Congress since the Republicans passed the Civil Rights Act of 1875.

Strength of Parties 1977

How the Two Parties Stood after the 1976 Election:

Party	Republican	Democrat	Independent
Party ID (Gallup)	22%	47%	31%
House	143	292
Senate	38	62
% House popular vote nationally	42%	56%	2%
in the East	41%	57%	2%
in the South	37%	62%	2%
in the Midwest	47%	52%	1%
in the West	43%	55%	2%
Governors	12	37	1
State Legislators	2,370	5,128	55
State Legislators	31%	68%	1%
State legislature control	18	80	1 *
in the East	5	13	0
in the South	0	32	0
in the Midwest	5	17	1 *
in the West	8	18	0
States' one party control of legislature and governorship	1	29	0

*The unicameral Nebraska legislature, in fact controlled by the Republicans, is technically nonpartisan.

Source: Everett Carll Ladd Jr. Where Have All the Voters Gone? The Fracturing of America's Political Parties (1978) p. 6

Moderate Republicans of 1960–80

Nelson Rockefeller

The term Rockefeller Republican was used mainly during 1960–80 to designate a faction of the party holding "moderate" views similar to those of the late Nelson Rockefeller, governor of New York from 1959 to 1974 and vice president under President Gerald Ford in 1974–77. Before Rockefeller, Tom Dewey, governor of New York 1942–54 and GOP presidential nominee in 1944 and 1948 was the leader. Dwight Eisenhower reflected many of their views. An important leader in the 1950s was Connecticut Republican Senator Prescott Bush, father and grandfather of presidents of George H. W. Bush and George W. Bush. After Rockefeller left the national stage in 1976, this faction of the party was more often called "moderate Republicans," in contrast to the conservatives who rallied to Ronald Reagan.

Historically, Rockefeller Republicans were moderate or liberal on domestic and social policies. They favored New Deal programs, including regulation and welfare. They were very strong supporters of civil rights. They were strongly supported by big business on Wall Street (New York City). In fiscal policy, they favored balanced budgets and relatively high tax levels to keep the budget balanced. They sought long-term economic growth through entrepreneurship, not tax cuts. In state politics, they were strong supporters of state colleges and universities, low tuition, and large research budgets. They favored infrastructure improvements, such as highway projects. In foreign policy, they were internationalists and anti-Communists. They felt the best way to counter Communism was sponsoring economic growth (through foreign aid), maintaining a strong military, and keeping close ties to NATO. Geographically their base was the Northeast, from Pennsylvania to Maine.

Suburbia

The suburban electorate passed the city electorate in the 1950s, as Eisenhower showed unusual strength there. The history of suburban politics is encapsulated in Nassau County (New York), just east of New York City, where a moderate Republican party machine operated. Despite predictions that the New Deal spelled the demise of the political machine, Nassau provided fertile ground for a party organization that rivaled its big-city Democrat counterparts. The traditionally GOP county underwent a booming expansion during 1945–60, with an influx of new residents, many with previous Democrat Party affiliations. In established villages and new housing developments such as Levittown, under the canny leadership of J. Russel Sprague, the party used patronage and community organizing techniques to build its base among ethnic voters, young people, and new homeowners. The party expanded beyond its white Protestant base, with Italian Americans becoming particularly prominent in party leadership. Sprague was both party leader and county executive. That post was created in 1936 under a new charter engineered by Sprague to update a municipal apparatus unable to meet the infrastructure and development needs of a county that by 1960 had 1.3 million residents. Democrats and reformers had promoted charter revision for decades, and some consolidation of government services did take place. As county "boss," Sprague ruled with an iron hand. Nassau's pluralities for such candidates as Governor Thomas E. Dewey and President Dwight D. Eisenhower and Sprague's fundraising prowess made him a force in national party politics. He advocated a moderate, middle-of-the-road position that recognized expectations created by the New Deal while criticizing what were claimed to be Democrat excesses. After leaving elective office and party leadership, Sprague became a major campaign issue when the Democrats, in a 1961 historic upset, won the county executive post by both lambasting Sprague, tainted by a racetrack-stock scandal, and criticizing the developer-friendly "Spragueland" regime that had governed Nassau for decades. Soon after Sprague died in 1969, the Nassau GOP regained its control of the county government and reestablished virtual one-party rule until the 1990s.^[28]

An even longer reign of power characterized GOP machine control of Delaware County, Pennsylvania, a rural and suburban area south of Philadelphia. William McClure controlled the GOP from 1875 until his death in 1907; his son John J. McClure, was in control from 1907 until his death in 1965. McLarnon (1998) has four main findings. First, political machines were not confined to big cities; the demographic and political peculiarities of suburban counties lent themselves to continued domination by political machines long after the heyday of the city machine had passed. Secondly, neither the New Deal, immigration restriction, nor the rise of organized labor destroyed all the old Republican machines. Delaware was one of several similar counties in southeastern Pennsylvania where the GOP continued to hold sway throughout the 20th century. Thirdly, not all blacks switched their electoral loyalties to the Democrat Party in 1936. The black population of Chester, Delaware County's industrial city, generally voted Republican for offices below the presidential level. Finally, the citizens of Delaware County supported and continues to support the Republican machine because the machine delivered and continues to deliver those things that the citizens want most. At the beginning of the century, the machine provided food, work, and police protection to Chester's European and black immigrants. During Prohibition, it supplied the county with liquor. Through the Depression, patronage and close alliances with local industrialists kept a significant portion of machine loyalists employed. In the 1950s and 1960s the machine kept taxes low, initiated a war on organized vice, successfully defeated all threats to home rule, and discouraged blacks from settling in historically white communities. The trash was collected, the snow plowed, the streets repaired. The buses ran on time, the playgrounds and parks were clean, and the schools acceptably average. These were the most important concerns of a majority of county's citizens. While the citizens and their concerns changed over time, two things seem to have remained constant: the McClures', and their successors' ability to read and react to the needs of the electorate; and the fact that rarely, if ever, has a desire for honest, democratic government been high on Delaware County voters' list of priorities.^[29]

The first southern states to trend Republican were on the periphery: North Carolina, Virginia, Texas, Tennessee, and Florida. Democrat George Wallace lost these voters in his 1968 presidential bid. The voters who first migrated to the Republican party were suburban, prosperous New South types. The more Republican the South has become, the less racist.^[30]

Rise of the right

Barry Goldwater

Barry Goldwater crusaded against the Rockefeller Republicans, beating Rockefeller narrowly in the California primary of 1964. That set the stage for a conservative resurgence, based in the South and West, in opposition to the Northeast. Brennan (1995) stresses that conservatives in the late 1950s and early 1960s had many internal problems to overcome before they could mount an effective challenge to the hegemony of the distrusted Eastern Establishment, typified by Nelson A. Rockefeller. The conservative movement had some newspapers and magazines (especially William F. Buckley's National Review) and one charismatic national leader, Arizona Senator Barry Goldwater. The movement gained momentum once they had established a unity out of diverse elements on the Right with a common commitment to a militant anti-Communism, and once they had succeeded in mobilizing a grassroots base inside a number of state and local organizations in the Sun Belt on behalf of a draft Goldwater campaign in 1960. Although Nixon was acceptable to the conservatives, they worried that he compromised with Rockefeller in 1960. His defeat in 1960 removed a major obstacle and also gave ammunition to those who wanted "a choice, not an echo" (to echo a Goldwater slogan). After 1960 liberals and moderates in the Republican party failed to appreciate the magnitude of the challenge they faced on the grass-roots level. Taking up media bias, they too equated their conservative opponents in the party with the "lunatic fringe" and did not take them seriously until they found themselves deposed by a grassroots insurgency of the sort unknown in the party since 1912.^[31] Goldwater's landslide defeat opened the way to a liberal Democrat resurgence, but did little to help the liberal wing of the GOP. The failures of the Great Society, especially a wave of major urban riots and a surge in violent crime, led to major gains in 1966, and to Nixon's election in the chaotic 1968 election. The Democrats became deeply divided on the Vietnam war (which did not divide the GOP), and on issues of race, when Alabamian George C. Wallace set up a third party that carried much of the deep South.

As Goldwater faded to a lesser role after 1964, a new conservative hero emerged: in the largest and most trendy state film star Ronald Reagan was elected governor of California in 1966 and reelected in 1970.

With the rise of conservatism, the national Republican Party became more ideologically homogeneous. This change occurred as conservative politicians and voters joined the party and their liberal counterparts abandoned the GOP. Events in New York State during the 1960s and 1970s facilitated this transformation. Here, ideological conservatives formed a third party for the express purpose of changing a state GOP that both symbolized and contributed to the national GOP's liberal viewpoint. The Conservative Party relied on the state's unique election law to crash the New York GOP, either by forcing its way in or by imposing a lethal electoral price. The GOP-Conservative Party relationship began in 1962 at sword's point but achieved a high degree of harmony in 1980. Initially, New York Republicans, led by Governor Nelson Rockefeller, successfully marginalized the new party. As the conservative movement matured, however, the balance of power began to shift. When Nixon was elected president in 1968, the Conservative Party gained an external ally who proved invaluable. The third party achieved partial acceptance in 1970 with the election of James Buckley to the Senate. For much of the ensuing decade, however, Conservatives struggled with success suffering a series of damaging setbacks. Only in the late 1970s, did the party recover when it embraced a more modest agenda. Finally, the 1980 election settled the overall contours of the relationship between the two parties. Conservatives formed their party to force the state GOP to the right, to drive liberal Republicans from office, and allow ideologically conservative national Republicans to succeed in the state. By 1980, it had achieved these goals changing the nature of politics in the state. This resolution affected politics beyond the state by diminishing the importance of ideological liberals in the national GOP, thus freeing a more ideologically consistent national Republican Party to promote the rise of conservatism.^[32]

Sixth Party System

Realignment: Republican inroads in the Solid South

See also: The South#Politics

In the century after Reconstruction ended in 1877, the white South identified with the Democrat Party. The Democrats' lock on power was so strong, the region was called the "Solid South." The Republicans controlled certain parts of the Appalachian and Ozark mountains (where slavery was never strong during the Civil War due to the lack of large plots of fertile soil), but they sometimes did compete for statewide office in the border states. Before 1964, the southern Democrats saw their party as the defender of the southern way of life, which included a respect for states' rights and an appreciation for traditional southern values. They repeatedly warned against the aggressive designs of Northern liberals and Republicans, as well as the civil rights activists they denounced as "outside agitators." Thus there was a serious barrier to becoming a Republican.

However, since 1964, the Democrat lock on the South has been broken. The long-term cause was that the region was becoming more like the rest of the nation and could not long stand apart in terms of racial segregation. Modernization that brought factories, businesses, and cities, and millions of migrants from the North; far more people graduated from high school and college. Meanwhile, the cotton and tobacco basis of the traditional South faded away, as former farmers moved to town or commuted to factory jobs. While liberal academics allege that the shift of the South to the Republican Party began in the 1960s, the evidence that it really began in the 1920s and the 1950s is undeniable.^[33]

The immediate cause of the political transition involved civil rights. The civil rights movement caused enormous controversy among southern Democrats with many attacking it as a violation of states' rights. When segregation was outlawed by a Republican appointed Supreme Court Chief Justice and by the bi-partisan Civil Rights acts of 1964 and 1965, a die-hard element resisted integration, led by Democrat governors Orval Faubus of Arkansas, Lester Maddox of Georgia, and, especially George Wallace of Alabama. These governors appealed to a less-educated, blue-collar electorate that on economic grounds was dependent on the Democrat Party, but opposed segregation. After the passage of the Civil Rights Act, most Southerners accepted the integration of most institutions, except public schools. With the old barrier to becoming a Republican removed, traditional Southerners joined the new middle class and the Northern transplants in moving toward the Republican party. Integration thus liberated Southern politics, just as Martin Luther King had promised. Meanwhile, the newly enfranchized black voters were bought off with Johnson's War on Poverty and supported Democrat candidates at the 85-90% level.

The South's transition to a Republican stronghold took decades. First the states started voting Republican in presidential elections—the Democrats countered that with a Southern Strategy that could carry some states in the region, such as Jimmy Carter in 1976 and 1980, and Bill Clinton in 1992 and 1996; the strategy did not work with Al Gore in 2000, or John Edwards in 2004. Barack Obama held Florida, North Carolina and Virginia and a sweep of House and Senate seats.

Since the 1970s some states elected Republican senators. Republicans made some inroads into legislatures and governorships and gerrymandering protected the African American and Hispanic vote (as required by the Civil Rights laws), but split up the remaining white Democrats so that Republicans mostly would win. In 2006 the Supreme Court endorsed nearly all of the redistricting engineered by Tom DeLay that swung the Texas Congressional delegation to the GOP in 2004.

In addition to its white middle-class base, Republicans attracted strong majorities from the evangelical Christian vote, which had been nonpolitical before 1980. The national Democrat Party's support for liberal social stances such as abortion drove many former Democrats into a Republican party that was embracing the conservative views on these issues. Conversely, liberal Republicans in the northeast began to join the Democrat Party. In 1969 in The Emerging Republican Majority, Kevin Phillips, argued that support from Southern whites and growth in the Sun Belt, among other factors, was driving an enduring Republican electoral realignment. Today, the South is again solid, but the reliable support is for Republican presidential candidates. Exit polls in 2004 showed that Bush led Kerry by 70-30% among whites, who comprised 71% of the Southern voters. Kerry had a 90-9% lead among the 18% of the voters who were black. One-third of the Southerners said they were white evangelicals; they voted for Bush by 80-20%.^[34]

Despite the shift towards the Republican Party on the presidential level, the South remained solidly Democratic on the state level through the 1980s, 1990s, and even into the 2000s in several states.^[35] The Republican Party only became dominant in the state-level in the 2010 elections, when it captured several state legislatures, among many other victories.^[36] After the 2014 elections, the GOP controlled every state legislature in the South with the sole exception of the Kentucky State House, in which the Democrats maintained a slim majority.^[36] Additionally by 2015, the GOP was dominant in every level of government across the South.^[36]^[37] In 2016, the GOP took the Kentucky State House in a landslide, making every legislature in the South GOP-controlled.^[38]^[39]

Reagan Era

Main article: Reagan Era

Ronald Reagan

In 1980, Ronald Reagan won the Republican nomination and easily beat Carter and a breakaway Republican with his strong communication skills and message of economic freedom and strength against the Soviet Union. Reagan produced a major realignment with his 1980 and 1984 landslides. In 1980 the Reagan coalition was possible because of Democrat losses in most social-economic groups. In 1984 Reagan won nearly 60% of the popular vote and carried every state except his Democrat opponent Walter Mondale's home state of Minnesota and the District of Columbia, creating a record 525 electoral vote total (of 538 possible). Even in Minnesota, Mondale won by a mere 3,761 votes,^[40] meaning Reagan came within fewer than 3,800 votes of winning in all fifty states.

Reagan opened his presidency proclaiming "Government is the problem".

Running on a "Peace Through Strength" platform to combat the Communist threat and massive tax cuts to revitalize the economy, Reagan's strong but genial persona proved too much for the ineffective and sour Carter in 1980. Reagan's election also gave Republicans control of the Senate for the first time in decades. Dubbed the "Reagan Revolution" he fundamentally altered several long standing debates in Washington, namely dealing with the Soviet threat and reviving the economy. His election saw the conservative wing of the party gain control. While reviled by liberal opponents in his day, his proponents contend his programs provided unprecedented economic growth, and spurred the collapse of the former Soviet Union. Currently regarded as one of the most popular and successful presidents in the modern era (1960–present), he inspired Conservatives to greater electoral victories by being re-elected in a landslide against Walter Mondale in 1984 but oversaw the loss of the Senate in 1986.

The so-called "Reagan Democrats" were Democrats before the Reagan years, and afterward, but who voted for Ronald Reagan in 1980 and 1984 (and for George H.W. Bush in 1988), producing their landslide victories. They were primarily Southern Democrats and ethnic Catholics in the Northeast and were frustrated by their seeing abandonment on cultural issues by the Democrat Party's national leaders.

Reagan's Vice-President, George H.W. Bush, a World War II war hero, was elected in 1988 but was defeated in 1992 as domestic issues took prominence after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 and end of the Cold War. Democrat challenger Bill Clinton strategically repositioned the Democrats to the right. Ross Perot's candidacy was instrumental in Clinton's victory as he took Republican votes with his criticism of deficits and the free trade movement. Perot won 19% of the popular vote, and Clinton, still a largely unknown quantity in American politics with 41% of! the popular vote took office. Despite his loss, Bush left office in 1993 with a 56 percent job approval rating.

The Gingrich revolution

Main articles: Republican Revolution (1994) and Contract with America

House Republican Minority Whip Newt Gingrich-led the "Republican Revolution" of 1994 and its famous Contract with America. It was the first time since the 1952 elections that the Republicans secured control of both houses of Congress, which, with the brief exception of the Senate during 2001-2002, lasted until the 2006 mid-term elections. Democrats had controlled both houses of Congress for the forty years preceding 1994, with the exception of the 1981-1987 Congresses (in which Republicans controlled the Senate).

In the 1994 mid-term election, Republican congressional candidates ran on a platform of promising floor votes to force members of Congress to go on record on a series of popular reforms—something the Democrats had stifled for decades. These measures and others formed the Contract with America, which represented the first effort to have a party platform in a mid-term election. Seven of the ten Contract items actually became Law. The budget reforms, coupled with reduced defense spending after the Cold War, and the earlier Reagan Tax Cuts for Business Research and Development in the 1980s, led to a high tech consumer boom, rising incomes for all groups, and unprecedented, sustained economic growth in the late 1990s. Democratic President Bill Clinton opposed some of the social agenda initiatives but he co-opted the proposals for welfare reform and a balanced federal budget. The result was a major change in the welfare system, which conservatives hailed and liberals bemoaned. One Contract item, which required Democrats in a two-thirds majority to pass a Constitutional amendment to impose term limits on members of Congress, failed.

In 1995, a budget battle with President Clinton led to the brief shutdown of the federal government, an event which contributed to Clinton's victory in the 1996 election. That year the Republicans nominated Bob Dole, who was unable to transfer his success in Senate leadership to a viable presidential campaign. Ross Perot ran again (this time on Reform Party ticket), once again draining away a large percentage of Dole's support and ensuring Clinton another term after the majority of Americans voters voted against him.

War on Terror

Main article: War on Terror

George W. Bush

With the election of George W. Bush (son of former president George H. W. Bush) in an extremely close 2000 election, the Republican party controlled both the presidency and both houses of Congress for the first time since 1952. However, after Vermont Senator Jim Jeffords left the Republican Party to become an independent aligned with the Democrats in June 2001, Republicans lost control of the Senate by a single seat.

In the wake of the September 11, 2001, Islamic terrorist attacks on the United States, however, Bush pursued a "War on Terrorism" that included the liberation of Afghanistan from the radical Islamic Taliban regime and the USA PATRIOT act. By early 2002, the Taliban was removed from power in Afghanistan. On March 20, 2003, U.S. and allied nations initiated "Operation Iraqi Freedom" to liberate the Iraqi people from the brutal regime of Saddam Hussein. By May 1, 2003, the regime of Saddam was declared officially over. Once US and allied military forces entered Iraq, they discovered that various international terrorists had been given sanctuary and ran their terrorist operations from Iraq. Notable terrorists found included Muhammad Zaidan aka Abu Abbas and Sabri Khalil al-Banna aka Abu Nidal.

The Republican Party fared well in the 2002 midterm elections, solidifying its hold on the House and regaining control of the Senate, in the run-up to the liberation of Iraq. This marked just the third time since the Civil War that the party in control of the White House gained seats in both houses of Congress in a midterm election (others were 1902 and 1934).

Bush was renominated without opposition for the United States presidential election, 2004 and titled his political platform "A Safer World and a More Hopeful America". It expressed Bush's commitment to winning the War on Terror, ushering in an Ownership Era, and building an innovative economy to compete in the world.

On November 2, 2004, Bush was re-elected, while Republicans gained seats in both houses of Congress, leaving Democrats in disarray. Bush carried 31 of 50 states for 286 Electoral College votes. In that election, he also received more popular votes than any previous presidential candidate, 62.0 million votes. Democrat challenger, Senator John Kerry, won 251 Electoral votes and 48% of the popular vote to Bush's 51%. It was the first time anyone won a popular majority since 1988. 2004 marked the seventh consecutive election in which the Democrat nominee failed to reach that threshold.

The wilderness years 2009–2010

After smashing defeats in 2006 and 2008, the GOP lost control of Congress, the White House, and many states. They confronted the president, who still retained some popularity, but were able to chip away at support for his domestic policies, as the recession of 2008 dragged on. In June 2009, public opinion was favorable toward Obama personally but increasingly dubious about his plans to overhaul health care, rescue the auto industry and close the prison at Guantánamo Bay. But with a positive job approval rating of 51%, Obama has the backing of most Democrats, even as Republicans turn negative, with only 23% supporting him. Support for Obama's foreign policies and terrorism policies remains high at 57-59%. Meanwhile, the GOP weaknesses were glaring: the June poll found that the Republican Party is viewed favorably by only 28% of Americans, the lowest rating ever in a New York Times/CBS News poll. In contrast, 57% said that they had a favorable view of the Democrat Party.^[41] However, it should be noted that this poll was conducted by the mainstream media and thus is a clear example of liberal bias.

Rise of the Tea Party movement

Tea Party movement March on DC, 2009.

For a more detailed treatment, see Tea Party Movement.

The Tea Party movement, which began around 2009 and supports small government, fiscal conservatism, American independence, and border security, made huge gains in the 2010 election, defeating establishment Republicans and RINOs. They continued to make gains in later elections, including the 2014 elections in Texas and the 2015 Kentucky elections, and some commentators, including liberals^[42] and conservatives,^[43]^[44]^[45] even believe it was responsible for Donald Trump's 2016 victory.

Despite little action on the federal level, GOP-controlled governments at the state level did deliver to voters, such as through tax reductions.^[46]

Trump Era

For further information, see 2016 U.S. presidential election#General election results

Republican businessman Donald Trump won the 2016 presidential election in a major and historic upset that took the establishment, pollsters and analysts completely by surprise, even winning states such as Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania, which Republicans had not won for years.^[47]^[48] The Republican Party kept control of the House and Senate, outperforming expectations.^[49]^[50]

The public's fascination with Donald Trump dominated the first half of 2016 more than any candidate of either party. Trump spent virtually nothing on media advertising.

In addition, the Republican Party performed well—much better than expected—in state races, winning trifectas in Kentucky, Iowa, Missouri, and New Hampshire, and Democrats only had six trifectas and total control in five states, a record low.^[51]^[52] The GOP won 25 trifectas, the largest since 1952.^[53] After the election, the GOP controlled the highest amount of governorships since 1922,^[54] and it controlled the most state legislative chambers in history.^[55] After West Virginia Governor Jim Justice left the Democratic Party and joined the GOP, the GOP had 34 Republican governors, the most since 1922.^[56]

While the GOP increased its vote share across the entire nation, Trump made the largest gains in the rural Midwest and Rust Belt, traditionally a Democrat blue collar stronghold.^[57]

Because of the large gains, the GOP had a massive opportunity to pass common sense conservative legislation and repeal leftist social and economic quagmires.^[53] At the beginning of 2017, Congressional Republicans were also more united during Trump's presidency than in any other time in recent U.S. political history.^[58] However, despite these opportunities, the 115th U.S. Congress saw many missed opportunities to advance conservative policies and priorities.^[59]

In May 2017, the RNC raised a record $10.8 million,^[60] while the DNC raised $4.29 million, the lowest raised in the month since 2003.^[61]^[62] The RNC broke another record in June 2017, raising $13.4 million,^[63]^[64] as well as July.^[65] In 2017 overall, the RNC raised over $130 million, a large amount for an off-election year,^[66] and the National Republican Congressional Committee also raised a record $85 million in 2017.^[67] The Republican Party and the Trump campaign continued raising large sums of money.^[68]

A September 2018 Gallup poll found that the GOP's favorability rating reached the highest level since 2011.^[69]

In Kentucky, voters overwhelmingly rejected the Democrats' racist agenda, electing the state's first black Attorney General and first Republican in 70 years, Daniel Cameron. Four years earlier, Kentucky voters elected conservative Republican Jenean Hampton as the state's first black statewide elected official, and the Republican governor they elected, Matt Bevin, had adopted four children from Ethiopia.

Latinos

Democrats lost ground with Latino voters in 2020. Republicans are slowly winning over Latino voters.^[70]

Contemporary Party

The contemporary Republican Party represents a wide array of interests such as the conservative evangelicals, economic libertarians, and anti-globalists. The party has had some internal conflict over attitudes about how governments should run and how large they should be, what the party stands for, and what the party's attitude towards neo-conservatism should be especially in regard to foreign policy. The party is also divided over immigration issues with some members (such as George W. Bush) favoring workers visas and permits and some other members favoring strict control of immigration and strong action against illegal immigration. Unlike the Democrat Party, the Republican Party routinely allows dissenting factions such as the Log Cabin Republicans to speak at National Conventions.

In the past, the Republican voter coalitions have generally comprised businessmen, military veterans and evangelical Protestants. Some groups have realigned: blacks went from the GOP to the Democrats beginning in the 1930s, while some white Southerners became Republicans in the 1980s. Catholics switched from 80% Democratic in 1960 to 50-50 in recent years, primarily due to the embrace of abortion by the Democrats (though the Hispanic community still votes predominantly Democrat due to its support for illegal immigration and sanctuary cities). Extremely wealthy businessmen (such as Bill Gates and Warren Buffett) have switched to the Democrat party, though small businessmen generally remain in the Republican party. In recent years youth (influenced by Hollywood values) and better educated professionals (influenced by professor values) have moved to the Democrats, while blue collar workers have become more Republican, due mainly to Democrats support for globalist ideals at the expense of manufacturing job losses.

Republican Presidents

Abraham Lincoln (1861–1865)
Ulysses S. Grant (1869–1877)
Rutherford B. Hayes (1877–1881)
James Garfield (1881)
Chester A. Arthur (1881–1885)
Benjamin Harrison (1889–1893)
William McKinley (1897–1901)
Theodore Roosevelt (1901–1909)
William Howard Taft (1909–1913)
Warren G. Harding (1921–1923)
Calvin Coolidge (1923–1929)
Herbert Hoover (1929–1933)
Dwight Eisenhower (1953–1961)
Richard Nixon (1969–1974)
Gerald Ford (1974–1977)
Ronald Reagan (1981–1989)
George H. W. Bush (1989–1993)
George W. Bush (2001–2009)
Donald Trump (2017–2021)

Notable Republicans (Non-presidential)

An incomplete list of notable Republican leaders and politicians who were not elected president:

Frederick Douglass (1818–1895): Abolitionist and suffragist from Maryland
James G. Blaine (1830–1893): Senator from Maine, presidential nominee
Joseph Gurney Cannon (1836–1926): Speaker of the United States House of Representatives
Charles Curtis (1860–1936): United States Vice President, a Native American
Charles G. Dawes (1865–1951): United States Vice President, Nobel Peace Prize winner
Tom Dewey (1902–1971): Governor of New York; presidential nominee in 1944 and 1948
Everett Dirksen (1896–1969): Senate minority leader, instrumental in passing the Civil Rights Act
John C. Frémont (1813–1890): First Republican candidate for president
Rudy Giuliani: Mayor of New York City (1994–2001)
Mark Hanna (1837–1904): Senator from Ohio, manager of 1896 campaign
Jesse Helms (1921–2008): Senator from North Carolina
George Frisbie Hoar (1826–1904): U.S. representative and senator from Massachusetts
Charles Evans Hughes: Governor of New York; presidential nominee in 1916, United States Secretary of State, Chief Justice of the United States
Perry W. Howard, II (1877–1961), Republican National Committee delegate from Mississippi who supported Robert Taft in 1952
Jackie Robinson (1919–1972): first African American major league baseball player
William F. Knowland (1908–1974), Senator from California, Senate Majority Leader from 1953–1955, Senate Minority Leader from 1955–1959
Henry Cabot Lodge (1850–1924): Senator from Massachusetts, foreign policy spokesman
Joseph McCarthy (1908–1957): Senator from Wisconsin and noted anti-communist
Thomas Brackett Reed (1839–1902): Speaker of the United States House of Representatives
Nelson Rockefeller (1908–1979): Vice President, Governor of New York, considered representative of the liberal wing of the party
Thaddeus Stevens (1792–1868): Senator from Pennsylvania, leader of Radicals in Civil War and Reconstruction
Charles Sumner (1811–1874): Senator from Massachusetts, leader of Radicals in Civil War and Reconstruction
Henry Stimson: Secretary of War for Taft and FDR, Secretary of State for Hoover
Robert A. Taft (1889–1953): Senator from Ohio and presidential hopeful, leader of conservatives
Arthur H. Vandenberg (1884–1951): Senator from Michigan, leader of internationalism in 1940s
Scott Walker: Governor of Wisconsin, presidential candidate in 2016
Earl Warren (1891–1974): Vice presidential nominee, Governor of California, and Chief Justice of the United States
Barry Goldwater (1909–1998): Senator from Arizona, presidential nominee in 1964
Antonin Scalia (1936–2016): Associate Justice of the Supreme Court (1986–2016)
Clarence Thomas: Associate Justice of the Supreme Court (1991–present)
John McCain: Senator from Arizona, presidential nominee in 2008
Sarah Palin: Governor of Alaska, vice-presidential nominee in 2008
Arnold Schwarzenegger: Governor of California
Mitt Romney: Governor of Massachusetts, presidential nominee in 2012
Mike Pence: Vice President (2017–2021), Governor of Indiana (2013–2017)

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Rutland, Robert Allen. The Republicans: From Lincoln to Bush (1996) popular narrative
Shafer, Byron E. and Anthony J. Badger, eds. Contesting Democracy: Substance and Structure in American Political History, 1775-2000 (2001), long essays by specialists on each time period: excerpt and text search
- includes: "'To One or Another of These Parties Every Man Belongs;": 1820–1865 by Joel H. Silbey; "Change and Continuity in the Party Period: 1835–1885" by Michael F. Holt; "The Transformation of American Politics: 1865–1910" by Peter H. Argersinger; "Democracy, Republicanism, and Efficiency: 1885–1930" by Richard Jensen; "The Limits of Federal Power and Social Policy: 1910–1955" by Anthony J. Badger; "The Rise of Rights and Rights Consciousness: 1930–1980" by James T. Patterson; and "Economic Growth, Issue Evolution, and Divided Government: 1955–2000" by Byron E. Shafer
Schlesinger, Arthur Meier, Jr. ed. History of American Presidential Elections, 1789-2000 (various multivolume editions, latest is 2001). For each election includes good scholarly history and selection of primary document. Essays on the most important election are reprinted in Schlesinger, The Coming to Power: Critical presidential elections in American history (1972)
Smith, Richard Norton. An Uncommon Man: The Triumph of Herbert Hoover, (1987) full-length scholarly biography.
Summers, Mark Wahlgren. Rum, Romanism & Rebellion: The Making of a President, 1884 (2000) online edition
Sundquist, James L. Dynamics of the Party System: Alignment and Realignment of Political Parties in the United States (1983) online edition
Thelen, David. Robert M. La Follette and the Insurgent Spirit 1976. short interpretive biography

Since 1980

Barone, Michael, and Grant Ujifusa, The Almanac of American Politics 2008: The Senators, the Representatives and the Governors: Their Records and Election Results, Their States and Districts (2007) covers all incumbent Congressmen and governors with amazing detail. New edition published every two years since 1975.
Aistrup, Joseph A. The Southern Strategy Revisited: Republican Top-Down Advancement in the South (1996)
Black, Earl and Black, Merle. The Rise of Southern Republicans. (2002). 442 pp.
Cannon, Lou. President Reagan: The Role of a Lifetime (2000), online edition
Critchlow, Donald T. The Conservative Ascendancy: How the GOP Right Made Political History (2007), by a leading conservative historian
Edwards, Lee. The Conservative Revolution: The Movement That Remade America. (1999). 391 pp. by a conservative
Ehrman, John, The Eighties: America in the Age of Reagan (2005) by a conservative historian
Frank, Thomas. What's the Matter with Kansas? How Conservatives Won the Heart of America (2005), a liberal attack excerpt and text search
Green, John Robert. The Presidency of George Bush. (2000). 1989-1993
Lamis, Alexander P. ed. Southern Politics in the 1990s (1999)
Layman, Geoffrey. The Great Divide: Religious and Cultural Conflict in American Party Politics. (2001). 435pp.
Levy, Peter B. Encyclopedia of the Reagan-Bush Years Greenwood Press, 1996 online edition
Lublin, David. The Republican South: Democratization and Partisan Change. Princeton U. Press, 2004. 272 pp. excerpt and text search
Patterson, James T. Restless Giant: The United States from Watergate to Bush vs. Gore. (2005), standard scholarly synthesis.
Pemberton, William E. Exit with Honor: The Life and Presidency of Ronald Reagan (1998) favorable biography by historian; online edition
Reeves, Richard. President Reagan: The Triumph of Imagination (2005) detailed analysis by conservative historian
Rymph, Catherine. Republican Women: Feminism and Conservatism from Suffrage through the Rise of the New Right. U. of North Carolina Press, 2006. 338 pp.
Sabato, Larry J. ed. The Sixth Year Itch: The Rise and Fall of the George W. Bush Presidency (2007), in-depth essays by scholars
Sabato, Larry J. Divided States of America: The Slash and Burn Politics of the 2004 Presidential Election (2005).
Sabato, Larry J. and Bruce Larson. The Party's Just Begun: Shaping Political Parties for America's Future (2001).
Schaller, Michael and Rising, George. The Republican Ascendancy: American Politics, 1968-2001. Harlan Davidson, 2002. 210 pp. Short survey by liberal scholars
Steely, Mel. The Gentleman from Georgia: The Biography of Newt Gingrich. Mercer U. Press, 2000. 431 pp.
Taylor, Andrew J. Elephant's Edge: The Republicans as a Ruling Party. 2005. 336 pp. academic study of how GOP turned small advantages into power excerpt and text search
Wilentz, Sean. The Age of Reagan: A History, 1974-2008 (2008) by a liberal historian. excerpt and text search
Wooldridge, Adrian and John Micklethwait. The Right Nation: Conservative Power in America sophisticated study by two British journalists (2004). excerpt and text search

External links

Official GOP Site
Republican Party, YouTube channel

Historical:

History of the Republican Party, Republican Jackson County website

2008:

2008 Republican Platform (pdf download)
The RSC’s Action Plan for House Republicans, Republican Study Committee, May 20, 2008
A Detailed Action Plan For House Republicans: Bold, Simple, and Different than the Democrats, Republican Study Committee, May 20, 2008

Regional:

New York Young Republican Record

Notes

↑ http://www.ushistory.org/gop/convention_1856.htm
↑ The Welfare State Did What Slavery Couldn't Do, Wendy McElroy, Mises Institute, 09/09/2020.
↑ Lyndon Johnson was a civil rights hero. But also a racist, by Adam Serwer, MSNBC, 04/11/14
↑ The Dixiecrat Myth
↑ http://www.harpweek.com/09Cartoon/BrowseByDateCartoon.asp?Year=2003&Month=November&Date=7
↑ http://www.dhs.gov/index.shtm
↑ https://www.economist.com/finance/displaystory.cfm?story_id=12078933
↑ Ertelt, Steven; Bilger, Micaiah (July 18, 2016). Republicans Adopt Most Pro-Life Platform Ever Condemning Abortion and Planned Parenthood. LifeNews.com. Retrieved December 26, 2016.
↑ Williams, Thomas D. (October 20, 2018). Pew: Republicans Trend Increasingly Pro-Life as Democrats Align with Abortion Industry. Breitbart News. Retrieved October 20, 2018.
↑ Starr, Penny (October 21, 2018). Economic Profile of 50 States Reveals Republicans Represent the Poor, Democrats the Rich. Breitbart News. Retrieved October 21, 2018.
↑ Gould (2003) pp 14-15; republicanism is explored in depth by Foner (1970).
↑ There is also a myth that the town of Exeter, New Hampshire was first by six months, but nothing came of the secret meeting there and scholars dismiss the claim.
↑ There was some strength in border cities such as St. Louis, Louisville, Wheeling, and Baltimore.
↑ Foner, Eric. Free Soil, Free Labor, Free Men. 1993.
↑ They included Nathaniel P. Banks of Massachusetts, Kinsley Bingham of Michigan, William H. Bissell of Illinois, Salmon P. Chase of Ohio, Hannibal Hamlin of Maine, Samuel J. Kirkwood of Iowa, Ralph Metcalf of New Hampshire, Lot Morrill of Maine, and Alexander Randall of Wisconsin).
↑ The senators included Bingham and Hamlin, as well as James R. Doolittle of Wisconsin, John P. Hale of New Hampshire, Preston King of New York, Lyman Trumbull of Illinois, and David Wilmot of Pennsylvania.
↑ Kleppner (1979) has extensive detail on the voting behavior of groups.
↑ Goodwyn 2005
↑ Hubbs, Guy W. (May 15, 2015). "Searching for Freedom after the Civil War: Klansman, Carpetbagger, Scalawag, and Freedman". University Alabama Press.
↑ See Kleppner (1979)
↑ Larry Schweikart and Michael Allen, "A Patriot's History of the United States" (2007)
↑ Presidents Harding, Coolidge, and Hoover: Meet the Presidents
↑ The Great American History Fact-finder: The Who, What, Where, When, and why of American History
↑ https://atlantablackstar.com/2015/02/04/9-ways-franklin-d-roosevelts-new-deal-purposely-excluded-blacks-people/
↑ https://amgreatness.com/2018/07/29/the-switch-that-never-happened-how-the-south-really-went-gop/
↑ HR 6127. CIVIL RIGHTS ACT OF 1957. PASSED. YEA SUPPORTS PRESIDENT'S POSITION. https://www.govtrack.us/congress/votes/85-1957/h42
↑ August 2, 1957. HR. 6127. CIVIL RIGHTS ACT OF 1957. AMENDMENT TO GUARANTEE JURY TRIALS IN ALL CASES OF CRIMINAL CONTEMPT AND PROVIDE UNIFORM METHODS FOR SELECTING FEDERAL COURT JURIES. GovTrack.us. Retrieved May 24, 2023.
↑ Marjorie Freeman Harrison, "Machine Politics Suburban Style: J. Russel Sprague and the Nassau County (New York) Republican Party at Midcentury." PhD dissertation Columbia U. 2005. 388 pp. DAI 2005 66(5): 1925-A. DA3174807
↑ John Morrison McLarnon, "Ruling Suburbia: A Biography of the McClure Machine of Delaware County, Pennsylvania." PhD dissertation U. of Delaware 1998. 616 pp. DAI 1998 58(12): 4780-A. DA9819160
↑ https://www.nationalreview.com/2015/06/democratic-party-racist-history-mona-charen/
↑ Brennan (1995) p, 59
↑ Timothy J. Sullivan, "Crashing the Party: The New York State Conservative and Republican Parties, 1962-1980." PhD dissertation U. of Maryland, College Park 2003. 458 pp. DAI 2004 64(11): 4181-A. DA3112508
↑ Trande, Sean (April 30, 2013). Southern Whites' Shift to the GOP Predates the '60s. Real Clear Politics. Retrieved September 9, 2016.
↑ See exit polls
↑ Trande, Sean (September 9, 2010). Misunderstanding the Southern Realignment. Real Clear Politics. Retrieved September 9, 2016.
↑ ^36.0 ^36.1 ^36.2 Hamby, Peter (December 9, 2014). The plight of the Southern Democrat. CNN. Retrieved September 9, 2016.
↑ Cohn, Nate (December 4, 2014). Demise of the Southern Democrat Is Now Nearly Complete. The New York Times. Retrieved September 9, 2016.
↑ Loftus, Tom (November 9, 2016). GOP takes Ky House in historic shift. Courier-Journal. Retrieved November 9, 2016.
↑ Brammer, Jack & Blackford, Linda (November 8, 2016). Republicans take the Kentucky House after 95 years of Democratic control. Lexington Herald-Leader. Retrieved November 9, 2016.
↑ http://uselectionatlas.org/RESULTS/state.php?year=1984&fips=27&f=1&off=0&elect=0
↑ Jeff Zeleny and Dalia Sussman, "Obama Poll Sees Doubt on Budget and Health Care New York Times June 17, 2009
↑ Donald Trump Hasn’t Killed the Tea Party. He Is the Tea Party. New York (May 19, 2016). Retrieved on December 7, 2016.
↑ How the Tea Party Helped Trump Win the Election. Fox News (November 12, 2016). Retrieved on December 7, 2016.
↑ The Tea Party Movement Is Alive and Well—And We Saw Trump Coming. Politico Magazine (November 19, 2016). Retrieved on December 7, 2016.
↑ Sarah Palin: Trump Movement Began with the GOP Establishment’s ‘Shocking Betrayals’ of Tea Party Voters. Breitbart News (November 25, 2016). Retrieved on December 7, 2016.
↑ Persons, Sally (May 31, 2017). Republican governors elected in 2010 delivering to their states what Congress hasn’t. The Washington Times. Retrieved May 31, 2017.
↑ Trump wins presidency, defeats Clinton in historic election upset. Fox News. November 8, 2016. Retrieved November 9, 2016.
↑ Blake, Aaron (November 9, 2016). Donald Trump just blew up the electoral map. The Washington Post. Retrieved November 9, 2016.
↑ Bresnahan, John (November 9, 2016). Republicans hold the Senate in a stunner. Politico. Retrieved November 9, 2016.
↑ Hughes, Siobhan (November 9, 2016). Democrats Gain Seats in House, But GOP Retains Majority. The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved November 9, 2016.
↑ Greenblatt, Alan (November 9, 2016). Republicans Add to Their Dominance of State Legislatures. Governing. Retrieved November 9, 2016.
↑ Siegel, Josh (November 9, 2016). Republicans Maintain Strong Control of State Capitols. Here’s What That Means. The Daily Signal. Retrieved November 9, 2016.
↑ ^53.0 ^53.1 Lieb, David A. (December 29, 2016). GOP-Controlled States Aim to Reshape Laws. Chicago Tribune (from the Associated Press). Retrieved December 30, 2016.
↑ Lieb, David A. (November 9, 2016). Republicans governorships rise to highest mark since 1922. U.S. News & World Report. Retrieved November 9, 2016.
↑ Bosman, Julie & Davey, Monica (November 11, 2016). Republicans Expand Control in a Deeply Divided Nation. The New York Times. Retrieved November 14, 2016.
↑ Leahy, Michael Patrick (August 7, 2017). 34 States Have Republican Governors, Most Since 1922. Breitbart News. Retrieved August 7, 2017.
↑ How Trump Reshaped the Election Map. The New York Times. November 9, 2016. Retrieved November 12, 2016.
↑ Stucky, Phillip (April 2, 2017). Trump Smashes Records With Party Unity. The Daily Caller. Retrieved April 2, 2017.
↑
Sherfinski, David; Dinan, Stephen (January 3, 2019). Republicans relinquish Congress with whimper: 'More missed opportunities than anything'. The Washington Times. Retrieved January 13, 2019.
See also:
- Wolverton, Joe (January 13, 2019). GOP-controlled House Added Nearly $8 Trillion to National Debt. The New American. Retrieved January 13, 2019.
↑ Kew, Ben (June 21, 2017). Dems Fundraising Lowest Since May 2003; RNC Raises Record $10.8 Million. Breitbart News. Retrieved June 21, 2017.
↑ Persons, Sally (June 21, 2017). DNC hits another fundraising low. The Washington Times. Retrieved June 21, 2017.
↑ Bowden, John (June 21, 2017). Democrats raised just $4.3M in May. The Hill. Retrieved June 22, 2017.
↑ Kew, Ben (July 20, 2017). RNC Breaks Another Fundraising Record, Raises Record $13.4 Million in June. Breitbart News. Retrieved July 20, 2017.
↑ Siegel, Josh (July 20, 2017). RNC announces it raised $13.5 million in June, a record for a month in a non-presidential year. Washington Examiner. Retrieved July 20, 2017.
↑ Kew, Ben (August 21, 2017). RNC Breaks Another Fundraising Record as Democrats Struggle. Breitbart News. Retrieved August 22, 2017.
↑
Multiple references:
- Persons, Sally (December 27, 2017). RNC set to raise $130M in 2017 after leadership makes fundraising a top priority. The Washington Times. Retrieved December 27, 2017.
- Moran, Sean (December 28, 2017). RNC Set to Raise Record $130 Million in 2017. Breitbart News. Retrieved December 28, 2017.
- Samuels, Brett (January 31, 2018). RNC announces record off-year fundraising haul for 2017. The Hill. Retrieved January 31, 2018.
- Moran, Sean (February 1, 2018). RNC Raises Record Off-Year $132.5 Million in 2017. Breitbart News. Retrieved February 1, 2018.
↑ Moran, Sean (January 15, 2018). NRCC Raised a Record $85 Million Ahead of Contentious 2018 Midterm Elections. Breitbart News. Retrieved January 15, 2018.
↑ Singman, Brooke; Dorman, Sam (January 3, 2020). Trump campaign, GOP raised nearly a half-billion dollars in 2019. Fox News. Retrieved January 3, 2020.
↑
Multiple references:
- Norman, Jim (September 24, 2018). Republican Party Favorability Highest in Seven Years. Gallup. Retrieved September 24, 2018.
- Boyle, Matthew (September 24, 2018). Gallup: With Donald Trump at Helm, GOP Rises to Highest Approval Rating in Nearly a Decade. Breitbart News. Retrieved September 24, 2018.
- Adelmann, Bob (September 25, 2018). GOP’s Favorability Rating Highest in Seven Years. The New American. Retrieved September 25, 2018.
- Keller, Megan (September 24, 2018). GOP's favorability hits highest mark in seven years: Gallup. The Hill. Retrieved September 24, 2018.
- Lim, Naomi (September 24, 2018). GOP's favorability rating hits highest point since 2011. Washington Examiner. Retrieved September 24, 2018.
- Fordham, Evie (September 24, 2018). Poll: Republican Party Enjoys Highest Favorability Rating in Seven Years. The Daily Caller. Retrieved September 24, 2018.
↑ Democrats lost ground with Latino voters in 2020. Will the midterms be worse?, Vox, Sep 20, 2022.

[1] ttp://www.ushistory.org/gop/convention_1856.htm

[2] The Welfare State Did What Slavery Couldn't Do, Wendy McElroy, Mises Institute, 09/09/2020.

[3] Lyndon Johnson was a civil rights hero. But also a racist, by Adam Serwer, MSNBC, 04/11/14

[4] The Dixiecrat Myth

[5] ttp://www.harpweek.com/09Cartoon/BrowseByDateCartoon.asp?Year=2003&Month=November&Date=7

[6] ttp://www.dhs.gov/index.shtm

[7] ttps://www.economist.com/finance/displaystory.cfm?story_id=12078933

[8] Ertelt, Steven; Bilger, Micaiah (July 18, 2016). Republicans Adopt Most Pro-Life Platform Ever Condemning Abortion and Planned Parenthood. LifeNews.com. Retrieved December 26, 2016.

[9] Williams, Thomas D. (October 20, 2018). Pew: Republicans Trend Increasingly Pro-Life as Democrats Align with Abortion Industry. Breitbart News. Retrieved October 20, 2018.

[10] Starr, Penny (October 21, 2018). Economic Profile of 50 States Reveals Republicans Represent the Poor, Democrats the Rich. Breitbart News. Retrieved October 21, 2018.

[11] Gould (2003) pp 14-15; republicanism is explored in depth by Foner (1970).

[12] There is also a myth that the town of Exeter, New Hampshire was first by six months, but nothing came of the secret meeting there and scholars dismiss the claim.

[13] There was some strength in border cities such as St. Louis, Louisville, Wheeling, and Baltimore.

[14] Foner, Eric. Free Soil, Free Labor, Free Men. 1993.

[15] They included Nathaniel P. Banks of Massachusetts, Kinsley Bingham of Michigan, William H. Bissell of Illinois, Salmon P. Chase of Ohio, Hannibal Hamlin of Maine, Samuel J. Kirkwood of Iowa, Ralph Metcalf of New Hampshire, Lot Morrill of Maine, and Alexander Randall of Wisconsin).

[16] The senators included Bingham and Hamlin, as well as James R. Doolittle of Wisconsin, John P. Hale of New Hampshire, Preston King of New York, Lyman Trumbull of Illinois, and David Wilmot of Pennsylvania.

[17] Kleppner (1979) has extensive detail on the voting behavior of groups.

[18] Goodwyn 2005

[19] Hubbs, Guy W. (May 15, 2015). "Searching for Freedom after the Civil War: Klansman, Carpetbagger, Scalawag, and Freedman". University Alabama Press.

[20] See Kleppner (1979)

[21] Larry Schweikart and Michael Allen, "A Patriot's History of the United States" (2007)

[22] Presidents Harding, Coolidge, and Hoover: Meet the Presidents

[23] The Great American History Fact-finder: The Who, What, Where, When, and why of American History

[24] ttps://atlantablackstar.com/2015/02/04/9-ways-franklin-d-roosevelts-new-deal-purposely-excluded-blacks-people/

[25] ttps://amgreatness.com/2018/07/29/the-switch-that-never-happened-how-the-south-really-went-gop/

[26] HR 6127. CIVIL RIGHTS ACT OF 1957. PASSED. YEA SUPPORTS PRESIDENT'S POSITION. https://www.govtrack.us/congress/votes/85-1957/h42

[27] August 2, 1957. HR. 6127. CIVIL RIGHTS ACT OF 1957. AMENDMENT TO GUARANTEE JURY TRIALS IN ALL CASES OF CRIMINAL CONTEMPT AND PROVIDE UNIFORM METHODS FOR SELECTING FEDERAL COURT JURIES. GovTrack.us. Retrieved May 24, 2023.

[28] Marjorie Freeman Harrison, "Machine Politics Suburban Style: J. Russel Sprague and the Nassau County (New York) Republican Party at Midcentury." PhD dissertation Columbia U. 2005. 388 pp. DAI 2005 66(5): 1925-A. DA3174807

[29] John Morrison McLarnon, "Ruling Suburbia: A Biography of the McClure Machine of Delaware County, Pennsylvania." PhD dissertation U. of Delaware 1998. 616 pp. DAI 1998 58(12): 4780-A. DA9819160

[30] ttps://www.nationalreview.com/2015/06/democratic-party-racist-history-mona-charen/

[31] Brennan (1995) p, 59

[32] Timothy J. Sullivan, "Crashing the Party: The New York State Conservative and Republican Parties, 1962-1980." PhD dissertation U. of Maryland, College Park 2003. 458 pp. DAI 2004 64(11): 4181-A. DA3112508

[33] Trande, Sean (April 30, 2013). Southern Whites' Shift to the GOP Predates the '60s. Real Clear Politics. Retrieved September 9, 2016.

[34] See exit polls

[35] Trande, Sean (September 9, 2010). Misunderstanding the Southern Realignment. Real Clear Politics. Retrieved September 9, 2016.

[Hamby-36] 36.0 ^36.1 ^36.2 Hamby, Peter (December 9, 2014). The plight of the Southern Democrat. CNN. Retrieved September 9, 2016.

[37] Cohn, Nate (December 4, 2014). Demise of the Southern Democrat Is Now Nearly Complete. The New York Times. Retrieved September 9, 2016.

[38] Loftus, Tom (November 9, 2016). GOP takes Ky House in historic shift. Courier-Journal. Retrieved November 9, 2016.

[39] Brammer, Jack & Blackford, Linda (November 8, 2016). Republicans take the Kentucky House after 95 years of Democratic control. Lexington Herald-Leader. Retrieved November 9, 2016.

[40] ttp://uselectionatlas.org/RESULTS/state.php?year=1984&fips=27&f=1&off=0&elect=0

[41] Jeff Zeleny and Dalia Sussman, "Obama Poll Sees Doubt on Budget and Health Care New York Times June 17, 2009

[42] Donald Trump Hasn’t Killed the Tea Party. He Is the Tea Party. New York (May 19, 2016). Retrieved on December 7, 2016.

[43] How the Tea Party Helped Trump Win the Election. Fox News (November 12, 2016). Retrieved on December 7, 2016.

[44] The Tea Party Movement Is Alive and Well—And We Saw Trump Coming. Politico Magazine (November 19, 2016). Retrieved on December 7, 2016.

[45] Sarah Palin: Trump Movement Began with the GOP Establishment’s ‘Shocking Betrayals’ of Tea Party Voters. Breitbart News (November 25, 2016). Retrieved on December 7, 2016.

[46] Persons, Sally (May 31, 2017). Republican governors elected in 2010 delivering to their states what Congress hasn’t. The Washington Times. Retrieved May 31, 2017.

[47] Trump wins presidency, defeats Clinton in historic election upset. Fox News. November 8, 2016. Retrieved November 9, 2016.

[48] Blake, Aaron (November 9, 2016). Donald Trump just blew up the electoral map. The Washington Post. Retrieved November 9, 2016.

[49] Bresnahan, John (November 9, 2016). Republicans hold the Senate in a stunner. Politico. Retrieved November 9, 2016.

[50] Hughes, Siobhan (November 9, 2016). Democrats Gain Seats in House, But GOP Retains Majority. The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved November 9, 2016.

[51] Greenblatt, Alan (November 9, 2016). Republicans Add to Their Dominance of State Legislatures. Governing. Retrieved November 9, 2016.

[52] Siegel, Josh (November 9, 2016). Republicans Maintain Strong Control of State Capitols. Here’s What That Means. The Daily Signal. Retrieved November 9, 2016.

[ReshapeLaws-53] 53.0 ^53.1 Lieb, David A. (December 29, 2016). GOP-Controlled States Aim to Reshape Laws. Chicago Tribune (from the Associated Press). Retrieved December 30, 2016.

[54] Lieb, David A. (November 9, 2016). Republicans governorships rise to highest mark since 1922. U.S. News & World Report. Retrieved November 9, 2016.

[55] Bosman, Julie & Davey, Monica (November 11, 2016). Republicans Expand Control in a Deeply Divided Nation. The New York Times. Retrieved November 14, 2016.

[56] Leahy, Michael Patrick (August 7, 2017). 34 States Have Republican Governors, Most Since 1922. Breitbart News. Retrieved August 7, 2017.

[57] How Trump Reshaped the Election Map. The New York Times. November 9, 2016. Retrieved November 12, 2016.

[58] Stucky, Phillip (April 2, 2017). Trump Smashes Records With Party Unity. The Daily Caller. Retrieved April 2, 2017.

[59] Sherfinski, David; Dinan, Stephen (January 3, 2019). Republicans relinquish Congress with whimper: 'More missed opportunities than anything'. The Washington Times. Retrieved January 13, 2019.
See also:
Wolverton, Joe (January 13, 2019). GOP-controlled House Added Nearly $8 Trillion to National Debt. The New American. Retrieved January 13, 2019.

[60] Wolverton, Joe (January 13, 2019). GOP-controlled House Added Nearly $8 Trillion to National Debt. The New American. Retrieved January 13, 2019.

[60] Kew, Ben (June 21, 2017). Dems Fundraising Lowest Since May 2003; RNC Raises Record $10.8 Million. Breitbart News. Retrieved June 21, 2017.

[61] Persons, Sally (June 21, 2017). DNC hits another fundraising low. The Washington Times. Retrieved June 21, 2017.

[62] Bowden, John (June 21, 2017). Democrats raised just $4.3M in May. The Hill. Retrieved June 22, 2017.

[63] Kew, Ben (July 20, 2017). RNC Breaks Another Fundraising Record, Raises Record $13.4 Million in June. Breitbart News. Retrieved July 20, 2017.

[64] Siegel, Josh (July 20, 2017). RNC announces it raised $13.5 million in June, a record for a month in a non-presidential year. Washington Examiner. Retrieved July 20, 2017.

[65] Kew, Ben (August 21, 2017). RNC Breaks Another Fundraising Record as Democrats Struggle. Breitbart News. Retrieved August 22, 2017.

[66] Multiple references:
Persons, Sally (December 27, 2017). RNC set to raise $130M in 2017 after leadership makes fundraising a top priority. The Washington Times. Retrieved December 27, 2017.

Moran, Sean (December 28, 2017). RNC Set to Raise Record $130 Million in 2017. Breitbart News. Retrieved December 28, 2017.

Samuels, Brett (January 31, 2018). RNC announces record off-year fundraising haul for 2017. The Hill. Retrieved January 31, 2018.

Moran, Sean (February 1, 2018). RNC Raises Record Off-Year $132.5 Million in 2017. Breitbart News. Retrieved February 1, 2018.

[68] Persons, Sally (December 27, 2017). RNC set to raise $130M in 2017 after leadership makes fundraising a top priority. The Washington Times. Retrieved December 27, 2017.

[69] Moran, Sean (December 28, 2017). RNC Set to Raise Record $130 Million in 2017. Breitbart News. Retrieved December 28, 2017.

[70] Samuels, Brett (January 31, 2018). RNC announces record off-year fundraising haul for 2017. The Hill. Retrieved January 31, 2018.

[71] Moran, Sean (February 1, 2018). RNC Raises Record Off-Year $132.5 Million in 2017. Breitbart News. Retrieved February 1, 2018.

[67] Moran, Sean (January 15, 2018). NRCC Raised a Record $85 Million Ahead of Contentious 2018 Midterm Elections. Breitbart News. Retrieved January 15, 2018.

[68] Singman, Brooke; Dorman, Sam (January 3, 2020). Trump campaign, GOP raised nearly a half-billion dollars in 2019. Fox News. Retrieved January 3, 2020.

[69] Multiple references:
Norman, Jim (September 24, 2018). Republican Party Favorability Highest in Seven Years. Gallup. Retrieved September 24, 2018.

Boyle, Matthew (September 24, 2018). Gallup: With Donald Trump at Helm, GOP Rises to Highest Approval Rating in Nearly a Decade. Breitbart News. Retrieved September 24, 2018.

Adelmann, Bob (September 25, 2018). GOP’s Favorability Rating Highest in Seven Years. The New American. Retrieved September 25, 2018.

Keller, Megan (September 24, 2018). GOP's favorability hits highest mark in seven years: Gallup. The Hill. Retrieved September 24, 2018.

Lim, Naomi (September 24, 2018). GOP's favorability rating hits highest point since 2011. Washington Examiner. Retrieved September 24, 2018.

Fordham, Evie (September 24, 2018). Poll: Republican Party Enjoys Highest Favorability Rating in Seven Years. The Daily Caller. Retrieved September 24, 2018.

[75] Norman, Jim (September 24, 2018). Republican Party Favorability Highest in Seven Years. Gallup. Retrieved September 24, 2018.

[76] Boyle, Matthew (September 24, 2018). Gallup: With Donald Trump at Helm, GOP Rises to Highest Approval Rating in Nearly a Decade. Breitbart News. Retrieved September 24, 2018.

[77] Adelmann, Bob (September 25, 2018). GOP’s Favorability Rating Highest in Seven Years. The New American. Retrieved September 25, 2018.

[78] Keller, Megan (September 24, 2018). GOP's favorability hits highest mark in seven years: Gallup. The Hill. Retrieved September 24, 2018.

[79] Lim, Naomi (September 24, 2018). GOP's favorability rating hits highest point since 2011. Washington Examiner. Retrieved September 24, 2018.

[80] Fordham, Evie (September 24, 2018). Poll: Republican Party Enjoys Highest Favorability Rating in Seven Years. The Daily Caller. Retrieved September 24, 2018.

[70] Democrats lost ground with Latino voters in 2020. Will the midterms be worse?, Vox, Sep 20, 2022.

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-{{otheruses|Democratic Party}}
+{{AmericanPoliticalParty
-{{Infobox American_Political_Party
+ | party_name = Republican Party
-|party_name = Democratic Party
+ | party_articletitle = Republican Party (United States)
-|party_articletitle = Democratic Party (United States)
+ | party_logo = [[Image:Cjjfdjfty.png|200px|"Republican Party Elephant" logo]]
-|party_logo =[[Image:Democratslogo.svg|150px|Democratic Party logo]]
+ | website = [http://www.gop.com www.gop.com]
-|chairman = [[Howard Dean]]
+ | headquarters = 310 K Street SE<br> [[Washington, D.C.]]<br>20003
-|senateleader = [[Harry Reid]]
+ | chairman = [[Michael Whatley]]
-|houseleader = [[Nancy Pelosi]] ([[Speaker of the United States House of Representatives|speaker]])<br>[[Steny Hoyer]] ([[Party leaders of the United States House of Representatives|majority leader]])
+ | housespeaker = [[Mike Johnson]]
-|foundation = 1824 (modern)<br>1792 (historical)
+ | houseleader = [[Steve Scalise]]
-|colors = [[Red states and blue states|Blue]] (unofficial)
+ | senateleader =
-|ideology = [[Liberalism]]<BR>[[Modern liberalism in the United States|American liberalism]]<BR>[[Progressivism in the United States|American progressivism]]<BR>[[Social liberalism]]<ref name="Economist Intelligence Unit. (July 11, 2007). Political Forces">{{cite web|url=http://www.economist.com/countries/USA/profile.cfm?folder=Profile%2DPolitical%20Forces|title=Economist Intelligence Unit. (July 11, 2007). Political Forces|accessdate=2008-02-15}}</ref>
+ | foundation = March 20, 1854
-|fiscalpolicy = Center
+ | ideology = [[Conservative|Conservatism]]<br>[[Classical Liberalism]]<br>[[Libertarianism]]<br>[[Right-wing populism]]<br>[[Paleoconservative|Paleoconservativism]]<br>[[Abolitionism]]/[[Emancipation]]<br>[[Constitutionalism]]<br>[[Patriotism]]<br>[[Nationalism]]<br>[[Neoconservatism]] ([[RINO]] minority)
-|socialpolicy = Center-left, liberal
+ | fiscalpolicy = [[Right-wing]], [[Free Market]]
-|international = None <!-- The [[National Democratic Institute]] is a nonpartisan organization funded by the U.S. government. Although the NDI "draws on the traditions of the U.S. Democratic Party," which has led many to believe that they're an organization affiliated with the Democratic Party, they're not. In light of these loose and disputed ties, we're better off saying "none." Please leave it this way. -->
+ | socialpolicy = Centre-Right to Right-wing, [[Conservative]], [[Conservative Libertarianism|Libertarian]], [[Patriotic]]
-|headquarters = 430 South Capitol Street SE<br>[[Washington, D.C.]]<br>20003
+ | international = [[International Democrat Union]]<br/>[[Alliance of Conservatives and Reformists in Europe]] (regional partner)
-|website = [http://www.democrats.org www.democrats.org]
+ | colors = [[Red states and blue states|Red]] (unofficial)
-|footnotes =
+ | footnotes =
 }}
-{{Politics of the United States}}
+The '''Republican Party''' ('''R''') or informally the '''GOP''' (short for Grand Old Party), is one of the two major political parties in the [[United States]] and founded on the principles of opportunity, [[meritocracy]] and "one person, one vote."
-{{further|[[Politics of the United States#Organization of American political parties]]}}
-The '''Democratic Party''' is one of two major [[political parties in the United States]], the other being the [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican Party]]. It is the oldest political party in the United States and arguably the oldest in the world.<!--please see long discussions on Talk before altering this--><ref>{{cite book
+The Republican Party is the only major U.S. political party that is [[pro-life]].  The Republican Party is also pro-[[free enterprise]], pro-[[religious liberty]], pro-[[school choice]], pro-[[Second Amendment]], and pro-[[traditional marriage]], while opposing the defunding of [[police]] departments. At its first national convention, in 1856, the Republican Party platform stated, "It is the duty of Congress to prohibit in the territories those twin relics of barbarism, [[polygamy]] and [[slavery]]."<ref>http://www.ushistory.org/gop/convention_1856.htm</ref>
-|first=Jules
-|last=Witcover
-|title=Party of the People: A History of the Democrats
-|year=2003
-|chapter=1
-|page=3
-}} "The Democratic Party of the United States, the oldest existing in the world, was in a sense an illegitimate child, unwanted by the founding fathers of the American Republic."</ref><ref>Democratic Party, Encyclopædia Britannica Online, Accessed [[August 21]], [[2007]]. [http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9029899/Democratic-Party#233981.toc]</ref>
-Since the 2006 [[United States general elections, 2006|midterm elections]], the Democratic Party is the [[Two-party system|majority party]] for the [[110th United States Congress|110th]] [[United States Congress|Congress]]; the party holds an outright majority in the [[United States House of Representatives|House of Representatives]] and the [[Democratic Caucus of the United States Senate|Democratic caucus]] (including two [[Independent (politician)|independents]]) constitutes a majority in the [[United States Senate]]. Democrats also hold a majority of [[List of current United States Governors|state governorships]] and control a [[plurality]] of [[List of U.S. state legislatures|state legislatures]]. In 2004, it was the largest political party, with 42.6 percent of 169 million registered voters claiming affiliation.<ref name="Neuhart, P. (22 January, 2004). Why politics is fun from catbirds' seats. ''USA Today'''.">{{cite web
+The Republican Party was created in 1854 by anti-slavery activists and has always stood for equal rights and the dignity of the individual. It soon swept to control of all the northern states, and in 1860 elected [[Abraham Lincoln]] president.  The South seceded, and the Union side of the [[American Civil War]] was directed by Lincoln and the new party, with help from "War Democrats." The GOP (as it was increasingly made up of veterans of the GAR or Grand Army of the Republic) dominated the elections of the [[Third Party System]] (1854–1896) as well as the [[Fourth Party System]] or Progressive Era (1896–1932). However, the Democrats built a liberal [[New Deal Coalition]] under President [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]], and dominated the [[Fifth Party System]] (1932–1968), with the GOP only electing [[Dwight D. Eisenhower]] in that era. The Sixth Party System, since 1968, has been dominated by the GOP.
-|url=http://www.usatoday.com/news/opinion/columnist/neuharth/2004-01-22-neuharth_x.htm
-|title=Neuhart, P. (22 January, 2004). Why politics is fun from catbirds' seats. ''USA Today'''.
-|accessdate=2007-07-11}}</ref>
-The Democratic Party traces its origins to the [[Democratic-Republican Party]], founded by [[Thomas Jefferson]], [[James Madison]], and other influential opponents of the [[Federalist Party (United States)|Federalist]]s in 1792. Since the division of the Republican Party in the election of [[United States presidential election, 1912|1912]], it has consistently positioned itself to the [[Left-wing politics|left]] of the Republican Party in economic as well as social matters. The economically left-leaning activist philosophy of [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]], which has strongly influenced [[Liberalism in the United States|American liberalism]], has shaped much of the party's economic agenda since [[United States presidential election, 1932|1932]]. Roosevelt's [[New Deal coalition]] usually controlled the national government until the 1970s.
+Unable to suppress minority voting rights for another century, in the 1960s Democrats sought to make Blacks dependent for food and housing on the Democratic party again with the [[War on Poverty]], as Blacks had been in the pre-Civil War plantation system.<ref>[https://mises.org/wire/welfare-state-did-what-slavery-couldnt-do The Welfare State Did What Slavery Couldn't Do], Wendy McElroy, Mises Institute, 09/09/2020.</ref>  Throughout the [[voter suppression]] of the [[Jim Crow]] era and beyond the War on Poverty, Democrats were always determined that the party that freed the slaves would not become beneficiaries of the [[Freedmen]]'s vote. The system of economic co-dependency and [[patronage]] between white liberal racists and African Americans that existed for centuries was renewed in the mid-1960s.<ref>[http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/lyndon-johnson-civil-rights-racism/amp Lyndon Johnson was a civil rights hero. But also a racist], by Adam Serwer, MSNBC, 04/11/14</ref> Only now the system of co-dependency was paid for with federal money rather than the [[private sector]] plantation system of the pre-Civil War era.<ref>[http://www.blackandblondemedia.com/2010/03/19/the-dixiecrat-myth/ The Dixiecrat Myth]</ref>
-== Current structure and composition ==
+of the 30 US Presidents since 1861 have been Republicans and since that same year, a Republican has won 24 of the last 38 presidential elections. The party's most recent candidates [[Free Soil]] Republicans [[Donald Trump]] of [[New York]], along with his running mate, [[Indiana]] Governor [[Mike Pence]], won the [[2016 presidential election]] against Southern Democrat challengers [[Hillary Clinton]] of [[Arkansas]] and her running mate [[Tim Kaine]] of [[Virginia]].
-[[Image:U.S. party affiliation.svg|thumb|left|Registered Democrats, Republicans and Independents in 2004 in millions<ref name="Neuhart, P. (22 January, 2004). Why politics is fun from catbirds' seats. ''USA Today'''."/>]]
-The [[Democratic National Committee]] (DNC) is responsible for promoting Democratic campaign activities. While the DNC is responsible for overseeing the process of writing the Democratic Platform, the DNC is more focused on campaign and organizational strategy than public policy.  In presidential elections it supervises the [[Democratic National Convention]]. The national convention is subject to the charter of the party, the ultimate authority within the Democratic Party when it is in session, with the DNC running the party's organization at other times. The DNC is currently chaired by former Vermont Governor [[Howard Dean]].
+It is important to vote for someone who's more [[conservative]] on the issues rather than for someone who represents their party only by name due to the fact some Republicans are less conservative and more [[liberal]]/[[Progressivism|progressive]] than typical Republicans (see: [[RINO]]).
+[[image:The_off_year_nast_1877.jpg|right|thumb|1877 Thomas Nast drawing of the Republican elephant.]]
-The [[Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee]] (DCCC) assists party candidates in House races; its current chairman (selected by the party caucus) is Rep. [[Chris Van Hollen]] of Maryland. Similarly the [[Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee]] (DSCC) raises large sums for Senate races. It is currently headed by Senator [[Charles E. Schumer]] of New York. The Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee (DLCC), currently chaired by Mike Gronstal of Iowa, is a smaller organization with much less funding that focuses on state legislative races. The DNC sponsors the [[College Democrats of America]] (CDA), a student-outreach organization with the goal of training and engaging a new generation of Democratic activists. [[Democrats Abroad]] is the organization for Americans living outside the United States; they work to advance the goals of the party and encourage Americans living abroad to support the Democrats. The [[Young Democrats of America]] (YDA) is a youth-led organization that attempts to draw in and mobilize young people for Democratic candidates, but operates outside of the DNC. In addition, the recently created branch of the Young Democrats, the Young Democrats High School Caucus, attempts to raise awareness and activism amongst teenagers to not only vote and volunteer, but participate in the future as well.The [[Democratic Governors Association]] (DGA) is an organization supporting the candidacies of Democratic gubernatorial nominees and incumbents; it is currently chaired by Governor [[Joe Manchin]] of West Virginia. Similarly the mayors of the largest cities and urban centres convene as the [[National Conference of Democratic Mayors]].
+== Symbol ==
+The official symbol of the Republican Party is the [[elephant]].  Although the elephant had occasionally been associated with the party earlier, a political cartoon by [[Thomas Nast]], published in ''Harper's Weekly'' on November 7, 1874, is considered the first important use of the symbol.<ref>http://www.harpweek.com/09Cartoon/BrowseByDateCartoon.asp?Year=2003&Month=November&Date=7</ref> In the early 20th century, the traditional symbol of the Republican party in some Midwestern states was the eagle, as opposed to the Democratic cock (rooster). The eagle still appears on Indiana ballots.
-Each state also has a state committee, made up of elected committee members as well as ex-officio committee members (usually elected officials and representatives of major constituencies), which in turn elects a chair.  County, town, city and ward committees generally are composed of individuals elected at the local level.  State and local committees often coordinate campaign activities within their jurisdiction, oversee local conventions and in some cases primaries or caucuses, and may have a role in nominating candidates for elected office under state law.  Rarely do they have much funding, but in 2005 DNC Chairman Dean began a program (called the "50 State Strategy") of using DNC national funds to assist all state parties and paying for full time professional staffers.<ref>{{cite news | last = Gilgoff | first = Dan | title = Dean's List | date = [[2006-07-16]] | url = http://www.usnews.com/usnews/news/articles/060716/24dems.htm | publisher = [[U.S. News & World Report]] | accessdate = 2007-04-26}}</ref>
+A political term referring to the party is "G.O.P.", which was originally an acronym of "Grand Old Party". The term was coined in 1875.
-== Ideology and voter base ==
+==Ideology==
-{{see|Factions in the Democratic Party (United States)}}
+[[File:Donald Trump official presidential photo.jpg|225px|right|thumb|[[Donald Trump]] has made the Republican Party more focused on immigration issues and [[blue-collar worker]] issues. ]]
-{{For|comparison with other parties|Comparison of politics of parties of the United States}}
+The Republican Party was established to successfully end the relics of [[slavery]], [[barbarism]] and  [[polygamy]]. Historically, the fundamental philosophy and political ideals of the Republican Party are founded on the idea that societal health is rooted in personal responsibility and actions. The Republican Party holds the belief that all material things are earned, not owed. This is seen most often in the party's push for lower taxes. This is fought for in an attempt to treat all citizens equally despite income, race, gender, or religion. They also see taxes as a drag on the economy, and believe private spending is usually more efficient than public spending.
-[[Image:Democratic Base.svg|thumb|left|200px|Composition of the Democratic base according to a 2005 Pew Research Center study.]]
-Since the 1890s, the Democratic Party has favored "[[Modern liberalism in the United States|liberal]]" positions (the term "liberal" in this sense describes [[social liberalism]], not [[classical liberalism]]).  In recent exit polls, the Democratic Party has had broad appeal across all socio-ethno-economic demographics.<ref name="CNN. (2000). Exit Poll.">{{cite web
+Republicans also show concerns about having big government in charge of such vital issues as food, shelter, or health care, as they believe the private sector and/or the individual are better suited to control their own lives. President [[Ronald Reagan]] who became a Republican in the early 1960s after being a [[New Deal]]er at one time, has been quoted as saying "Government is not the solution, it is the problem."
-|url=http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2000/results/index.epolls.html
-|title=CNN. (2000). Exit Poll.
-|accessdate=2007-07-11
-}}</ref><ref name="CNN. (2004). Exit Poll.">{{cite web
-|url=http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2004/pages/results/states/US/P/00/epolls.0.html
-|title=CNN. (2004). Exit Poll.
-|accessdate=2007-07-11
-}}</ref><ref name="CNN. (2006). Exit Poll.">{{cite web
-|url=http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2006/pages/results/states/US/H/00/epolls.0.html
-|title=CNN. (2006). Exit Poll.
-|accessdate=2007-07-11
-}}</ref> The Democratic base currently consists of a large number of well-educated and relatively affluent liberals as well as those in the socially more conservative working class.<ref name="Pew Research Center.">{{cite web
-|url=http://people-press.org/reports/display.php3?PageID=945
-|title=Pew Research Center. (10 May, 2005). Beyond Red vs. Blue.
-|accessdate=2007-07-12
-}}</ref> The Democratic Party is currently the nation's largest party. In 2004, roughly 72 million (42.6 percent) Americans were registered Democrats, compared to 55 million (32.5 percent) Republicans and 42 million (24.8 percent) independents.<ref name="Neuhart, P. (22 January, 2004). Why politics is fun from catbirds' seats. ''USA Today'''."/>
-Historically, the party has favored farmers, laborers, labor unions, and religious and ethnic minorities; it has opposed unregulated business and finance, and favored progressive income taxes. In foreign policy, internationalism (including interventionism) was a dominant theme from 1913 to the mid 1960s. In the 1930s, the party began advocating welfare spending programs targeted at the poor. The party had a pro-business wing, typified by [[Al Smith]], that shrank in the 1930s, and a [[Southern Democrats|Southern]] conservative wing that shrank after President [[Lyndon B. Johnson]] supported the [[Civil Rights Act]] of 1964. The major influences for liberalism were labor unions (which peaked in the 1936-1952 era), and the [[African American]] wing, which has steadily grown since the 1960s. Since the 1970s, [[environmentalism]] has been a major new component.
+The party tends to hold both [[conservative]] and [[Libertarianism|libertarian]] stances on social and economic issues respectively. Major policies that the party has recently supported include a conservative foreign policy, including [[War on Terror]], liberating of [[Afghanistan]] and [[Iraq]], and strong support for democracy, especially in the [[Middle East]]. Many party members and politicians have shown a distrust of the [[United Nations]] due to the organization's incompetent bureaucracy, anti-capitalist undertone, corruption on the [[Security Council]] and in UN humanitarian programs. Along with demanding radical reforms in the UN, many Republican politicians also opposes the Kyoto Protocol due the protocol's unfair application to certain countries (especially the United States) and the fact that it prevents economic growth and slows the reduction of poverty.
-In recent decades, the party has adopted a [[Centrism|centrist]] economic and more [[Social progressivism|socially progressive]] agenda, with the voter base having shifted considerably. Once dominated by unionized labor and the [[working class]], the Democratic base now consists of [[social liberalism|social liberals]] who tend to be well-educated with above-average incomes as well as the socially more conservative working class. Today, Democrats advocate more social freedoms, [[affirmative action]], [[balanced budget]], and a [[Capitalism|free enterprise]] system tempered by [[government intervention]] ([[mixed economy]]). The economic policy adopted by the modern Democratic Party, including the former [[Clinton administration]], may also be referred to as the "[[Third Way (centrism)|Third Way]]".<ref>{{cite web
+The Republican Party generally supported free trade to promote democracy, especially [[NAFTA]] and [[CAFTA]]. It is responsible for a series of across-the-board tax cuts since 2001 that have bolstered the economy and reduced the punitive aspect of the income tax. It has sought business deregulation, reduction of environmental regulations that restrict fair use of land and property, and other policies that are pro-capitalism. It supports gun ownership rights, and enterprise zones (low taxes for investing in poverty areas). On social issues the majority of its national and state candidates usually favor the death penalty, call for stronger state-level control on access to [[abortion]], support a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage at the federal level and by the states, favor faith-based charitable initiatives, support school choice and homeschooling, social welfare benefit reform, and oppose reverse racism, such as racial quotas.
-|url=http://www.ndol.org/ndol_ci.cfm?kaid=128&subid=187&contentid=895
-|title=Democratic Leadership Council. (1 June, 1998). About the Third Way.
-|accessdate=2007-07-11
-}}</ref> The party believes that government should play a role in alleviating poverty and [[social injustice]], even if such requires a larger role for government and [[progressive tax]]ation.
-The Democratic Party, once dominant in the [[Southeastern United States]], is now strongest in the Northeast ([[Mid-Atlantic States|Mid-Atlantic]] and [[New England]]), [[Great Lakes region (North America)|Great Lakes region]], as well as along the [[West Coast of the United States|Pacific Coast]] (especially [[Coastal California]]), including [[Hawaii]]. The Democrats are also strongest in [[List of United States cities by population|major cities]].
+In recent years the party has called for much stronger accountability in the public schools, especially through the "No Child Left behind Act" of 2001 (which also increased [[federal funding]] for schools). The party is split on the issue of federally funding embryonic stem cell research that involves the cloning and killing of human embryos. Many in the party think it is unethical to force taxpayers who believe this type of research is morally wrong to finance it. Historically Republicans have had a strong belief in [[individualism]], limited government, and business entrepreneurship.
-=== Ideologies ===
+In recent years, the Republican party has downplayed its emphasis on small government. Under the administration of [[George W. Bush]], the federal government has been expanded to record levels, surpassing even the Great Depression era.<ref>http://www.dhs.gov/index.shtm</ref> Additionally, the Bush administration has acted to nationalize the country's banking institutions in an effort to stymie the decline of the U.S. economy<ref>https://www.economist.com/finance/displaystory.cfm?story_id=12078933</ref>
-{{See|Political ideologies in the United States}}
-With over 72 million registered members, the Democratic Party is home to an ideologically diverse base. Progressives form by far the largest and most influential ideological demographic within the party.
-==== Progressives ====
+'''''In 2016, the Republican Party adopted the most pro-life party platform in its entire history, with strong language recognizing the right to life of unborn human beings and condemning [[Planned Parenthood]].<ref>Ertelt, Steven; Bilger, Micaiah (July 18, 2016). [https://www.lifenews.com/2016/07/18/republicans-adopt-most-pro-life-platform-ever-condemning-abortion-and-planned-parenthood/ Republicans Adopt Most Pro-Life Platform Ever Condemning Abortion and Planned Parenthood]. ''LifeNews.com''. Retrieved December 26, 2016.</ref>''''' Between 1995 and 2018, the GOP become significantly more pro-life on the issue.<ref>Williams, Thomas D. (October 20, 2018). [https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2018/10/20/pew-republicans-trend-pro-life-dems-align-abortion-industry/ Pew: Republicans Trend Increasingly Pro-Life as Democrats Align with Abortion Industry]. ''Breitbart News''. Retrieved October 20, 2018.</ref>
-{{main|Modern liberalism in the United States|Liberalism in the United States|Progressivism in the United States}}
-[[Image:Liberal opinions.png|thumb|left|350px|Opinions of liberals in a 2005 Pew Research Center study.]]
-[[Social liberalism|Social liberals]], also referred to as progressives or modern liberals, constitute a large part, about 45.6 percent, of the Democratic voter base. Liberals thereby form the largest united typological demographic within the Democratic base. According to the Pew Research Center liberals constitute roughly 19 percent of the electorate with 92 percent of American liberals favoring the Democratic Party.<ref name="Pew Research Center."/> While college-educated professionals were mostly Republican until the 1950s, they now comprise perhaps the most vital component of the Democratic Party.<ref name="Judis, B. J. (11 July, 2003). The trouble with Howard Dean. ''Salon.com''.">{{cite web
+Contrary to the claims of liberals and Democrats, the GOP better represent the poor in the U.S., while Democrats represent the wealthy.<ref>Starr, Penny (October 21, 2018). [https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2018/10/21/economic-profile-50-states-republicans-represent-poor-democrats-rich/ Economic Profile of 50 States Reveals Republicans Represent the Poor, Democrats the Rich]. ''Breitbart News''. Retrieved October 21, 2018.</ref>
-|url=http://dir.salon.com/story/news/feature/2003/07/11/dean/index.html
-|title=Judis, B. J. (11 July, 2003). The trouble with Howard Dean. ''Salon.com''.
-|accessdate=2007-07-19
-}}</ref> A majority of liberals favor [[diplomacy]] over [[military action]], [[stem-cell research]], the legalization of [[same-sex marriage]], secular government, stricter [[gun control]], and environmental protection laws as well as the preservation of [[abortion rights]]. Immigration and cultural diversity is deemed positive; liberals favor [[cultural pluralism]], a system in which immigrants retain their native culture in addition to adopting their new culture. They tend to be divided on free trade agreements and organizations such as [[NAFTA]]. Most liberals oppose increased military standing and the display of the [[Ten Commandments]] in public buildings.<ref name="Pew Research Center."/>
-This ideological group differs from the traditional organized labor base. According to the Pew Research Center, a plurality of 41 percent resided in [[mass affluent]] households and 49 percent were college graduates, the highest figure of any typographical group. It was also the fastest growing typological group between the late 1990s and early 2000s.<ref name="Pew Research Center."/> Liberals include most of academia<ref name="Kurtz, H. (29 March, 2005). College Faculties A Most Liberal Lot, Study Finds. ''The Washington Post''.">{{cite web
+{{Anchor|GAR}}
-|url=http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A8427-2005Mar28.html
-|title=Kurtz, H. (29 March, 2005). College Faculties A Most Liberal Lot, Study Finds. ''The Washington Post''.
-|accessdate=2007-07-02
-}}</ref> and large portion of the professional class.<ref name="CNN. (2000). Exit Poll.">{{cite web
-|url=http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2000/results/index.epolls.html
- |title=CNN. (2000). Exit Poll.
- |accessdate=2007-07-11
-}}</ref><ref name="CNN. (2004). Exit Poll."/><ref name="CNN. (2006). Exit Poll."/>
-Many [[Progressivism in the United States|progressive]] Democrats are descendants of the [[New Left]] of Democratic presidential candidate Senator [[George McGovern]] of South Dakota; others were involved in the presidential candidacies of [[Vermont]] Governor [[Howard Dean]] and U.S. Representative [[Dennis Kucinich]] of [[Ohio]]; still others are disaffected former members of the [[Green Party (United States)|Green Party]]. The [[Congressional Progressive Caucus]] (CPC) is a caucus of progressive Democrats, and is the single largest Democratic caucus in the House of Representatives. Its members have included [[Dennis Kucinich]] of Ohio, [[John Conyers]] of Michigan, [[Jim McDermott]] of Washington, [[John Lewis (politician)|John Lewis]] of Georgia, [[Barbara Lee]] of California, the late Senator [[Paul Wellstone]] of Minnesota, and [[Sherrod Brown]] of Ohio, now a Senator.
+== History ==
+[[File:GOP-presidents.jpg|thumb|300px|GOP Presidents by Andy Thomas; clockwise from right: Nixon, Ford, Lincoln, GHW Bush, Reagan, GW Bush, Eisenhower, Teddy Roosevelt]]
+The party began in 1854, at the start of the [[Third Party System]]. The '''GOP''' (or "'''Grand Old Party'''" as it was nicknamed after 1880 by veterans of the '''Grand Army of the Republic''', the '''GAR''') dominated national politics as the victors of the [[American Civil War]], including most of the [[Fourth Party System]] until 1932. Then the [[Fifth Party System]] (or "New Deal Coalition") was dominant until the late 1960s.  Since 1968 the GOP has won 8 of 13 presidential elections (losing in 1976, 1992, 1996, 2008 and 2012). Its great rival is the party of [[segregation]], slavery, [[Jim Crow]] and the [[Ku Klux Klan]], the [[Democratic Party#History|Democrat Party]].
-==== Civil libertarians ====
+===Third Party System: 1854–1896===
-[[Civil libertarian]]s also often support the Democratic Party because Democratic positions on such issues as [[civil rights]] and [[separation of church and state]] are more closely aligned to their own than the positions of the Republican Party, and because the Democratic economic agenda may be more appealing to them than that of the [[Libertarian Party (United States)|Libertarian Party]]. They oppose gun control, the "[[Prohibition (drugs)|War on Drugs]],"  [[protectionism]], [[corporate welfare]], government debt, and an [[interventionism (politics)|interventionist]] foreign policy. The Democratic Freedom Caucus is an organized group of this faction.
+The Republican party began as a spontaneous grassroots protest against the [[Kansas-Nebraska Act]] of 1854, which allowed slavery into western territories where it had been forbidden by earlier compromises.  The creation of the new party, along with the death of the [[Whig Party]], realigned American politics. The central issues were new, as were the voter alignments, and the balance of power in Congress. The central issues became slavery, race, civil war and the reconstruction of the Union into a more powerful nation, with rules changed that gave the vote to Blacks and former slaves.
-==== Conservatives ====
+====Issues: Slavery====
-In the [[United States House of Representatives|House of Representatives]], the [[Blue Dog Democrats]], a caucus of fiscal and social conservatives and moderates, primarily southerners, forms part of the Democratic Party's current faction of [[conservative Democrat]]s. They have acted as a unified voting bloc in the past, giving its forty plus members some ability to change legislation and broker compromises with the [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican Party]]'s leadership. [[Pro-life]] Democrats are sometimes classified as conservatives on the basis of [[social conservatism]].
+Republican activists denounced the Kansas-Nebraska act as proof of the power of the [[Slave Power]]—the powerful class of slaveholders who were conspiring to control the federal government and to spread slavery nationwide. The name "Republican" gained such favor in 1854 because "[[Republicanism, U.S.|republicanism]]" was the paramount political value the new party meant to uphold. The name also echoed the former Jeffersonian party of the [[First Party System]]. The party founders adopted the name "Republican" to indicate it was the carrier of "republican" beliefs about civic virtue, and opposition to aristocracy and corruption.<ref>Gould (2003) pp 14-15; republicanism is explored in depth by Foner (1970).</ref>
+[[Image:Lincoln seated.jpg|thumb|220px|right|Abraham Lincoln was the first Republican president]]
+Two small cities of the Yankee diaspora, Ripon, Wisconsin, and Jackson, Michigan, claim the birthplace honors.<ref>There is also a myth that the town of Exeter, New Hampshire was first by six months, but nothing came of the secret meeting there and scholars dismiss the claim.</ref> Ripon held the first county convention on March 20, 1854. Jackson held the first statewide convention where delegates on July 6, 1854, declared their new party opposed to the expansion of slavery into new territories and selected a statewide slate of candidates. The Midwest took the lead in forming state party tickets, while the eastern states lagged a year or so. There were no efforts to organize the party in the South, apart from a few areas adjacent to free states. The new party was sectional, based in the northeast and northern Midwest—areas with a strong Yankee presence. It had only scattered support in slave states before the Civil War.<ref>There was some strength in border cities such as St. Louis, Louisville, Wheeling, and Baltimore.</ref>
-==== Centrists ====
+The first presidential nomination in 1856 when to an obscure western explorer [[John C. Fremont]], as the party crusaded against the Slave Power with the slogan, "Free Soil, Free Labor, Free men, Fremont and victory!"  Democrats warned darkly that disunion and Civil War would result.  The remnants of the Know Nothing movement prevented the new party from sweeping the North, and the Democrats elected [[James Buchanan]]. By 1858 the Know Nothings were gone and the Republicans swept the North.  The 1860 election seemed a certain victory, for the party had majorities in states with a majority of the electoral votes.  In the event, the opposition split three ways, and [[Abraham Lincoln]] coasted to an easy victory, carrying 18 states with 190 electoral votes, while the opposition carried 15 states (mostly in the South) with 123 electoral votes. Lincoln had 1.9 million popular votes.
-Though [[centrism|centrist]] Democrats differ on a variety of issues, they typically foster a mix of political views and ideas. Compared to other Democratic factions, they are mostly more supportive of the use of military force, including the war in Iraq, and are more willing to reduce government welfare, as indicated by their support for [[welfare reform]] and [[tax cuts]]. One of the most influential factions is the [[Democratic Leadership Council]] (DLC), a nonprofit organization that advocates [[centrism|centrist]] positions for the party. The DLC hails President [[Bill Clinton]] as proof of the viability of [[Third Way (centrism)|third way]] politicians and a DLC success story. Former Representative [[Harold Ford, Jr.]] of [[Tennessee]] is its current chairman.
-=== Professionals ===
+====Modernization====
-Professionals, those who have a college education and whose work revolves around the conceptualization of ideas, have supported the Democratic Party by a slight majority since 2000. Between 1988 and 2000, professionals favored Democrats by a 12 percentage point margin. While the professional class was once a stronghold of the Republican Party it has become increasingly split between the two parties, leaning in favor of the Democratic Party. The increasing support for Democratic candidates among professionals may be traced to the prevalence of social liberal values among this group.<ref name="Judis & Teixeira">{{web cite
+Besides opposition to slavery, the new party put forward a modernizing vision—emphasizing higher education, banking, railroads, industry and cities, while promising free homesteads to farmers. It vigorously argued that free-market labor was superior to slavery and the very foundation of civic virtue and true American values - this is the "Free Soil, Free Labor, Free Men" ideology explored by historian Eric Foner.<ref>Foner, Eric. ''Free Soil, Free Labor, Free Men''. 1993.</ref> The Republicans absorbed the previous traditions of its members, most of whom had been [[Whig Party|Whigs]], and some of whom had been Democrats or members of third parties (especially the [[Free Soil Party]] and Know-Nothings (American Party). Many [[U.S. Democratic Party, history|Democrats]] who joined up were rewarded with governorships.<ref>They included Nathaniel P. Banks of Massachusetts, Kinsley Bingham of Michigan, William H. Bissell of Illinois, [[Salmon P. Chase]] of Ohio, [[Hannibal Hamlin]] of Maine, Samuel J. Kirkwood of Iowa, Ralph Metcalf of New Hampshire, Lot Morrill of Maine, and Alexander Randall of Wisconsin).</ref> or seats in the U.S. Senate.<ref>The senators included Bingham and Hamlin, as well as James R. Doolittle of Wisconsin, John P. Hale of New Hampshire, Preston King of New York, [[Lyman Trumbull]] of Illinois, and David Wilmot of Pennsylvania.</ref> Since its inception, its chief opposition has been the Democratic Party, but the amount of flow back and forth of prominent politicians between the two parties was quite high from 1854 to 1896.
-|url=http://72.14.253.104/search?q=cache:bueazvJ1K7IJ:www.prospect.org/cs/articles%3Farticle%3Dback_to_the_future061807+liberals+demographic&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=14&gl=us
-|title=Judis, J. B. & Teixeira, R. ([[June 19]] [[2007]]). Back to the Future. ''The American Prospect''.|accessdate=2007-08-19}}</ref>
-{{cquote|Professionals, who are, roughly speaking, college-educated producers of services and ideas, used to be the most staunchly Republican of all occupational groups... now chiefly working for large corporations and bureaucracies rather than on their own, and heavily influenced by the environmental, civil-rights, and feminist movements -- began to vote Democratic. In the four elections from 1988 to 2000, they backed Democrats by an average of 52 percent to 40 percent.|||John B. Judis and Ruy Teixeira, ''The American Prospect'', [[June 19]] [[2007]]}}
+====Ethnocultural voting====
+Historians have explored the ethnocultural foundations of the party, along the line that ethnic and religious groups set the moral standards for their members, who then carried those standards into politics.  The churches also provided social networks that politicians used to sign up voters.  The pietistic churches, heavily influenced by the revivals of the [[Second Great Awakening]], emphasized the duty of the Christian to purge sin from society.  Sin took many forms—alcoholism, polygamy and slavery became special targets for the Republicans. The Yankees, who dominated New England, much of upstate New York, and much of the upper Midwest were the strongest supporters of the new party.  This was especially true for the pietistic Congregationalists and Presbyterians among them and (during the war), the Methodists, along with Scandinavian Lutherans.  The Quakers were a small tight-knit group that was heavily Republican.  The liturgical churches (Roman Catholic, Episcopal, German Lutheran), by contrast, largely rejected the moralism of the GOP; most of their adherents voted Democratic.<ref>Kleppner (1979) has extensive detail on the voting behavior of groups.</ref>
-A study on the political attitudes of [[Medical school|medical students]], for example, found that "U.S. medical students are considerably more likely to be liberal than conservative and are more likely to be liberal than are other young U.S. adults. Future U.S. physicians may be more receptive to liberal messages than conservative ones, and their political orientation may profoundly affect their health system attitudes."<ref name="Frank, Carrera & Dharamsi">{{cite web
+====Politics 1854–1860====
-|url=http://www.springerlink.com/content/402j845476w87208/
+[[John C. Frémont]] ran as the first Republican nominee for [[President of the United States|President]] in 1856, using the [[political slogan]]: "Free soil, free labor, free speech, free men, Frémont." Although Frémont's bid was unsuccessful, the party showed a strong base. It dominated in New England, New York and the northern Midwest, and had a strong presence in the rest of the North. It had almost no support in the South, where it was roundly denounced in 1856-60 as a divisive force that threatened civil war. The election of Abraham Lincoln in 1860 ended the domination of the fragile coalition of pro-slavery southern Democrats and conciliatory northern Democrats which had existed since the days of [[Andrew Jackson]]. Instead, a new era of Republican dominance based in the industrial and agricultural north ensued. Republicans still often refer to their party as the "party of Lincoln" in honor of the first Republican President.
-|title=Frank, E., Carrera, J. & Dharamsi, S. (9 February, 2007). Political Self-characterization of U.S. Medical Students. ''Journal of General Internal Medicine''.
+{{See also|Third Party System}}
-|accessdate=2007-09-26
-}}</ref> Similar results are found for professors and economists, who are more strongly inclined towards liberalism and the Democratic Party than other occupational groups.<ref name="Kurtz, H. (29 March, 2005). College Faculties A Most Liberal Lot, Study Finds. ''The Washington Post''.">{{cite web
-|url=http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A8427-2005Mar28.html
-|title=Kurtz, H. (29 March, 2005). College Faculties A Most Liberal Lot, Study Finds. ''The Washington Post''.
-|accessdate=2007-07-02}}</ref>
-==== Economists ====
+====Civil War: 1861–1865====
-American [[Economist#United States|economists]] strongly support the Democratic Party, with their views on policy being largely in accordance with the Democratic platform. The vast majority, 63%, identify as [[Modern liberalism in the United States|progressive]] and less than 20% as [[Conservatism in the United States|conservative]] or libertarian.<ref name="Boxx & Quinlivan">Boxx, W. T. & Quinlivan, G. M. (1994). The Cultural Context of Economics and Politics. Lanham, MA: University Press of America.</ref> In a 2004 survey of 1,000 American economists, registered Democrats outnumbered registered Republicans by a 2.5 to 1 ratio. The majority of economists favored "''safety regulations, gun control, redistribution, public schooling, and anti-discrimination laws''," while opposing "''tighter immigration controls, government ownership of enterprise and tariffs''."<ref name="Klein, D. B. & Stern, C. (6 December, 2004) Economists' policy views and voting. ''Public Choice Journal''.">{{cite web
+Lincoln proved brilliantly successful in uniting the factions of his party to fight for the Union.<ref>Goodwyn 2005</ref> However he usually fought the [[Radical Republicans]] who demanded harsher measures. Most Democrats at first were [[War Democrats]], and supportive until the fall of 1862. When Lincoln added the abolition of slavery as a war goal, many war Democrats became "peace Democrats." All the state Republican parties accepted the antislavery goal except Kentucky. In Congress, the party passed major legislation to promote rapid modernization, including a national banking system, high tariffs, an income tax, many excise taxes, paper money issued without backing ("greenbacks"), a huge national debt, homestead laws, and aid to education and agriculture. The Republicans denounced the peace-oriented Democrats as [[Copperheads]] and won enough [[War Democrats]] to maintain their majority in 1862; in 1864, they formed a coalition with many War Democrats as the "National Union Party" which reelected Lincoln easily, then folded back into the Republican party. During the war, upper-middle-class men in major cities formed [[Union League]]s, to promote and help finance the war effort.
-|url=http://springerlink.metapress.com/content/w4q363786573275h/
-|title=Klein, D. B. & Stern, C. (6 December, 2004) Economists' policy views and voting. ''Public Choice Journal''.
-|accessdate=2007-07-02
-}}</ref> Other surveys have found Democrats to outnumber Republicans 2.8 to 1 among members of the profession. A study in the ''Southern Economic Journal'' found that "''71 percent of American economists believe the distribution of [[income in the United States]] should be [[Income inequality in the United States|more equal]], and 81 percent feel that the redistribution of income is a legitimate role for government''."<ref name="Klein, G. P. (15 November, 2006). Why Intellectuals Still Support Socialism. ''Ludwig Von Mieses Institute''. (Survey results were taken from a tetriary source in this case)">{{cite web
-|url=http://www.mises.org/story/2318
-|title=Klein, G. P. (15 November, 2006). Why Intellectuals Still Support Socialism. ''Ludwig Von Mieses Institute''. (Survey results were taken from a tetriary source in this case)
-|accessdate=2007-08-21}}</ref>
-==== Academia ====
+====Reconstruction: Blacks, Carpetbaggers and Scalawags====
-[[Image:Academia politics.png|thumb|right|Percent of faculty members identifying as liberal and conservative by discipline.]]
+[[File:Kkk-carpetbagger-cartoon.jpg|left|300px|thumb|A cartoon threatening that the KKK will lynch [[scalawag]]s (left) and [[carpetbagger]]s (right) on March 4, 1869, the day President Grant takes office. Tuscaloosa, Alabama, Independent Monitor, September 1, 1868. A full-scale scholarly history analyzes the cartoonː Guy W. Hubbs, Searching for Freedom after the Civil War: Klansman, Carpetbagger, Scalawag, and Freedman (2015).<ref>Hubbs, Guy W. (May 15, 2015). [https://books.google.com/books?id=KIVoCQAAQBAJ&source=gbs_navlinks_s "Searching for Freedom after the Civil War: Klansman, Carpetbagger, Scalawag, and Freedman"]. University Alabama Press.</ref>]]
-Academics, intellectuals and the highly [[Educational attainment|educated]] overall constitute an important part of the Democratic voter base. [[Academia]] in particular tends to be [[Modern liberalism in the United States|progressive]]. In a 2005 survey, nearly 72% of full-time faculty members identified as liberal, while 15% identified as conservative. The [[social sciences]] and [[humanities]] were the most liberal disciplines while business was the most [[Conservatism in the United States|conservative]]. Male professors at more advanced stages of their careers as well as those at elite institutions tend be the most liberal.<ref name="Kurtz, H. (29 March, 2005). College Faculties A Most Liberal Lot, Study Finds. ''The Washington Post''."/> Another survey by UCLA conducted in 2001/02, found 47.6% of professors identifying as liberal, 34.3% as moderate, and 18% as conservative.<ref name="Shea">{{cite web
+In [[Reconstruction]], how to deal with the ex-Confederates and the freed slaves, or [[Freedmen]], were the major issues. By 1864, [[Radical Republicans]] controlled Congress and demanded more aggressive action against slavery, and more vengeance toward the Confederates. Lincoln held them off, but just barely. Republicans at first welcomed President [[Andrew Johnson]]; the Radicals thought he was one of them and would take a hard line in punishing the South. Johnson, however, broke with them and formed a loose alliance with moderate Republicans and Democrats. The showdown came in the Congressional elections of 1866, in which the Radicals won a sweeping victory and took full control of Reconstruction, passing key laws over the veto. Johnson was impeached by the House, but acquitted by the Senate. With the election of [[Ulysses S. Grant]] in 1868, the Radicals had control of Congress, the party and the Army, and attempted to build a solid Republican base in the South using the votes of [[Freedmen]], [[Scalawags]] and [[Carpetbaggers]], supported directly by U.S. Army detachments. Republicans all across the South formed local clubs called [[Union League]]s that effectively mobilized the voters, discussed issues, and when necessary fought off [[Ku Klux Klan]] attacks. Thousands died on both sides.
-|url=http://www.boston.com/news/globe/ideas/articles/2003/10/12/what_liberal_academia/
-|title=Shea, C. (12 October 2003). What liberal academia? ''The Bosoton Globe''.
-|accessdate=2007-08-19
-}}</ref> Percentages of professors who identified as liberal ranged from 49% in business to over 80% in [[Political Science|political science]] and the humanities.<ref name="Kurtz, H. (29 March, 2005). College Faculties A Most Liberal Lot, Study Finds. ''The Washington Post''.">{{cite web
-|url=http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A8427-2005Mar28.html
-|title=Kurtz, H. (29 March, 2005). College Faculties A Most Liberal Lot, Study Finds. ''The Washington Post''.
-|accessdate=2007-07-02
-}}</ref> The liberal inclination of American professors is attributed by some to the liberal outlook of the highly educated.<ref name="O'Bannon, B. R. (27 August, 2003). In Defense of the 'Liberal' Professor. ''Indianapolis Star''.">{{cite web
-|url=http://www.collegenews.org/x2782.xml
-|title=O'Bannon, B. R. (27 August, 2003). In Defense of the 'Liberal' Professor. ''Indianapolis Star''.
-|accessdate=2007-07-02
-}}</ref> Among those with graduate degrees, the majority voted Democratic in the 1996,<ref name="CNN. (1996). Exit Poll.">{{cite web
-|url=http://www.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/1996/elections/natl.exit.poll/index1.html
-|title=CNN. (1996). Exit Poll.
-|accessdate=2007-07-11
-}}</ref> 2000,<ref name="CNN. (2000). Exit Poll."/> 2004,<ref name="CNN. (2004). Exit Poll."/> and 2006 elections.<ref name="CNN. (2006). Exit Poll."/> Social scientists, such as Brett O'Bannon of [[DePauw University]], have claimed that the "liberal" opinions of professors seem to have little, if any, effect on the political orientation of students.<ref name="O'Bannon, B. R. (27 August, 2003). In Defense of the 'Liberal' Professor. ''Indianapolis Star''.">{{cite web
-|url=http://www.collegenews.org/x2782.xml
-|title=O'Bannon, B. R. (27 August, 2003). In Defense of the 'Liberal' Professor. ''Indianapolis Star''.
-|accessdate=2007-07-02
-}}</ref><ref name="George & Medler">{{cite web
-|url=http://cla.calpoly.edu/~dgeorge/Faculty.Study/Pol.Soc.html
-|title=George, D. L. & Medler, J. F. (1996). College Faculty as an Inconsequential Agent of Political Socialization. Department of Political Science, Cal Poly State University, San Louis Obispo.
-|accessdate=2007-09-25}}</ref>
-=== Youth ===
+Grant supported radical reconstruction programs in the South, the 14th Amendment, and equal civil and voting rights for the freedmen. Most of all he was the hero of the war veterans, who marched to his tune. The party had become so large that factionalism was inevitable; it was hastened by Grant's tolerance of high levels of corruption typified by the [[Whiskey Ring]]. The "[[Liberal Republican]]s" split off in 1872 on the grounds that it was time to declare the war finished and bring the troops home. Many of the founders of the GOP joined the movement, as did many powerful newspaper editors. They nominated [[Horace Greeley]], who gained unofficial Democratic support, but was defeated in a landslide. The depression of 1873 energized the Democrats. They won control of the House and formed "[[Redeemers|Redeemer]]" coalitions which recaptured control of each southern state, in some cases using threats and violence.
-Studies have shown that younger voters tend to vote mostly for Democratic candidates in recent years. Despite supporting [[Ronald Reagan]] and [[George H. W. Bush]], the young have voted in favor the Democratic presidential candidate in every election since 1992, and are more likely to identify as liberals than the general population.<ref name="Nagourney">{{cite web|url=http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/27/washington/27poll.html?_r=3&hp=&adxnnl=1&oref=slogin&adxnnlx=1182947253-8kvQkT+aYTOYz/BCpTsRCg&oref=slogin&oref=slogin|title=Nagourney, A. (June 27, 2007). Young Americans are leaning left, new poll finds. ''The New York Times''.|accessdate=2007-04-05}}</ref> In the [[2004 U.S. Presidential Election]], Democratic presidential candidate [[John Kerry]] received 54% of the vote from voters of the age group 18-29, while Republican [[George W. Bush]] received 45% of the vote from the same age group. In the 2006 midterm elections, the Democrats received 60% of the vote from the same age group, while the Republicans only received 38%.<ref name="CNN. (2004). Exit Poll."/><ref name="CNN. (2006). Exit Poll."/> Polls suggest that younger voters tend to be more liberal than the general population, and have more liberal views than the general public on same-sex marriage and universal healthcare, with 58% planning to vote Democratic in 2008.<ref name="Nagourney"/>
-=== Labor ===
+Reconstruction came to an end when the contested election of 1876 was awarded by a special electoral commission to Republican [[Rutherford B. Hayes]] who promised, through the unofficial Compromise of 1877, to withdraw federal troops from control of the last three southern states. The region then became the [[Solid South]], giving overwhelming majorities of its electoral votes and Congressional seats to the Democrats until 1964.
-Since the 1930s, a critical component of the Democratic Party coalition has been [[Labor unions in the United States|organized labor]].  Labor unions supply a great deal of the money, grass roots political organization, and voting base of support for the party. The historic decline in union membership over the past half century has been accompanied by a growing disparity between public sector and private sector union membership percentages. The three most significant labor groupings in the Democratic coalition today are the [[AFL-CIO]] and [[Change to Win Federation|Change to Win]] [[National trade union center|labor federations]], as well as the [[National Education Association]], a large, unaffiliated [[teacher|teachers']] union. Both the AFL-CIO and Change to Win have identified their top legislative priority for 2007 as passage of the [[Employee Free Choice Act]]. Other important issues for labor unions include supporting [[industrial policy]] (including [[protectionism]]) that sustains unionized [[manufacturing]] jobs, raising the [[minimum wage]] and promoting broad social programs such as [[Social Security (United States)|social security]] and [[universal health care]].
-==== Working class ====
+In terms of racial issues, "White Republicans as well as Democrats solicited black votes but reluctantly rewarded blacks with nominations for office only when necessary, even then reserving the more choice positions for whites. The results were predictable: these half-a-loaf gestures satisfied neither black nor white Republicans. The fatal weakness of the Republican party in Alabama, as elsewhere in the South, was its inability to create a biracial political party.  And while in power even briefly, they failed to protect their members from Democratic terror. Alabama Republicans were forever on the defensive, verbally and physically." [Woolfolk p 134]
-{{see|Social class in the United States}}
-[[Image:Gilbert class.svg|thumb|300px|American social class model according to [[Dennis Gilbert]].<ref name="The American Class Structure">{{cite book
+Social pressure eventually forced most [[Scalawags]] to join the conservative/Democratic Redeemer coalition. A minority persisted and formed the "tan" half of the "Black and Tan" Republican party, a minority in every southern state after 1877. (DeSantis 1998)
-|last = Gilbert
-|first = Dennis
-|authorlink =
-|coauthors =
-|year = 1998
-|title = The American Class Structure
-|publisher = Wadsworth Publishing
-|location = New York
-|id = 0-534-50520-1}}</ref>]]
-While the American [[working class]] has lost much of its political strength with the decline of [[labor unions]],<ref name="What's Class Got To Do With It, American Society in the Twenty-First Century">{{cite book
+====Gilded Age: 1877–1894====
-|last = Zweig
+The "GOP" (as it was now nicknamed) split into factions in the late 1870s. The Stalwarts, followers of Senator Conkling, defended the [[spoils system]]. The Half-Breeds, who followed Senator [[James G. Blaine]] of Maine, pushed for [[Civil service system|civil service reform]]. Independents who opposed the spoils system altogether were called "[[Mugwumps]]". In 1884 they rejected [[James G. Blaine]] as corrupt and helped elect Democrat [[Grover Cleveland]]; most returned to the party by 1888.
-|first = Michael
-|authorlink =
-|coauthors =
-|year = 2004
-|title = What's Class Got To Do With It, American Society in the Twenty-First Century
-|publisher = Cornell University Press
-|location = New York, NY
-|id = 0-8014-8899-0
-}}</ref> it remains a stronghold of the Democratic Party and continues as an essential part of the Democratic base. Today roughly a third of the American public is estimated to be working class with around 52 percent being either members of the working or [[American lower class|lower classes]].<ref name="The American Class Structure"/><ref name="Society in Focus">{{cite book
-|last = Thompson
-|first = William
-|authorlink =
-|coauthors = Joseph Hickey
-|year = 2005
-|title = Society in Focus
-|publisher = Pearson
-|location = Boston, MA
-|id = 0-205-41365-X
-}}</ref> Yet, as those with lower [[Social class in the United States|socioeconomic status]] are less likely to vote, the working and lower classes are underrepresented in the electorate. The working class is largely distinguished by highly routinized and closely supervised work. It consists mainly of [[Clerk#United States|clerical]] and [[blue collar]] workers.<ref name="The American Class Structure"/> Even though most in the working class are able afford an adequate standard of living, high economic insecurity and possible personal benefit from an extended social safety net, make the majority of working class person left-of-center on economic issues. Most working class Democrats differ from most liberals, however, in their more socially conservative views. Working class Democrats tend to be more religious and likely to belong to an ethnic minority. Socially conservative and disadvantaged Democrats are among the least educated and lowest earning ideological demographics. In 2005, only 15% had a college degree, compared to 27% at the national average and 49% of liberals, respectively. Together socially conservative and the financially disadvantaged comprised roughly 54% of the Democratic base.<ref name="Pew Research Center."/> The continued importance of the working class votes manifests itself in recent CNN exit polls, which show the Democratic Party garner the majority of votes from those with low [[Income in the United States|incomes]] and little education.<ref name="CNN. (2000). Exit Poll."/><ref name="CNN. (2004). Exit Poll."/><ref name="CNN. (2006). Exit Poll."/>
-=== Ethnic minorities ===
+As the Northern post-bellum economy boomed with heavy and light industry, railroads, mines, and fast-growing cities, as well as prosperous agriculture, the Republicans took credit and promoted policies to keep the fast growth going. They supported [[free enterprise]] generally, hard money (i.e. the [[gold standard]]), high [[tariff]]s, and high pensions for Union veterans. By 1890, however, the Republicans had agreed to reform with the [[Sherman Anti-Trust Act]] and the [[Interstate Commerce Commission]], in response to complaints of large enterprise [[monopoly]] control by small business owners and farmers. The high [[McKinley Tariff]] of 1890 hurt the party and the Democrats swept to a landslide in the off-year elections, even defeating McKinley himself.
-A large portion of the Democratic voting base are [[Ethnic Minority|ethnic minorities]]. The Democrats' positions on affirmative action, [[welfare (financial aid)|welfare]] for the lower class and unemployed, labor unions, and immigration have a strong appeal to many ethnic minorities.
-==== African Americans ====
+====Ethnocultural Voters: pietistic Republicans versus liturgical Democrats====
-From the end of the Civil War, [[African American]]s favored the Republican Party. However, they began drifting to the Democratic Party in the 1930s, as [[Franklin D. Roosevelt|Franklin Roosevelt's]] [[New Deal]] programs gave economic relief to all minorities, including African Americans and [[Hispanics]].  Support for the [[Civil Rights Movement]] in the 1960s by Democratic presidents [[John F. Kennedy]] and [[Lyndon B. Johnson]] helped give the Democrats even larger support among the African American community, although their position also alienated the [[Southern strategy|Southern white]] population.  In addition recent [[Caribbean]] and [[Africa]]n immigrants have voted solidly Democratic.
+From 1860 to 1912, the Republicans took advantage of the association of the Democrats with "Rum, Romanism, and Rebellion". Rum stood for the liquor interests and the tavern keepers, in contrast to the GOP, which had a strong dry element. "Romanism" meant Catholics, especially Irish Americans, who ran the Democrat Party in every big city, and whom the Republicans denounced for political corruption. "Rebellion" stood for the Confederates who tried to break the Union in 1861, and the [[Copperheads]] in the North who sympathized with them.
-==== Hispanics ====
+Demographic trends aided the Democrats, as the German and Irish Catholic immigrants were Democrats, and outnumbered the English and Scandinavian Republicans. During the 1880s and 1890s, the Republicans struggled against the Democrats' efforts, winning several close elections and losing two to Grover Cleveland (in [[United States presidential election, 1884|1884]] and [[United States presidential election, 1892|1892]]). Religious lines were sharply drawn [Kleppner 1979]. Methodists, Congregationalists, Presbyterians, Scandinavian Lutherans and other pietists in the North were tightly linked to the GOP. In sharp contrast, liturgical groups, especially the Catholics, Episcopalians, and German Lutherans, looked to the Democratic party for protection from pietistic moralism, especially prohibition.  Both parties cut across the class structure, with the Democrats more bottom-heavy.
-The Hispanic population, particularly the large [[Mexican American]] population in the [[Southwest United States|Southwest]] and the large [[Puerto Rican American|Puerto Rican]] and [[Dominican American|Dominican]] populations in the [[Northeast United States|Northeast]], have been strong supporters of the Democratic Party.  They commonly favor liberal views on immigration. In the [[1996 U.S. Presidential Election]], Democratic President [[Bill Clinton]] received 72 percent of the Hispanic vote. Since then, however, the Republican Party has gained increasing support from the Hispanic community, especially among Hispanic Protestants and [[Pentecostalism|pentecostals]]. Along with Bush's much more liberal views on immigration, President Bush was the first Republican president to gain 40 percent of the Hispanic vote (he did so in the [[2004 U.S. Presidential Election]]). Yet, the Republican Party's support among Hispanics eroded in the [[United States House elections, 2006|2006 mid-term elections]], dropping from 44 to 30 percent, with the Democrats gaining in the Hispanic vote from 55 percent in 2004 to 69 percent in 2006.<ref name="CNN. (2004). Exit Poll."/><ref name="CNN. (2006). Exit Poll."/> The shift in the Hispanic population's support back to the Democratic party was largely dued to the [[2006 United States immigration reform protests|Immigration Debate]] which was sparked by [[H.R. 4437]], a Republican supported enforcement only bill concerning [[illegal immigration]].  [[Cuban-American]]s still heavily vote Republican but [[Mexican-American]]s, [[Puerto Rican American]]s, [[Dominican American]]s, and [[Central America]]n and [[South America]]n immigrants have all voted dependably for Democrats.
-==== Asian Americans ====
+Cultural issues, especially prohibition and foreign language schools became important because of the sharp religious divisions in the electorate. In the North, about 50% of the voters were pietistic Protestants (Methodists, Scandinavian Lutherans, Presbyterians, Congregationalists, Disciples of Christ) who believed the government should be used to reduce social sins, such as drinking. Liturgical churches (Roman Catholics, German Lutherans, Episcopalians) comprised over a quarter of the vote and wanted the government to stay out of the morality business. Prohibition debates and referenda heated up politics in most states over a period of decades, as national prohibition was finally passed in 1918 (and repealed in 1932), serving as a major issue between the wet Democrats and the dry GOP.<ref>See  Kleppner (1979)</ref>
-The Democratic Party also has considerable support in the small but growing [[Asian American]] population. The Asian population had been a stronghold of the Republican Party until the [[1992 United States Presidential Election|1992 presidential election]] in which [[George H. W. Bush]] won 55% of the Asian vote, compared to [[Bill Clinton]] winning 31%, and [[Ross Perot]] winning 15% of the Asian vote. The Democrats made gains among the Asian American population starting with 1996 and in 2006, won 62% of the Asian vote. This is due to demographic shifts in the Asian American community, with growing numbers of well-educated [[Chinese American|Chinese]] and [[Indian American|Asian Indian]] immigrants that are typically economic centrists and [[Social progressivism|social progressives]]. [[Vietnamese Americans]] and [[Filipino American]]s still vote mostly Republican (though this has lessened recently), while [[Chinese American]]s, [[South Asian American]]s, [[Korean American]]s, [[Japanese American]]s, [[Southeast Asian American]]s other than Vietnamese (especially [[Hmong American]]s, [[Cambodian American]]s, and [[Laotian American]]s,) and [[Pacific Islander American]]s have voted mostly Democratic.
-==== Others ====
+===Fourth Party System: 1896–1932: The Progressive Era ===
-The Democratic Party also has strong support among the [[Native Americans in the United States|Native American]] population, particularly in [[Arizona]], [[New Mexico]], [[Montana]], [[North Dakota]], [[South Dakota]], [[Washington]], [[Alaska]], [[Minnesota]], [[Wisconsin]], and [[North Carolina]].
+The election of [[William McKinley]] in 1896 was a realigning election that changed the balance of power, and introduced new rules, new issues and new leaders. It did not, however, see the emergence of a new major party.  The Republican sweep of the 1894 Congressional elections presaged the McKinley landslide of 1896, which was repeated in 1900, thus locking the GOP in full control of the national government and most northern state governments. The GOP made major gains as well in the border states.  The [[Fourth Party System]] was dominated by Republican presidents, with the exception of the two terms of Democrat segregationist [[Woodrow Wilson]], 1912-1920.
-Jewish communities tend to be a stronghold for the Democratic Party, with more than 70 percent of Jewish voters having cast their ballots for the Democrats in the 2004 and 2006 elections.<ref name="CNN. (2004). Exit Poll."/><ref name="CNN. (2006). Exit Poll."/>
+====McKinley and realignment====
+McKinley promised that high tariffs would end the severe hardship caused by the [[Panic of 1893]], and that the GOP would guarantee [[pluralism]] in which all groups would benefit. He denounced [[William Jennings Bryan]], the Democratic nominee, as a dangerous radical whose plans for "Free Silver" at 16-1 (or [[Bimetallism]]) would bankrupt the economy.
-[[Arab American]]s and [[Muslim]]s, though having historically voted Republican, have voted overwhelmingly Democratic since the [[War in Iraq]].
+McKinley relied heavily on industry and the middle classes for his support and cemented the Republicans as the party of [[liberty]]; his campaign manager, Ohio's [[Mark Hanna]], developed a detailed plan for getting contributions from the business world, and McKinley outspent his rival [[William Jennings Bryan]] by a large margin.  McKinley was the first president to promote [[pluralism]], arguing that prosperity would be shared by all ethnic and religious groups.
-== Recent issue stances ==
+====Progressive Republicans====
-{{Refimprove|date=February 2008}}
+At the dawn of the 20th century, the Republican Party was regulating monopolies and promoting civil service reform, with progressivism finding a home within the GOP.
-=== Economic issues ===
-==== Minimum wage ====
-Democrats favor a higher [[minimum wage]], and more regular increases, in order to assist the working poor. The [[Fair Minimum Wage Act of 2007]] was an early component of the Democrats' agenda during the [[110th Congress]]. In 2006, the Democrats supported six state ballot initiatives to increase the minimum wage; all six initiatives passed.
-==== Renewable energy and oil ====
+[[Theodore Roosevelt]], who became president in 1901, had the most dynamic personality in the nation.  Roosevelt had to contend with men like Senator [[Mark Hanna]], whom he outmaneuvered to gain control of the convention in 1904 that renominated him. More difficult to handle was conservative House Speaker [[Joseph Gurney Cannon]].
-Democrats have opposed tax cuts and incentives to oil companies, favoring a policy of developing domestic [[renewable energy]], such as [[Montana]]'s state-supported wind farm and "clean coal" programs as well as setting in place a [[Emissions trading|cap and trade policy]] in hopes of reducing carbon emissions.
-==== Fiscal policy ====
+When [[Booker T. Washington]]'s autobiography, ''Up From Slavery'', was published in 1901, it became a bestseller and had a major impact on the African American community, and its friends and allies. Washington in 1901 was the first African-American ever invited to the White House as the guest of President [[Theodore Roosevelt]] &ndash; white Democrats complained loudly, although Washington remained as an advisor to Roosevelt.<ref>Larry Schweikart and Michael Allen, "A Patriot's History of the United States" (2007)</ref>
-Democrats generally support a more [[progressive tax]] structure to provide more services and reduce injustice.<ref>http://economics.about.com/od/monetaryandfiscalpolicy/a/high_taxes.htm</ref> Currently they have proposed reversing those [[Jobs and Growth Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2003|tax cuts the Bush administration]] gave to the wealthiest Americans while wishing to keep in place those given to the middle class.<ref>http://economics.about.com/od/monetaryandfiscalpolicy/a/high_taxes.htm</ref><ref>http://blog.cleveland.com/openers/2007/12/dems_in_debate_urge_taxes_on_w.html</ref><ref>http://blog.cleveland.com/openers/2007/12/dems_in_debate_urge_taxes_on_w.html</ref> Democrats generally support more government spending on social services while spending less on the military.<ref>http://opinionjournal.com/weekend/hottopic/?id=110010876</ref><ref>http://www.heritage.org/Research/budget/wm1460.cfm</ref> They oppose the cutting of social services, such as [[Social Security (United States)|Social Security]], [[Medicare]], [[Medicaid]], and various [[Welfare (financial aid)|welfare]] programs<ref>http://usinfo.state.gov/infousa/government/social/ch9.htm</ref>, believing it to be harmful to efficiency and social justice. Democrats believe the benefits of social services, in monetary and non-monetary terms, are a more productive labor force and cultured population, and believe that the benefits of this are greater than any benfits that could be derived from lower taxes, especially on top earners, or cuts to social services. Furthermore, Democrats see social services as essential towards providing positive freedom, i.e. freedom derived from economic opporunity. The Democratic-led House of Representatives reinstated the [[PAYGO]] (pay-as-you-go) budget rule at the start of the [[110th United States Congress|110th Congress]].<ref>{{cite news
-|title = Day Two: House passes new budget rules
-|date = [[2007-01-05]]
-|url = http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16487187
-|publisher = [[Associated Press]]
-|accessdate = 2007-01-05
-}}</ref> DNC Chairman [[Howard Dean]] has cited [[Presidency of Bill Clinton|Bill Clinton's presidency]] as a model for fiscal responsibility.
-==== Health care and insurance coverage ====
+Roosevelt achieved modest legislative gains in terms of railroad legislation and pure food laws. He was more successful in Court, bringing antitrust suits that broke up the Northern Securities trust and [[Standard Oil]].  Roosevelt moved left in his last two years in office but was unable to pass major Square Deal proposals.
-Democrats call for "affordable and quality health care," and many advocate an expansion of government intervention in this area. Many Democrats favor [[national health insurance]] or [[universal health care]] in a variety of forms to address the rising costs of modern health insurance. Some Democrats, such as Represenative [[John Dingell]] and Senator [[Ted Kennedy|Edward Kennedy]], have called for a program of "[[Medicare (United States)|Medicare]] for All."<ref>{{PDFlink|[http://energycommerce.house.gov/medicare/medicareforall.shtml Medicare for All]}}. Retrieved on [[2007-01-25]].</ref>
-Some Democratic governors have supported purchasing [[Canada|Canadian]] drugs, citing lower costs and budget restrictions as a primary incentive. Recognizing that unpaid insurance bills increase costs to the service provider, who passes the cost on to health-care consumers, many Democrats advocate expansion of health insurance coverage.
+Roosevelt did succeed in naming his successor Secretary of War [[William Howard Taft]] who easily defeated Bryan again in 1908.
-==== Environment ====
+====Progressive insurgents vs. Conservatives====
-Democratic belief is that the health of families and the strength of the economy depend on stewardship of the environment. Democrats have promised to fight to strengthen the laws that ensure people have clean air to breathe and clean water to drink. They also promise to make sure these laws are enforced. They feel that a sensible energy policy is key to a strong economy, national security, and a clean environment.<ref>{{cite web
+The GOP was divided between insurgents and stand-patters (liberals and conservatives, to use 21st-century terms). [[Theodore Roosevelt]] was an enormously popular president (1901–1909), and he transferred the office to [[William Howard Taft]]. Taft, however, did not have TR's enormous popularity nor his ability to bring rival factions together. When Taft sided with the standpatters under Speaker [[Joe Cannon]] and Senate leader [[Nelson Aldrich]], the insurgents revolted. Led by [[George Norris]] the insurgents took control of the House away from Cannon and imposed a new system whereby committee chairmanships depended on seniority (years of membership on the committee), rather than party loyalty.
-|url=http://www.democrats.org/a/national/clean_environment/
-|title=Agenda - Environment
-|accessdate=2007-03-18}}</ref>
-The Democratic Party rejects the idea that a healthy economy and a healthy environment is mutually exclusive, because they believe that a cleaner environment means a stronger economy. They protect hunting and fishing heritage by expanding conservation lands. They encourage open space and rail travel to relieve highway and airport congestion and improve air quality and economy, and "believe that communities, environmental interests, and government should work together to protect resources while ensuring the vitality of local economies. Once Americans were led to believe they had to make a choice between the economy and the environment. They now know this is a false choice."<ref>{{cite web
+The tariff issue was pulling the GOP apart. Roosevelt tried to postpone the issue but Taft had to meet it head on in 1909 with the Payne-Aldrich Tariff Act. Eastern conservatives led by Nelson A. Aldrich wanted high tariffs on manufactured goods (especially woolens), while Midwesterners called for low tariffs.  Aldrich tricked them by lowering the tariff on farm products, which outraged the farmers. In a stunning comeback, the Democrats won control of the House in  1910, as the GOP rift between insurgents and conservatives widened.
-|url=http://www.ontheissues.org/Celeb/Democratic_Party_Environment.htm
-|title=Democratic Party on Environment
-|accessdate=2007-10-24}}</ref>
-The biggest environmental concern of the Democratic party is [[global warming]]. Democrats, most notably former Vice President [[Al Gore]], have pressed for stern regulation of [[greenhouse gases]]. On [[October 15]] [[2007]] he won the [[Nobel Peace Prize]] for his efforts to build greater knowledge about man-made climate change, and laying the foundations for the measures needed to counteract these changes. asserting that "the climate crisis is not a political issue, it is a moral and spiritual challenge to all of humanity."<ref>{{cite journal
+Roosevelt sided with the insurgents and, after long indecision, decided to run against Taft for the 1912 nomination. Roosevelt had to steamroll over insurgent Senator [[Robert LaFollette]] of Wisconsin, turning an ally into an enemy. Taft outmaneuvered Roosevelt and controlled the convention. Roosevelt walked out and formed a third party, the "Progressive" or "Bull Moose" party. Very few officeholders supported him, and the new party collapsed by 1914. With the GOP vote divided in half, Democrat [[Woodrow Wilson]] easily won the 1912 election, and was narrowly reelected in 1916.
-|author=John Nicols
-|title=Al Gore Wins Nobel Peace Prize
-|journal=The Nation
-|date=[[2007-10-12]]}}</ref>
-==== College education ====
+With the defeat of Theodore Roosevelt and the Progressive Bull Moose party, along with the election of Woodrow Wilson, the parties switched progressive leadership, and the Democrat Party has been the party of big government ever since.
-Most Democrats have the long term aim of having low-cost, publicly-funded college education with low tuition fees (like in much of Europe) which should be available to every eligible American student, or alternatively, with increasing state funding for student financial aid such as the [[Pell Grant]] or college tuition [[tax deduction]].<ref>{{cite web
-|title = Clinton Joins Key Senate Democrats to Release Report on "The College Cost Crunch"
-|date = [[2006-06-28]]
-|url = http://clinton.senate.gov/news/statements/details.cfm?id=258005
-|work = clinton.senate.gov
-|accessdate = 2006-11-25
-}}</ref><ref>[http://www.democrats.org/a/national/economic_growth/ Economic Prosperity and Educational Excellence]. Retrieved on [[2006]]-[[11-25]].</ref>
-==== Trade agreements ====
+====State and local politics====
-The Democratic Party has a mixed record on [[international trade]] agreements that reflects a diversity of viewpoints in the party. The liberal and [[Cosmopolitanism|cosmopolitan]] wing of the party, including the intelligentsia and college-educated professionals overall, tend to favor [[globalization]], while the organized labor wing of the party opposes it.<ref name="Rorty, R. (1997). ''Achieving Our Country: Leftist Though In Twenthieth Century America''. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.">Rorty, R. (1997). ''Achieving Our Country: Leftist Though In Twenthieth Century America''. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.</ref> In the 1990s, the Clinton administration and a number of prominent Democrats pushed through a number of agreements such as the [[North American Free Trade Agreement]] (NAFTA).  Since then, the party's shift away from free trade became evident in the [[Dominican Republic-Central America Free Trade Agreement|Central American Free Trade Agreement]] (CAFTA) vote, with 15 House Democrats voting for the agreement and 187 voting against.<ref>{{cite news
+The Republicans welcomed the [[Progressive Era]] at the state and local level.  The first important reform mayor was Hazen S. Pingree of Detroit (1890–97) who was elected governor of Michigan in 1896. In New York City the Republicans joined nonpartisan reformers to battle [[Tammany Hall]], and elected Seth Low (1902–03). Samuel "Golden Rule" Jones was first elected mayor of Toledo as a Republican in 1897, but was re-elected as an independent when his party refused to renominate him.  In Iowa Senator [[Albert Cummins]] came up with the "Iowa Idea" that blamed the trust or monopoly problem on the high tariff, angering the eastern industrialists and factory workers. Many Republican civic leaders, following the example of Mark Hanna, were active in the [[National Civic Federation]], which promoted urban reforms and sought to avoid wasteful strikes.
-|last= Weisman
-|first=Jonathan
-|title=CAFTA Reflects Democrats' Shift From Trade Bills
-|publisher=[[The Washington Post]]
-|date=[[2005-07-06]]
-|url=http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/07/05/AR2005070501345_pf.html
-|accessdate=2006-12-10
-}}</ref><ref>{{cite news
-|last= Nichols
-|first=John
-|title=CAFTA Vote Outs "Bush Democrats"
-|publisher=[[The Nation]]
-|date=[[2005-07-28]]
-|url=http://www.thenation.com/blogs/thebeat?bid=1&pid=8874
-|accessdate=2006-12-15}}</ref>
-In his 1997 ''Achieving Our Country'', [[philosopher]] [[Richard Rorty]], [[professor]] at [[Stanford University]] states that economic globalization "invites two responses from the Left. The first is to insist that the inequalities between nations need to be mitigated... The second is to insist that the primary responsibility of each democratic nation-state is to its own least advantaged citizens... the first response suggests that the old democracies should open their borders, whereas the second suggests that they should close them. The first response comes naturally to academic leftists, who have always been internationally minded. The second comes naturally to members of trade unions, and to marginally employed people who can most easily be recruited into right-wing populist movements." (p. 88)<ref name="Rorty, R. (1997). ''Achieving Our Country: Leftist Though In Twentieth Century America''. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.">Rorty, R. (1997). ''Achieving Our Country: Leftist Though In Twentieth Century America''. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.</ref>
+====Harding-Coolidge-Hoover, 1920–1932====
+The party controlled the presidency throughout the 1920s, running on a limited government platform, opposition to the League of Nations, high tariffs, and promotion of business interests. [[Warren G. Harding]], [[Calvin Coolidge]] and [[Herbert Hoover]] were resoundingly elected in the elections of 1920, 1924 and 1928 as the Democrats were deeply split on prohibition and religion.  Running on a campaign of ''returning to normalcy'', Harding and Coolidge led a repudiation election of both the war as well as the big government progressivism of Woodrow Wilson.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=8iSeCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA94 Presidents Harding, Coolidge, and Hoover: Meet the Presidents]</ref><ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=LziMzAR4eD0C&pg=PA162 The Great American History Fact-finder: The Who, What, Where, When, and why of American History]</ref>
+[[Image:Coolidge close.jpg|thumb|100px|left|Calvin Coolidge]]
+The breakaway efforts of Senator [[Robert LaFollette]] in 1924 failed to stop a landslide for Coolidge, and his movement fell apart.  The [[Teapot Dome Scandal]] threatened to hurt the party but Harding died and Coolidge blamed everything on him, as the opposition splintered in 1924. The pro-business policies of the decade seemed to produce unprecedented prosperity—until the Wall Street Crash of 1929 heralded the [[Great Depression]].  Although the party did very well in large cities and among ethnic Catholics in presidential elections of 1920-24, it was unable to hold those gains in 1928. By 1932 the cities—for the first time ever—had become Democratic strongholds.
-==== Alternate Minimum Tax ====
+The African American vote held for Hoover in 1932, but started moving toward Roosevelt. By 1940 the majority of northern blacks were voting Democrat. Southern blacks who could vote (in border states) were split; disenfranchised blacks in the South probably preferred the Republicans.
-While the Democratic Party is in support of a progressive tax structure, it has vowed to adjust the [[Alternate Minimum Tax]] (AMT). The tax was originally designed to tax the rich but now may affect many households, especially those with [[Income in the United States|incomes]] between $75,000 to $100,000. The party proposed to re-adjust the tax in such manner as to restore its initial intention. According to a 2007 Reuters News Report, "House Ways and Means Committee Chairman [[Charles Rangel]] has said he will push for permanent AMT relief for those taxpayers who were never meant to pay it."<ref>{{cite web
-|url=http://www.reuters.com/article/politicsNews/idUSN1322551420070415
-|title=Smith, D. (14 April, 2007). Democrat says middle class tax relief a priority. ''Reuters''.
-|accessdate=2007-07-11}}</ref>
-=== Social issues ===
+The [[Great Depression]] cost Hoover the presidency with the [[United States presidential election, 1932|1932 landslide election]] of [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]]. Roosevelt's [[New Deal coalition]] controlled American politics for most of the next three decades, excepting the two-term presidency of Republican [[Dwight Eisenhower]].
-==== Discrimination ====
-The Democratic Party supports [[equal opportunity]] for all Americans regardless of sex, age, race, sexual orientation, religion, creed, or national origin.
-Democrats also strongly support the [[Americans with Disabilities Act]] to prohibit discrimination against people on the basis of physical or mental disability.
-==== LGBT rights ====
+===Fifth Party System: 1932–1980===
-The Democratic Party is divided on the subject of [[same-sex marriage]]. Some members favor [[civil union]]s for same-sex couples, liberals commonly favor legalized marriage, and others are opposed to same-sex marriage on religious grounds. The 2004 Democratic National Platform stated that marriage should be defined at the state level and it repudiated the [[Federal Marriage Amendment]]. Almost all agree, however, that discrimination against persons because of their sexual orientation is wrong, support [[adoption]] rights for same-sex couples, and also oppose the military's "[[don't ask, don't tell]]" policy.
+[[File:Edward-clark-c.p.o-graham-jackson.jpg|right|300px|thumb|Graham Jackson shedding tears at news of FDR's death. The photo was widely circulated in ''Life'' magazine and interpreted to mean even Republicans cried at the death of FDR. It was later re-circulated in the 1960s to create the myth that [[African American]]s were beneficiaries and part of the New Deal coalition.  New Deal programs often specifically excluded Blacks by legislation passed by the Democrat Congress.<ref>https://atlantablackstar.com/2015/02/04/9-ways-franklin-d-roosevelts-new-deal-purposely-excluded-blacks-people/</ref>]]
+Minority parties tend to factionalize and after 1936 the GOP split into a conservative faction (dominant in the West and Southeast) and a liberal faction (dominant in the Northeast) &ndash; combined with a residual base of inherited progressive Republicanism active throughout the century. [[United States presidential election, 1936|In 1936]] Kansas governor [[Alf Landon]] and his young followers defeated the [[Herbert Hoover]] faction.  Landon generally supported most New Deal programs, but carried only two states in the Roosevelt landslide.
-==== Reproductive rights ====
+Senator [[Robert Taft]] of Ohio represented the Midwestern wing of the party that continued to oppose [[New Deal]] reforms and continued to champion [[isolationism]]. [[Thomas Dewey]], governor of New York, represented the Northeastern wing of the party. Dewey did not reject the New Deal programs but demanded more efficiency, more support for economic growth, and less corruption. He was more willing than Taft to support Britain in 1939-40. After the war, the isolationists wing strenuously opposed the [[United Nations]], and was half-hearted in opposition to world Communism. Senator [[William F. Knowland]] of California, sobriquet ''Senator from Formosa'' (Taiwan).
-Most members of the Democratic Party believe that all women should have access to [[birth control]], and supports public funding of contraception for poor women. The Democratic Party, in its national platforms since 1992, has called for [[abortion]] to be "safe, legal and rare" — namely, keeping it legal by rejecting laws that allow governmental interference in abortion decisions, and reducing the number of abortions by promoting both knowledge of reproduction and contraception, and incentives for adoption. When Congress voted on the [[Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act]] in 2003, Congressional Democrats were split, with a minority (including current [[Party leaders of the United States Senate|Senate Majority Leader]] [[Harry Reid]]) supporting the ban, and the majority of Democrats opposing the legislation.
-The Democratic Party opposes attempts to reverse the 1973 Supreme Court decision ''[[Roe v. Wade]]'', which declared abortion to be a constitutionally-protected right, and ''[[Planned Parenthood v. Casey]]'' which lays out the legal framework in which government action alleged to violate that right is assessed by courts.  As a matter of the [[Privacy|right to privacy]] and of [[feminism|gender equality]], many Democrats believe all women should have the ability to choose to abort without governmental interference. They believe that each woman, conferring with her conscience, has the right to choose for herself whether abortion is morally correct. Many Democrats also believe that poor women should have a right to publicly funded abortions.
+[[Dwight Eisenhower]], an internationalist allied with the Dewey wing, challenged Taft in 1952 on foreign policy issues. The two men were not far apart on domestic issues. Eisenhower's victory broke a 20-year Democrat lock on the White House.  Eisenhower did not try to roll back the New Deal, but he did expand the Social Security system and built the Interstate Highway system.
-====Stem cell research====
+The conservatives in 1964 made a comeback under the leadership of [[Barry Goldwater]] who defeated [[Nelson Rockefeller]] as the Republican candidate in the [[United States presidential election, 1964|1964 presidential convention]]. Goldwater was strongly opposed to the New Deal and the United Nations, but he rejected isolationism and containment, calling for an aggressive anti-Communist foreign policy.
-The Democratic Party has voiced overwhelming support for all [[stem cell research]] with federal funding. In his 2004 platform, [[John Kerry]] affirmed his support of federally-funded stem-cell research "under the strictest ethical guidelines," saying, "We will not walk away from the chance to save lives and reduce human suffering."<ref>{{PDF|[http://www.democrats.org/pdfs/2004platform.pdf The 2004 Democratic National Platform]|111&nbsp;[[Kibibyte|KiB]]<!-- application/pdf, 114452 bytes -->}} </ref>
-=== Foreign policy issues ===
+Any long-term movement toward the GOP was interrupted by the [[Watergate Scandal]], which forced Nixon to resign in 1974 under threat of impeachment. [[Gerald Ford]] succeeded Nixon and gave him a full pardon—thereby giving the Democrats a powerful issue they used to sweep the 1974 off-year elections. Ford never fully recovered, and in 1976 he barely defeated [[Ronald Reagan]] for the nomination. The taint of Watergate and the nation's economic difficulties contributed to the election of Democrat [[Jimmy Carter]] in [[United States presidential election, 1976|1976]], running as a Washington outsider.
-==== Invasion of Afghanistan ====
-Democrats in the House of Representatives and United States Senate near-unanimously voted for the [[Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Terrorists]] against "those responsible for the [[September 11, 2001 attacks|recent attacks launched against the United States]]" in [[Afghanistan]] in 2001, supporting the [[NATO]] coalition invasion of the nation. Most elected Democrats continue in their support of the Afghanistan conflict, and some have voiced concerns that the Iraq War is shifting too many resources away from the presence in Afghanistan.
-====Iraq War====
+====Civil Rights====
-In 2002, Democrats were divided as a majority (29 for, 21 against) in the Senate and a minority of Democrats in the House (81 for, 126 against) voted for the [[Iraq Resolution|Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Iraq]]. Since then, many prominent Democrats, such as former Senator [[John Edwards]], have expressed regret about this decision, and have called it a mistake, while others, such as Senator [[Hillary Clinton]] have criticized the conduct of the war but not repudiated their initial vote for it. Amongst lawmakers, Democrats are the most vocal critics of the [[Iraq War]] and the president's management of the war. Democrats in the House of Representatives near-unanimously supported a [[non-binding resolution]] disapproving of President Bush's decision to send [[Iraq War troop surge of 2007|additional troops into Iraq in 2007]]. Congressional Democrats overwhelmingly supported military funding legislation which included a provision that set "a timeline for the withdrawal of all US combat troops from Iraq" by [[March 31]] [[2008]], but also would leave combat forces in Iraq for purposes such as targeted counter-terrorism operations.<ref>{{cite news | last = Flaherty
+[[File:Nixon-and-Martin-Luther-King.png|right|300px|thumb|Dr. Martin Luther King's meeting with Vice President Nixon marked national recognition of King as leader of the civil rights movement.<ref>https://amgreatness.com/2018/07/29/the-switch-that-never-happened-how-the-south-really-went-gop/</ref>]]
-|first = Anne
-|title = Congress passes Iraq bill, veto awaits
-|url = http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2007/04/26/veto_awaits_iraq_troop_withdrawal_bill/
-|date = [[2007-04-26]]
-|publisher = [[Associated Press]]
-|accessdate = 2007-04-26
-}}.</ref><ref>{{cite news
-|last =
-|first =
-|title = US Democrats push for 2008 Iraq exit
-|url = http://news.brisbanetimes.com.au/us-democrats-push-for-2008-iraq-exit/20075426-9l4.html
-|date = [[2007-04-26]]
-|publisher = [[Reuters]]
-|accessdate = 2007-04-26
-}}</ref> After a veto from the president, and a failed attempt in Congress to override the veto,<ref>{{cite news
-|last =
-|first =
-|title = Democrats fail to override Bush on war funding
-|url = http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/05/02/africa/prexy.php
-|date = [[2007-05-02]]
-|publisher = [[International Herald Tribune]]
-|accessdate = 2007-05-02
-}}</ref> the [[U.S. Troop Readiness, Veterans' Care, Katrina Recovery, and Iraq Accountability Appropriations Act, 2007]] was passed by Congress and signed by the president after the timetable was dropped.
-==== Unilateralism ====
+Vice President [[Richard Nixon]] invited Dr. [[Martin Luther King, Jr.]] to Washington, D.C., for a meeting on 13 June 1957. This meeting, described by [[Bayard Rustin]] as a “summit conference,” marked national recognition of King's role in the civil rights movement (Rustin, 13 June 1957). Seeking support for a voter registration initiative in the South, King appealed to Nixon to urge Republicans in Congress to pass the 1957 Civil Rights Act and to visit [[the South]] to express support for civil rights. Optimistic about Nixon's commitment to improving race relations in the United States, King told Nixon, “How deeply grateful all people of goodwill are to you for your assiduous labor and dauntless courage in seeking to make the civil rights bill a reality.”
-Democrats usually oppose the doctrine of [[unilateralism]], which dictates that the United States should use military force without any assistance from other nations whenever it believes there is a threat to its security or welfare. They believe the United States should act in the international arena in concert with strong alliances and broad international support. This was a major foreign policy issue of [[John Kerry]]'s 2004 presidential campaign; his platform attributed rifts with international allies to unilateralism.
-In a general sense, the modern Democratic Party is more closely aligned with the [[international relations theory|international relations theories]] of [[liberal international relations theory|liberalism]],  [[neoliberalism in international relations|neoliberalism]], and [[functionalism in international relations|functionalism]] than [[realism (international relations)|realism]] and [[neorealism]], though realism has some influence on the party.
+Republican Attorney General [[Herbert Brownell]] originally proposed the [[Civil Rights Act of 1957]]. The bill passed 285–126 in the House with Republicans providing the majority of votes 167–19 and Democrats 118–107.<ref>HR 6127. CIVIL RIGHTS ACT OF 1957. PASSED. YEA SUPPORTS PRESIDENT'S POSITION. https://www.govtrack.us/congress/votes/85-1957/h42</ref> It then passed 72–18 in the Senate, with Republicans again supplying the majority of votes, 43–0 and Democrats voting 29–18. [[John Kennedy]] voted for the [[jury trial amendment]] which gutted Title IV concerning voting rights, rendering meaningless any efforts to secure injunctions against vote suppression.<ref>August 2, 1957. [https://www.govtrack.us/congress/votes/85-1957/s73 HR. 6127. CIVIL RIGHTS ACT OF 1957. AMENDMENT TO GUARANTEE JURY TRIALS IN ALL CASES OF CRIMINAL CONTEMPT AND PROVIDE UNIFORM METHODS FOR SELECTING FEDERAL COURT JURIES.] ''GovTrack.us''. Retrieved May 24, 2023.</ref> It was the first federal civil rights legislation passed by the United States Congress since the Republicans passed the Civil Rights Act of 1875.
-====  Status of Puerto Rico ====
+====Strength of Parties 1977====
-The Democratic Party have expressed their support for Puerto Ricans to exercise their right to decolonization. The following are the appropriate section from the 2000 and 2004 party platforms:
+How the Two Parties Stood after the 1976 Election:
-'''Democratic Party 2004 Platform'''
+{| class=wikitable
+! Party
+! Republican
+! Democrat
+! Independent
+|-
+! Party ID (Gallup)
+| 22%
+| 47%
+| 31%
+|-
+! House
+| 143
+| 292
+|
+|-
+! Senate
+| 38
+| 62
+|
+|-
+! % House popular vote nationally
+| 42%
+| 56%
+| 2%
+|-
+| align=right | in the East
+| 41%
+| 57%
+| 2%
+|-
+| align=right | in the South
+| 37%
+| 62%
+| 2%
+|-
+| align=right | in the Midwest
+| 47%
+| 52%
+| 1%
+|-
+| align=right | in the West
+| 43%
+| 55%
+| 2%
+|-
+! Governors
+| 12
+| 37
+| 1
+|-
+! rowspan=2 | State Legislators
+| 2,370
+| 5,128
+| 55
+|-
+| 31%
+| 68%
+| 1%
+|-
+! State legislature control
+| 18
+| 80
+| 1 *
+|-
+| align=right | in the East
+| 5
+| 13
+| 0
+|-
+| align=right | in the South
+| 0
+| 32
+| 0
+|-
+| align=right | in the Midwest
+| 5
+| 17
+| 1 *
+|-
+| align=right | in the West
+| 8
+| 18
+| 0
+|-
+! States' one party control<br>of legislature and governorship
+| 1
+| 29
+| 0
+|-
+|}
+<nowiki>*</nowiki>The unicameral Nebraska legislature, in fact controlled by the Republicans, is technically nonpartisan.
-We believe that four million disenfranchised American citizens residing in [[Puerto Rico]] have the
+Source: Everett Carll Ladd Jr. ''Where Have All the Voters Gone? The Fracturing of America's Political Parties'' (1978) p.&nbsp;6
-right to the permanent and fully democratic status of their choice. The White House and Congress
-will clarify the realistic status options for Puerto Rico and enable Puerto Ricans to choose among them.<ref>[http://www.lib.umich.edu/govdocs/pdf/dempla04.pdf 2004 Platform<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>
-'''Democratic Party 2000 Platform'''
+====Moderate Republicans of 1960–80====
+[[Image:Nelson Rockefeller.jpg|thumb|100px|right|Nelson Rockefeller]]
+The term ''Rockefeller Republican'' was used mainly during 1960–80 to designate a faction of the party holding "moderate" views similar to those of the late [[Nelson Rockefeller]], governor of New York from 1959 to 1974 and vice president under President [[Gerald Ford]] in 1974–77. Before Rockefeller, [[Tom Dewey]], governor of New York 1942–54 and GOP presidential nominee in 1944 and 1948 was the leader. Dwight Eisenhower reflected many of their views. An important leader in the 1950s was Connecticut Republican Senator [[Prescott Bush]], father and grandfather of presidents of [[George H. W. Bush]] and [[George W. Bush]]. After Rockefeller left the national stage in 1976, this faction of the party was more often called "moderate Republicans," in contrast to the conservatives who rallied to [[Ronald Reagan]].
-Puerto Rico has been under U.S. sovereignty for over a century and Puerto Ricans have been U.S. citizens since 1917, but the island’s ultimate status still has not been determined and its 3.9 million residents still do not have voting representation in their national government. These disenfranchised citizens – who have contributed greatly to our country in war and peace – are entitled to the permanent and fully democratic status of their choice. Democrats will continue to work in the White House and Congress to clarify the options and enable them to chose and to obtain such a status from among all realistic options.<ref>[http://www.letpuertoricodecide.com/details.php?cid=4 Let Puerto Rico Decide: An Introduction to Puerto Rico's Status Debate<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>
+Historically, Rockefeller Republicans were moderate or liberal on domestic and social policies. They favored New Deal programs, including regulation and welfare. They were very strong supporters of civil rights. They were strongly supported by big business on Wall Street (New York City). In fiscal policy, they favored balanced budgets and relatively high tax levels to keep the budget balanced. They sought long-term economic growth through entrepreneurship, not tax cuts. In state politics, they were strong supporters of state colleges and universities, low tuition, and large research budgets. They favored infrastructure improvements, such as highway projects. In foreign policy, they were internationalists and anti-Communists. They felt the best way to counter Communism was sponsoring economic growth (through foreign aid), maintaining a strong military, and keeping close ties to [[NATO]]. Geographically their base was the Northeast, from Pennsylvania to Maine.
-=== Legal issues ===
+====Suburbia====
-==== Torture ====
+The suburban electorate passed the city electorate in the 1950s, as Eisenhower showed unusual strength there. The history of suburban politics is encapsulated in Nassau County (New York), just east of New York City, where a moderate Republican party machine operated. Despite predictions that the New Deal spelled the demise of the political machine, Nassau provided fertile ground for a party organization that rivaled its big-city Democrat counterparts. The traditionally GOP county underwent a booming expansion during 1945–60, with an influx of new residents, many with previous Democrat Party affiliations. In established villages and new housing developments such as [[Levittown]], under the canny leadership of J. Russel Sprague, the party used patronage and community organizing techniques to build its base among ethnic voters, young people, and new homeowners. The party expanded beyond its white Protestant base, with Italian Americans becoming particularly prominent in party leadership. Sprague was both party leader and county executive. That post was created in 1936 under a new charter engineered by Sprague to update a municipal apparatus unable to meet the infrastructure and development needs of a county that by 1960 had 1.3 million residents. Democrats and reformers had promoted charter revision for decades, and some consolidation of government services did take place. As county "boss," Sprague ruled with an iron hand. Nassau's pluralities for such candidates as Governor Thomas E. Dewey and President Dwight D. Eisenhower and Sprague's fundraising prowess made him a force in national party politics. He advocated a moderate, middle-of-the-road position that recognized expectations created by the New Deal while criticizing what were claimed to be Democrat excesses. After leaving elective office and party leadership, Sprague became a major campaign issue when the Democrats, in a 1961 historic upset, won the county executive post by both lambasting Sprague, tainted by a racetrack-stock scandal, and criticizing the developer-friendly "Spragueland" regime that had governed Nassau for decades. Soon after Sprague died in 1969, the Nassau GOP regained its control of the county government and reestablished virtual one-party rule until the 1990s.<ref>Marjorie Freeman Harrison, "Machine Politics Suburban Style: J. Russel Sprague and the Nassau County (New York) Republican Party at Midcentury."  PhD dissertation Columbia U. 2005. 388 pp.
-Democrats are opposed to use of [[torture]] against individuals apprehended and held prisoner by the [[Military of the United States|U.S. military]], and hold that categorizing such prisoners as [[unlawful combatant]]s does not release the U.S. from its obligations under the [[Geneva Conventions]]. Democrats contend that torture is inhumane, decreases the United States' moral standing in the world, and produces questionable results.
+DAI 2005 66(5): 1925-A. DA3174807</ref>
-==== USA PATRIOT Act ====
+An even longer reign of power characterized GOP machine control of Delaware County, Pennsylvania, a rural and suburban area south of Philadelphia. William McClure controlled the GOP from 1875 until his death in 1907; his son John J. McClure, was in control from 1907 until his death in 1965. McLarnon (1998) has four main findings. First, political machines were not confined to big cities; the demographic and political peculiarities of suburban counties lent themselves to continued domination by political machines long after the heyday of the city machine had passed. Secondly, neither the New Deal, immigration restriction, nor the rise of organized labor destroyed all the old Republican machines. Delaware was one of several similar counties in southeastern Pennsylvania where the GOP continued to hold sway throughout the 20th century. Thirdly, not all blacks switched their electoral loyalties to the Democrat Party in 1936. The black population of Chester, Delaware County's industrial city, generally voted Republican for offices below the presidential level. Finally, the citizens of Delaware County supported and continues to support the Republican machine because the machine delivered and continues to deliver those things that the citizens want most. At the beginning of the century, the machine provided food, work, and police protection to Chester's European and black immigrants. During Prohibition, it supplied the county with liquor. Through the Depression, patronage and close alliances with local industrialists kept a significant portion of machine loyalists employed. In the 1950s and 1960s the machine kept taxes low, initiated a war on organized vice, successfully defeated all threats to home rule, and discouraged blacks from settling in historically white communities. The trash was collected, the snow plowed, the streets repaired. The buses ran on time, the playgrounds and parks were clean, and the schools acceptably average. These were the most important concerns of a majority of county's citizens. While the citizens and their concerns changed over time, two things seem to have remained constant: the McClures', and their successors' ability to read and react to the needs of the electorate; and the fact that rarely, if ever, has a desire for honest, democratic government been high on Delaware County voters' list of priorities.<ref>John Morrison McLarnon, "Ruling Suburbia: A Biography of the McClure Machine of Delaware County, Pennsylvania."  PhD dissertation U. of Delaware 1998. 616 pp.  DAI 1998 58(12): 4780-A. DA9819160</ref>
-All Democrats in the U.S. Senate, except for [[Russ Feingold]] of [[Wisconsin]], voted for the original [[USA PATRIOT Act]] legislation. After voicing concerns over the "invasion of privacy" and other [[civil liberties|civil liberty]] restrictions of the Act, the Democrats split on the renewal in 2006. Most Democratic Senators voted to renew it, while most Democratic Representatives voted against renewal. Renewal was allowed after many of the most invasive clauses in the Act were removed or curbed.
-==== Right to privacy ====
+The first southern states to trend Republican were on the periphery: North Carolina, Virginia, Texas, Tennessee, and Florida. Democrat [[George Wallace]] lost these voters in his 1968 presidential bid. The voters who first migrated to the Republican party were [[suburban]], prosperous New South types. The more Republican the South has become, the less racist.<ref>https://www.nationalreview.com/2015/06/democratic-party-racist-history-mona-charen/</ref>
-The Democratic Party believes that individuals should have a [[right to privacy]]. For example, Democrats have generally opposed the [[NSA warrantless surveillance controversy|NSA warrantless surveillance of U.S. citizens]].
-Some Democratic officeholders have championed [[consumer protection]] laws that limit the sharing of consumer data between corporations. Most Democrats oppose [[Sodomy laws in the United States|sodomy laws]] and believe that government should not regulate consensual noncommercial sexual conduct among adults as a matter of personal privacy.
+====Rise of the right====
+[[Image:BarryGoldwater.jpg|right|thumb|220px|Barry Goldwater]]
+[[Barry Goldwater]] crusaded against the Rockefeller Republicans, beating Rockefeller narrowly in the California primary of 1964. That set the stage for a conservative resurgence, based in the South and West, in opposition to the Northeast.  Brennan (1995) stresses that conservatives in the late 1950s and early 1960s had many internal problems to overcome before they could mount an effective challenge to the hegemony of the distrusted Eastern Establishment, typified by [[Nelson A. Rockefeller]]. The conservative movement had some newspapers and magazines (especially [[William F. Buckley]]'s ''National Review'') and one charismatic national leader, Arizona Senator Barry Goldwater. The movement gained momentum once they had established a unity out of diverse elements on the Right with a common commitment to a militant anti-Communism, and once they had succeeded in mobilizing a grassroots base inside a number of state and local organizations in the Sun Belt on behalf of a draft Goldwater campaign in 1960. Although Nixon was acceptable to the conservatives, they worried that he compromised with Rockefeller in 1960. His defeat in 1960 removed a major obstacle and also gave ammunition to those who wanted "a choice, not an echo" (to echo a Goldwater slogan). After 1960 liberals and moderates in the Republican party failed to appreciate the magnitude of the challenge they faced on the grass-roots level. Taking up [[media bias]], they too equated their conservative opponents in the party with the "lunatic fringe" and did not take them seriously until they found themselves deposed by a grassroots insurgency of the sort unknown in the party since 1912.<ref>Brennan (1995) p, 59</ref> Goldwater's landslide defeat opened the way to a liberal Democrat resurgence, but did little to help the liberal wing of the GOP. The failures of the [[Great Society]], especially a wave of major urban [[riot]]s and a surge in [[violent crime]], led to major gains in 1966, and to Nixon's election in the chaotic 1968 election. The Democrats became deeply divided on the Vietnam war (which did not divide the GOP), and on issues of race, when Alabamian [[George C. Wallace]] set up a third party that carried much of the deep South.
-==== Crime ====
+As Goldwater faded to a lesser role after 1964, a new conservative hero emerged: in the largest and most trendy state film star [[Ronald Reagan]] was elected governor of California in 1966 and reelected in 1970.
-Democrats often focus on methods of crime prevention, believing that preventive measures save taxpayers' money in prison, policing and medical costs, and prevent crime and murder. They emphasize improved community policing and more on-duty police officers in order to help accomplish this goal. The party's platform in 2000 and 2004 cited crackdowns on [[gang]]s and [[Illegal drug trade|drug trafficking]] as preventive methods. The party's platforms have also addressed the issue of domestic violence, calling for strict penalties for offenders and protection for victims.
-==== Gun control ====
+With the rise of conservatism, the national Republican Party became more ideologically homogeneous. This change occurred as conservative politicians and voters joined the party and their liberal counterparts abandoned the GOP. Events in New York State during the 1960s and 1970s facilitated this transformation. Here, ideological conservatives formed a third party for the express purpose of changing a state GOP that both symbolized and contributed to the national GOP's liberal viewpoint. The [[Conservative Party, New York|Conservative Party]] relied on the state's unique election law to crash the New York GOP, either by forcing its way in or by imposing a lethal electoral price.  The GOP-Conservative Party relationship began in 1962 at sword's point but achieved a high degree of harmony in 1980. Initially, New York Republicans, led by Governor [[Nelson Rockefeller]], successfully marginalized the new party. As the conservative movement matured, however, the balance of power began to shift. When Nixon was elected president in 1968, the Conservative Party gained an external ally who proved invaluable. The third party achieved partial acceptance in 1970 with the election of James Buckley to the Senate. For much of the ensuing decade, however, Conservatives struggled with success suffering a series of damaging setbacks. Only in the late 1970s, did the party recover when it embraced a more modest agenda. Finally, the 1980 election settled the overall contours of the relationship between the two parties. Conservatives formed their party to force the state GOP to the right, to drive liberal Republicans from office, and allow ideologically conservative national Republicans to succeed in the state. By 1980, it had achieved these goals changing the nature of politics in the state. This resolution affected politics beyond the state by diminishing the importance of ideological liberals in the national GOP, thus freeing a more ideologically consistent national Republican Party to promote the rise of conservatism.<ref>Timothy J. Sullivan, "Crashing the Party: The New York State Conservative and Republican Parties, 1962-1980."  PhD dissertation U. of Maryland, College Park 2003. 458 pp.  DAI 2004 64(11): 4181-A. DA3112508</ref>
-With a stated goal of reducing crime and homicide, the Democratic Party has introduced various [[Gun politics|gun control]] measures, most notably the [[Gun Control Act of 1968]], the [[Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act|Brady Bill]] of 1993 and Crime Control Act of 1994.  However, many Democrats, especially rural, Southern, and Western Democrats, favor fewer restrictions on firearm possession and warned the party was defeated in the 2000 presidential election in rural areas because of the issue.<ref>{{cite news
-|last=Abramsky
-|first=Sasha
-|title=Democrat Killer?
- |publisher=[[The Nation]]
- |date=[[2005-04-18]]
-  |url=http://www.thenation.com/doc/20050418/abramsky
-  |accessdate=2006-10-10
-}}</ref> In the national platform for 2004, the only statement explicitly favoring gun control was a plan calling for renewal of the 1994 [[Federal assault weapons ban|Assault Weapons Ban]].
-== History ==
+===Sixth Party System===
-{{main|History of the United States Democratic Party}}
+====Realignment: Republican inroads in the Solid South====
-<!-- This is a summary.  For extensive, detailed edits, edit the main history article.  Simple edits without bloat of the summary are welcome. Comment added April 2007. -->
+:''See also: [[The South#Politics]]
+In the century after Reconstruction ended in 1877, the white South identified with the [[Democrat Party]]. The Democrats' lock on power was so strong, the region was called the "Solid South." The Republicans controlled certain parts of the Appalachian and Ozark mountains (where slavery was never strong during the Civil War due to the lack of large plots of fertile soil), but they sometimes did compete for statewide office in the border states. Before 1964, the southern Democrats saw their party as the defender of the southern way of life, which included a respect for states' rights and an appreciation for traditional southern values. They repeatedly warned against the aggressive designs of Northern liberals and Republicans, as well as the civil rights activists they denounced as "outside agitators." Thus there was a serious barrier to becoming a Republican.
+However, since 1964, the Democrat lock on the South has been broken. The long-term cause was that the region was becoming more like the rest of the nation and could not long stand apart in terms of racial segregation. Modernization that brought factories, businesses, and cities, and millions of migrants from the North; far more people graduated from high school and college. Meanwhile, the cotton and tobacco basis of the traditional South faded away, as former farmers moved to town or commuted to factory jobs. While liberal academics allege that the shift of the South to the Republican Party began in the 1960s, the evidence that it really began in the 1920s and the 1950s is undeniable.<ref>Trande, Sean (April 30, 2013). [http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2013/04/30/southern_whites_shift_to_the_gop_predates_the_60s_118172.html Southern Whites' Shift to the GOP Predates the '60s]. ''Real Clear Politics''. Retrieved September 9, 2016.</ref>
+[[File:Partycivilrights.jpeg|right|200px|thumb|]]
+The immediate cause of the political transition involved civil rights. The [[civil rights movement]] caused enormous controversy among southern Democrats with many attacking it as a violation of states' rights. When segregation was outlawed by a Republican appointed Supreme Court Chief Justice and by the [[bi-partisan]] Civil Rights acts of 1964 and 1965, a die-hard element resisted integration, led by Democrat governors [[Orval Faubus]] of Arkansas, [[Lester Maddox]] of Georgia, and, especially [[George Wallace]] of Alabama. These governors appealed to a less-educated, blue-collar electorate that on economic grounds was dependent on the Democrat Party, but opposed segregation. After the passage of the Civil Rights Act, most Southerners accepted the integration of most institutions, except public schools. With the old barrier to becoming a Republican removed, traditional Southerners joined the new middle class and the Northern transplants in moving toward the Republican party. Integration thus liberated Southern politics, just as [[Martin Luther King]] had promised. Meanwhile, the newly enfranchized black voters were bought off with Johnson's [[War on Poverty]] and supported Democrat candidates at the 85-90% level.
+The South's transition to a Republican stronghold took decades. First the states started voting Republican in presidential elections—the Democrats countered that with a Southern Strategy that could carry some states in the region, such as [[Jimmy Carter]] in 1976 and 1980, and [[Bill Clinton]] in 1992 and 1996; the strategy did not work with [[Al Gore]] in 2000, or [[John Edwards]] in 2004. Barack Obama held Florida, North Carolina and Virginia and a sweep of House and Senate seats.
+Since the 1970s some states elected Republican senators. Republicans made some inroads into legislatures and governorships and gerrymandering protected the African American and Hispanic vote (as required by the Civil Rights laws), but split up the remaining white Democrats so that Republicans mostly would win. In 2006 the Supreme Court endorsed nearly all of the redistricting engineered by [[Tom DeLay]] that swung the Texas Congressional delegation to the GOP in 2004.
+In addition to its white middle-class base, Republicans attracted strong majorities from the evangelical Christian vote, which had been nonpolitical before 1980. The national Democrat Party's support for liberal social stances such as [[abortion]] drove many former Democrats into a Republican party that was embracing the conservative views on these issues. Conversely, liberal Republicans in the northeast began to join the Democrat Party. In 1969 in ''The Emerging Republican Majority'', Kevin Phillips, argued that support from Southern whites and growth in the [[Sun Belt]], among other factors, was driving an enduring Republican electoral realignment. Today, the South is again solid, but the reliable support is for Republican presidential candidates. Exit polls in 2004 showed that Bush led Kerry by 70-30% among whites, who comprised 71% of the Southern voters. Kerry had a 90-9% lead among the 18% of the voters who were black. One-third of the Southerners said they were white evangelicals; they voted for Bush by 80-20%.<ref>See [https://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2004/pages/results/states/US/P/00/epolls.3.html exit polls]</ref>
+Despite the shift towards the Republican Party on the presidential level, the South remained solidly Democratic on the state level through the 1980s, 1990s, and even into the 2000s in several states.<ref>Trande, Sean (September 9, 2010). [http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2010/09/09/misunderstanding_the_southern_realignment_107084.html Misunderstanding the Southern Realignment]. ''Real Clear Politics''. Retrieved September 9, 2016.</ref> The Republican Party only became dominant in the state-level in the 2010 elections, when it captured several state legislatures, among many other victories.<ref name="Hamby">Hamby, Peter (December 9, 2014). [https://www.cnn.com/2014/12/03/politics/southern-democrats/ The plight of the Southern Democrat]. ''CNN''. Retrieved September 9, 2016.</ref> After the 2014 elections, the GOP controlled every state legislature in the South with the sole exception of the Kentucky State House, in which the Democrats maintained a slim majority.<ref name="Hamby"/> Additionally by 2015, the GOP was dominant in every level of government across the South.<ref name="Hamby"/><ref>Cohn, Nate (December 4, 2014). [https://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/05/upshot/demise-of-the-southern-democrat-is-now-nearly-compete.html?_r=0 Demise of the Southern Democrat Is Now Nearly Complete]. ''The New York Times''. Retrieved September 9, 2016.</ref> In 2016, the GOP took the Kentucky State House in a landslide, making every legislature in the South GOP-controlled.<ref>Loftus, Tom (November 9, 2016). [http://www.courier-journal.com/story/news/politics/elections/kentucky/2016/11/08/control-kentucky-house-up-grabs/93344114/ GOP takes Ky House in historic shift]. ''Courier-Journal''. Retrieved November 9, 2016.</ref><ref>Brammer, Jack & Blackford, Linda (November 8, 2016). [https://www.kentucky.com/news/politics-government/article113464563.html Republicans take the Kentucky House after 95 years of Democratic control]. ''Lexington Herald-Leader''. Retrieved November 9, 2016.</ref>
+====Reagan Era====
+:''Main article: [[Reagan Era]]''
+[[File:Reagan-at-durenberger-rally.jpg|thumbnail|right|300px|[[Ronald Reagan]] ]]
+In 1980, [[Ronald Reagan]] won the Republican nomination and easily beat Carter and a breakaway Republican with his strong communication skills and message of economic freedom and strength against the [[Soviet Union]]. Reagan produced a major realignment with his 1980 and 1984 landslides. In 1980 the Reagan coalition was possible because of Democrat losses in most social-economic groups. In 1984 Reagan won nearly 60% of the popular vote and carried every state except his Democrat opponent Walter Mondale's home state of [[Minnesota]] and the District of Columbia, creating a record 525 electoral vote total (of 538 possible). Even in Minnesota, Mondale won by a mere 3,761 votes,<ref>http://uselectionatlas.org/RESULTS/state.php?year=1984&fips=27&f=1&off=0&elect=0</ref> meaning Reagan came within fewer than 3,800 votes of winning in all fifty states.
+[[Image:Reagan and Buckley.jpg|left|thumb|220px|Reagan opened his presidency proclaiming "Government is the problem".]]
+Running on a "Peace Through Strength" platform to combat the Communist threat and massive tax cuts to revitalize the economy, Reagan's strong but genial persona proved too much for the ineffective and sour Carter in 1980. Reagan's election also gave Republicans control of the Senate for the first time in decades. Dubbed the "Reagan Revolution" he fundamentally altered several long standing debates in Washington, namely dealing with the Soviet threat and reviving the economy. His election saw the conservative wing of the party gain control. While reviled by liberal opponents in his day, his proponents contend his programs provided unprecedented economic growth, and spurred the collapse of the former Soviet Union. Currently regarded as one of the most popular and successful presidents in the modern era (1960–present), he inspired Conservatives to greater electoral victories by being re-elected in a landslide against Walter Mondale in 1984 but oversaw the loss of the Senate in 1986.
+The so-called "Reagan Democrats" were Democrats before the Reagan years, and afterward, but who voted for Ronald Reagan in 1980 and 1984 (and for George H.W. Bush in 1988), producing their landslide victories. They were primarily Southern Democrats and ethnic Catholics in the Northeast and were frustrated by their seeing abandonment on cultural issues by the Democrat Party's national leaders.
+Reagan's Vice-President, [[George H.W. Bush]], a [[World War II]] war hero, was elected in 1988 but was defeated in 1992 as domestic issues took prominence after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 and end of the [[Cold War]].  Democrat challenger [[Bill Clinton]] strategically repositioned the Democrats to the right. [[Ross Perot]]'s candidacy was instrumental in Clinton's victory as he took Republican votes with his criticism of deficits and the free trade movement.  Perot won 19% of the popular vote, and Clinton, still a largely unknown quantity in American politics with 41% of! the popular vote took office. Despite his loss, Bush left office in 1993 with a 56 percent job approval rating.
+====The Gingrich revolution====
+:''Main articles: [[Republican Revolution (1994)]] and [[Contract with America]]''
+House Republican Minority Whip [[Newt Gingrich]]-led the [[Republican Revolution (1994)|"Republican Revolution" of 1994]] and its famous ''[[Contract with America]]''. It was the first time since the 1952 elections that the Republicans secured control of both houses of Congress, which, with the brief exception of the Senate during 2001-2002, lasted until the 2006 mid-term elections.  Democrats had controlled both houses of Congress for the forty years preceding 1994, with the exception of the 1981-1987 Congresses (in which Republicans controlled the Senate).
+In the 1994 mid-term election, Republican congressional candidates ran on a platform of promising floor votes to force members of Congress to go on record on a series of popular reforms—something the Democrats had stifled for decades. These measures and others formed the Contract with America, which represented the first effort to have a party platform in a mid-term election. Seven of the ten Contract items actually became Law.  The budget reforms, coupled with reduced defense spending after the Cold War, and the earlier Reagan Tax Cuts for Business Research and Development in the 1980s, led to a high tech consumer boom, rising incomes for all groups, and unprecedented, sustained economic growth in the late 1990s. Democratic President Bill Clinton opposed some of the social agenda initiatives but he co-opted the proposals for welfare reform and a balanced federal budget. The result was a major change in the welfare system, which conservatives hailed and liberals bemoaned. One Contract item, which required Democrats in a two-thirds majority to pass a Constitutional amendment to impose term limits on members of Congress, failed.
+In 1995, a budget battle with [[President Clinton]] led to the brief shutdown of the federal government, an event which contributed to Clinton's victory in the 1996 election. That year the Republicans nominated [[Bob Dole]], who was unable to transfer his success in Senate leadership to a viable presidential campaign. [[Ross Perot]] ran again (this time on [[Reform Party]] ticket), once again draining away a large percentage of Dole's support and ensuring Clinton another term after the majority of Americans voters voted against him.
+====War on Terror====
+:Main article: [[War on Terror]]''
+[[File:George w bush.jpeg|thumbnail|200px|left|[[George W. Bush]] ]]
+With the election of [[George W. Bush]] (son of former president George H. W. Bush) in an extremely close 2000 election, the Republican party controlled both the presidency and both houses of Congress for the first time since 1952. However, after [[Vermont]] Senator Jim Jeffords left the Republican Party to become an independent aligned with the Democrats in June 2001, Republicans lost control of the Senate by a single seat.
+In the wake of the September 11, 2001, Islamic terrorist attacks on the United States, however, Bush pursued a "War on Terrorism" that included the liberation of Afghanistan from the radical Islamic Taliban regime and the [[Patriot act|USA PATRIOT act]]. By early 2002, the Taliban was removed from power in Afghanistan. On March 20, 2003, U.S. and allied nations initiated "Operation Iraqi Freedom" to liberate the Iraqi people from the brutal regime of [[Saddam Hussein]]. By May 1, 2003, the regime of Saddam was declared officially over. Once US and allied military forces entered Iraq, they discovered that various international terrorists had been given sanctuary and ran their terrorist operations from Iraq. Notable terrorists found included Muhammad Zaidan aka Abu Abbas and Sabri Khalil al-Banna aka Abu Nidal.
+The Republican Party fared well in the 2002 midterm elections, solidifying its hold on the House and regaining control of the Senate, in the run-up to the liberation of Iraq. This marked just the third time since the Civil War that the party in control of the White House gained seats in both houses of Congress in a midterm election (others were 1902 and 1934).
+Bush was renominated without opposition for the [[United States presidential election, 2004]] and titled his political platform "A Safer World and a More Hopeful America". It expressed Bush's commitment to winning the War on Terror, ushering in an Ownership Era, and building an innovative economy to compete in the world.
+On November 2, 2004, Bush was re-elected, while Republicans gained seats in both houses of Congress, leaving Democrats in disarray. Bush carried 31 of 50 states for 286 Electoral College votes. In that election, he also received more popular votes than any previous presidential candidate, 62.0 million votes. Democrat challenger, Senator [[John Kerry]], won 251 Electoral votes and 48% of the popular vote to Bush's 51%. It was the first time anyone won a popular majority since 1988. 2004 marked the seventh consecutive election in which the Democrat nominee failed to reach that threshold.
+====The wilderness years 2009–2010====
+After smashing defeats in 2006 and 2008, the GOP lost control of Congress, the White House, and many states. They confronted the president, who still retained some popularity, but were able to chip away at support for his domestic policies, as the [[recession of 2008]] dragged on.  In June 2009, public opinion was favorable toward Obama personally but increasingly dubious about his plans to overhaul health care, rescue the auto industry and close the prison at Guantánamo Bay. But with a positive job approval rating of 51%, Obama has the backing of most Democrats, even as Republicans turn negative, with only 23% supporting him.  Support for Obama's foreign policies and terrorism policies remains high at 57-59%.  Meanwhile, the GOP weaknesses were glaring: the June poll found that the Republican Party is viewed favorably by only 28% of Americans, the lowest rating ever in a New York Times/CBS News poll. In contrast, 57% said that they had a favorable view of the Democrat Party.<ref>Jeff Zeleny and Dalia Sussman, "Obama Poll Sees Doubt on Budget and Health Care [https://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/18/us/politics/18poll.html?th&emc=th ''New York Times'' June 17, 2009]</ref> However, it should be noted that this poll was conducted by the [[mainstream media]] and thus is a clear example of [[liberal bias]].
+====Rise of the Tea Party movement====
+[[Image:TeaPartyByFreedomFan.JPG|thumb|200px|right|Tea Party movement March on DC, 2009.]]
+:{{main|Tea Party Movement}}
+The Tea Party movement, which began around 2009 and supports small government, fiscal conservatism, American independence, and border security, made huge gains in the 2010 election, defeating establishment Republicans and RINOs. They continued to make gains in later elections, including the 2014 elections in [[Texas]] and the 2015 [[Kentucky]] elections, and some commentators, including liberals<ref>{{cite web | last1=Chait | first1=Jonathan | title=Donald Trump Hasn’t Killed the Tea Party. He Is the Tea Party | url=http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2016/05/donald-trump-is-the-tea-party.html | date=May 19, 2016 | publisher=''New York'' | accessdate=December 7, 2016}}</ref> and conservatives,<ref>{{cite web | last1=Martin | first1=Jenny Beth | title=How the Tea Party Helped Trump Win the Election | url=https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2016/11/12/how-tea-party-helped-trump-win-election.html | date=November 12, 2016 | publisher=[[Fox News]] | accessdate=December 7, 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | last1=Martin | first1=Jenny Beth | title=The Tea Party Movement Is Alive and Well—And We Saw Trump Coming | url=https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2016/11/the-tea-party-movement-is-alive-and-well-and-we-saw-trump-coming-214469 | date=November 19, 2016 | publisher=[[Politico|Politico Magazine]] | accessdate=December 7, 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | last1=Hayward | first1=John | title=Sarah Palin: Trump Movement Began with the GOP Establishment’s ‘Shocking Betrayals’ of Tea Party Voters | url=https://www.breitbart.com/radio/2016/11/25/sarah-palin-trump-movement-began-with-the-gop-establishments-shocking-betrayals-of-tea-party-voters/ | date=November 25, 2016 | publisher=[[Breitbart News]] | accessdate=December 7, 2016}}</ref> even believe it was responsible for Donald Trump's 2016 victory.
+Despite little action on the federal level, GOP-controlled governments at the state level did deliver to voters, such as through tax reductions.<ref>Persons, Sally (May 31, 2017). [https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2017/may/31/republican-governors-elected-in-2010-delivering-to/ Republican governors elected in 2010 delivering to their states what Congress hasn’t]. ''The Washington Times''. Retrieved May 31, 2017.</ref>
+====Trump Era====
+:''For further information, see [[2016 U.S. presidential election#General election results]]''
+Republican businessman [[Donald Trump]] won the [[United States presidential election, 2016|2016 presidential election]] in a major and historic upset that took the [[establishment]], pollsters and analysts completely by surprise, even winning states such as [[Wisconsin]], [[Michigan]], and [[Pennsylvania]], which Republicans had not won for years.<ref>[https://www.foxnews.com/politics/2016/11/08/first-polls-close-in-2016-race-trump-projected-to-win-ind-ky-clinton-wins-vt.html Trump wins presidency, defeats Clinton in historic election upset]. ''Fox News''. November 8, 2016. Retrieved November 9, 2016.</ref><ref>Blake, Aaron (November 9, 2016). [https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2016/11/08/donald-trumps-path-to-victory-is-suddenly-looking-much-much-wider/ Donald Trump just blew up the electoral map]. ''The Washington Post''. Retrieved November 9, 2016.</ref> The Republican Party kept control of the House and Senate, outperforming expectations.<ref>Bresnahan, John (November 9, 2016). [https://www.politico.eu/article/republicans-on-cusp-of-keeping-the-senate/ Republicans hold the Senate in a stunner]. ''Politico''. Retrieved November 9, 2016.</ref><ref>Hughes, Siobhan (November 9, 2016). [https://www.wsj.com/articles/republicans-are-confident-about-retaining-control-of-the-house-1478634160 Democrats Gain Seats in House, But GOP Retains Majority]. ''The Wall Street Journal''. Retrieved November 9, 2016.</ref>
+[[File:Donald Trump (29273256122) Phoenix.jpg|225px|thumb|right|The public's fascination with [[Donald Trump]] dominated the first half of 2016 more than any candidate of either party. Trump spent virtually nothing on media advertising.]]
+In addition, the Republican Party performed well—much better than expected—in state races, winning trifectas in [[Kentucky]], [[Iowa]], [[Missouri]], and [[New Hampshire]], and Democrats only had six trifectas and total control in five states, a record low.<ref>Greenblatt, Alan (November 9, 2016). [http://www.governing.com/topics/elections/gov-republicans-add-dominance-state-legislatures.html Republicans Add to Their Dominance of State Legislatures]. ''Governing''. Retrieved November 9, 2016.</ref><ref>Siegel, Josh (November 9, 2016). [http://dailysignal.com/2016/11/09/republicans-maintain-strong-control-of-state-capitols-what-that-means/ Republicans Maintain Strong Control of State Capitols. Here’s What That Means.] ''The Daily Signal''. Retrieved November 9, 2016.</ref> The GOP won 25 trifectas, the largest since 1952.<ref name="ReshapeLaws">Lieb, David A. (December 29, 2016). [https://www.pressreader.com/usa/chicago-tribune/20161229/281822873464433 GOP-Controlled States Aim to Reshape Laws]. ''Chicago Tribune'' (from the Associated Press). Retrieved December 30, 2016.</ref> After the election, the GOP controlled the highest amount of governorships since 1922,<ref>Lieb, David A. (November 9, 2016). [https://www.usnews.com/news/us/articles/2016-11-09/republicans-expand-control-of-governorships-legislatures Republicans governorships rise to highest mark since 1922]. ''U.S. News & World Report''. Retrieved November 9, 2016.</ref> and it controlled the most state legislative chambers in history.<ref>Bosman, Julie & Davey, Monica (November 11, 2016). [https://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/12/us/republicans-expand-control-in-a-deeply-divided-nation.html Republicans Expand Control in a Deeply Divided Nation]. ''The New York Times''. Retrieved November 14, 2016.</ref> After [[West Virginia]] Governor [[Jim Justice]] left the Democratic Party and joined the GOP, the GOP had 34 Republican governors, the most since 1922.<ref>Leahy, Michael Patrick (August 7, 2017). [https://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2017/08/07/34-states-have-republican-governors-most-since-1922/ 34 States Have Republican Governors, Most Since 1922]. ''Breitbart News''. Retrieved August 7, 2017.</ref>
+While the GOP increased its vote share across the entire nation, Trump made the largest gains in the rural [[Midwest]] and [[Rust Belt]], traditionally a Democrat blue collar stronghold.<ref>[https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/11/08/us/elections/how-trump-pushed-the-election-map-to-the-right.html How Trump Reshaped the Election Map]. ''The New York Times''. November 9, 2016. Retrieved November 12, 2016.</ref>
+Because of the large gains, the GOP had a massive opportunity to pass [[Conservative|common sense conservative]] legislation and repeal leftist social and economic quagmires.<ref name="ReshapeLaws"/> At the beginning of 2017, Congressional Republicans were also more united during Trump's presidency than in any other time in recent U.S. political history.<ref>Stucky, Phillip (April 2, 2017). [https://dailycaller.com/2017/04/02/trump-smashes-records-with-party-unity/ Trump Smashes Records With Party Unity]. ''The Daily Caller''. Retrieved April 2, 2017.</ref> However, despite these opportunities, the 115th U.S. Congress saw many missed opportunities to advance conservative policies and priorities.<ref>Sherfinski, David; Dinan, Stephen (January 3, 2019). [https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2019/jan/3/republicans-relinquish-congress-whimper-more-misse/ Republicans relinquish Congress with whimper: 'More missed opportunities than anything']. ''The Washington Times''. Retrieved January 13, 2019.<br>See also:
+*Wolverton, Joe (January 13, 2019). [https://www.thenewamerican.com/economy/commentary/item/31175-gop-controlled-house-adds-nearly-8-trillion-to-national-debt GOP-controlled House Added Nearly $8 Trillion to National Debt]. ''The New American''. Retrieved January 13, 2019.</ref>
+In May 2017, the RNC raised a record $10.8 million,<ref>Kew, Ben (June 21, 2017). [https://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2017/06/21/rnc-raises-more-dems/ Dems Fundraising Lowest Since May 2003; RNC Raises Record $10.8 Million]. ''Breitbart News''. Retrieved June 21, 2017.</ref> while the DNC raised $4.29 million, the lowest raised in the month since 2003.<ref>Persons, Sally (June 21, 2017). [https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2017/jun/21/dnc-hits-another-fundraising-low/ DNC hits another fundraising low]. ''The Washington Times''. Retrieved June 21, 2017.</ref><ref>Bowden, John (June 21, 2017). [https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/338864-democrats-only-raised-43-million-in-may-worst-fundraising-since-2003 Democrats raised just $4.3M in May]. ''The Hill''. Retrieved June 22, 2017.</ref> The RNC broke another record in June 2017, raising $13.4 million,<ref>Kew, Ben (July 20, 2017). [https://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2017/07/20/rnc-breaks-another-fundraising-record-raises-record-13-4-million-in-june/ RNC Breaks Another Fundraising Record, Raises Record $13.4 Million in June]. ''Breitbart News''. Retrieved July 20, 2017.</ref><ref>Siegel, Josh (July 20, 2017). [https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/rnc-announces-it-raised-135-million-in-june-a-record-for-a-month-in-a-non-presidential-year/article/2629300 RNC announces it raised $13.5 million in June, a record for a month in a non-presidential year]. ''Washington Examiner''. Retrieved July 20, 2017.</ref> as well as July.<ref>Kew, Ben (August 21, 2017). [https://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2017/08/21/rnc-breaks-another-fundraising-record-as-democrats-struggle/ RNC Breaks Another Fundraising Record as Democrats Struggle]. ''Breitbart News''. Retrieved August 22, 2017.</ref> In 2017 overall, the RNC raised over $130 million, a large amount for an off-election year,<ref>Multiple references:
+*Persons, Sally (December 27, 2017). [https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2017/dec/27/rnc-set-raise-over-100-million-2017-after-leadersh/ RNC set to raise $130M in 2017 after leadership makes fundraising a top priority]. ''The Washington Times''. Retrieved December 27, 2017.
+*Moran, Sean (December 28, 2017). [https://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2017/12/28/rnc-set-raise-record-130-million-2017/ RNC Set to Raise Record $130 Million in 2017]. ''Breitbart News''. Retrieved December 28, 2017.
+*Samuels, Brett (January 31, 2018). [https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/371650-rnc-announces-record-off-year-fundraising-haul-in-2017 RNC announces record off-year fundraising haul for 2017]. ''The Hill''. Retrieved January 31, 2018.
+*Moran, Sean (February 1, 2018). [https://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2018/02/01/rnc-raises-record-off-year-132-5-million-2017/ RNC Raises Record Off-Year $132.5 Million in 2017]. ''Breitbart News''. Retrieved February 1, 2018.</ref> and the National Republican Congressional Committee also raised a record $85 million in 2017.<ref>Moran, Sean (January 15, 2018). [https://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2018/01/15/nrcc-raised-record-85-million-ahead-contentious-2018-midterm-elections/ NRCC Raised a Record $85 Million Ahead of Contentious 2018 Midterm Elections]. ''Breitbart News''. Retrieved January 15, 2018.</ref> The Republican Party and the Trump campaign continued raising large sums of money.<ref>Singman, Brooke; Dorman, Sam (January 3, 2020). [https://www.foxnews.com/politics/trump-campaign-gop-raised-nearly-a-half-billion-dollars-in-2019 Trump campaign, GOP raised nearly a half-billion dollars in 2019]. ''Fox News''. Retrieved January 3, 2020.</ref>
+A September 2018 Gallup poll found that the GOP's favorability rating reached the highest level since 2011.<ref>Multiple references:
+*Norman, Jim (September 24, 2018). [https://news.gallup.com/poll/242906/republican-party-favorability-highest-seven-years.aspx Republican Party Favorability Highest in Seven Years]. ''Gallup''. Retrieved September 24, 2018.
+*Boyle, Matthew (September 24, 2018). [https://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2018/09/24/gallup-with-donald-trump-at-helm-gop-rises-to-highest-approval-rating-in-nearly-a-decade/ Gallup: With Donald Trump at Helm, GOP Rises to Highest Approval Rating in Nearly a Decade]. ''Breitbart News''. Retrieved September 24, 2018.
+*Adelmann, Bob (September 25, 2018). [https://www.thenewamerican.com/usnews/politics/item/30167-gop-s-favorability-rating-highest-in-seven-years GOP’s Favorability Rating Highest in Seven Years]. ''The New American''. Retrieved September 25, 2018.
+*Keller, Megan (September 24, 2018). [https://thehill.com/homenews/house/408123-republican-partys-favorability-rating-comparable-with-democrats-gallup GOP's favorability hits highest mark in seven years: Gallup]. ''The Hill''. Retrieved September 24, 2018.
+*Lim, Naomi (September 24, 2018). [https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/gops-favorability-rating-hits-highest-point-since-2011 GOP's favorability rating hits highest point since 2011]. ''Washington Examiner''. Retrieved September 24, 2018.
+*Fordham, Evie (September 24, 2018). [https://dailycaller.com/2018/09/24/republican-party-favorability-gallup/ Poll: Republican Party Enjoys Highest Favorability Rating in Seven Years]. ''The Daily Caller''. Retrieved September 24, 2018.</ref>
+In [[Kentucky]], voters overwhelmingly rejected the Democrats' racist agenda, electing the state's first black [[Attorney General]] and first Republican in 70 years, [[Daniel Cameron]]. Four years earlier, Kentucky voters elected conservative Republican Jenean Hampton as the state's first black statewide elected official, and the Republican governor they elected, [[Matt Bevin]], had adopted four children from Ethiopia.
-The Democratic Party evolved from [[Anti-Administration Party (United States)|Anti-Federalist]] factions that opposed the [[Hamiltonian economic program|fiscal policies]] of [[Alexander Hamilton]] in the early 1790s. [[Thomas Jefferson]] and [[James Madison]] organized these factions into the [[Democratic-Republican Party (United States)|Democratic-Republican Party]]. The party favored states' rights and strict adherence to the Constitution; it opposed a national bank and wealthy, moneyed interests. The Democratic-Republican Party ascended to power in the [[United States presidential election, 1800|election of 1800]]. After the [[War of 1812]], the party's chief rival, the [[Federalist Party (United States)|Federalist Party]] disbanded. Democratic-Republicans split over the choice of a successor to President [[James Monroe]], and the party faction that supported many of the old Jeffersonian principles, led by [[Andrew Jackson]] and [[Martin Van Buren]], became the Democratic Party.  Along with the [[Whig Party (United States)|Whig Party]], the Democratic Party was the chief party in the United States until the Civil War. The Whigs were a commercial party, and usually less popular, if better financed.  The Whigs divided over the slavery issue after the [[Mexican-American War]] and faded away. In the 1850s, under the stress of the [[Fugitive Slave Law]] and the [[Kansas-Nebraska Act]], anti-slavery Democrats left the party. Joining with former members of existing or dwindling parties, the [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican Party]] emerged.
+===Latinos===
+Democrats lost ground with Latino voters in 2020. Republicans are slowly winning over Latino voters.<ref>[https://www.vox.com/the-highlight/23327900/latino-hispanic-voters-republican-2020 Democrats lost ground with Latino voters in 2020. Will the midterms be worse?], ''Vox'', Sep 20, 2022.</ref>
-The Democrats split over the choice of a successor to President [[James Buchanan]] along Northern and Southern lines, while the Republican Party gained an ascendancy in the [[United States presidential election, 1860|election of 1860]]. As the [[American Civil War]] broke out, Northern Democrats were divided into [[War Democrats]] and [[Peace Democrats]]. Most War Democrats rallied to Republican President [[Abraham Lincoln]] and the Republicans' [[National Union Party (United States)|National Union Party]]. The Democrats benefited from white Southerners' resentment of [[Reconstruction]] after the war and consequent hostility to the Republican Party. After [[Redeemers]] ended Reconstruction in the 1870s, and the extremely violent disenfranchisement of African Americans took place in the 1890s, the South, voting Democratic, became known as the "[[Solid South]]." Though Republicans continued to control the White House until 1884, the Democrats remained competitive. The party was dominated by pro-business [[Bourbon Democrats]] led by [[Samuel J. Tilden]] and [[Grover Cleveland]], who represented mercantile, banking and railroad interests, opposed imperialism and overseas expansion, fought for the gold standard, opposed bimetallism, and crusaded against corruption, high taxes, and tariffs. Cleveland was elected to non-consecutive presidential terms in 1884 and 1892.
+== Contemporary Party ==
+The contemporary Republican Party represents a wide array of interests such as the conservative evangelicals, economic libertarians, and anti-globalists. The party has had some internal conflict over attitudes about how governments should run and how large they should be, what the party stands for, and what the party's attitude towards [[neo-conservatism]] should be especially in regard to foreign policy. The party is also divided over immigration issues with some members (such as George W. Bush) favoring workers visas and permits and some other members favoring strict control of immigration and strong action against illegal immigration.  Unlike the Democrat Party, the Republican Party routinely allows dissenting factions such as the [[Log Cabin Republicans]] to speak at National Conventions.
-Agrarian Democrats demanding [[free silver]] overthrew the Bourbon Democrats in 1896 and nominated [[William Jennings Bryan]] for the presidency (a nomination repeated by Democrats in 1900 and 1908). Bryan waged a vigorous campaign attacking Eastern moneyed interests, but he lost to Republican [[William McKinley]]. The Democrats took control of the House in 1910 and elected [[Woodrow Wilson]] as president in 1912 and 1916. Wilson led Congress to, in effect, put to rest the issues of tariffs, money, and antitrust that had dominated politics for 40 years with new progressive laws. The [[Great Depression]] in 1929 that occurred under Republican President [[Herbert Hoover]] and the Republican Congress set the stage for a more liberal government; the Democrats controlled the House of Representatives nearly uninterrupted from 1931 until 1995 and won most presidential elections until 1968. [[Franklin Delano Roosevelt]], elected to presidency in 1932, came forth with government programs called the [[New Deal]]. New Deal liberalism meant the promotion of social welfare, labor unions, civil rights, and regulation of business. The opponents, who stressed long-term growth, support for business, and low taxes, started calling themselves "conservatives."
+In the past, the Republican voter coalitions have generally comprised businessmen, military veterans and evangelical Protestants. Some groups have realigned: blacks went from the GOP to the Democrats beginning in the 1930s, while some white Southerners became Republicans in the 1980s. Catholics switched from 80% Democratic in 1960 to 50-50 in recent years, primarily due to the embrace of [[abortion]] by the Democrats (though the Hispanic community still votes predominantly Democrat due to its support for illegal immigration and sanctuary cities).  Extremely wealthy businessmen (such as [[Bill Gates]] and [[Warren Buffett]]) have switched to the Democrat party, though small businessmen generally remain in the Republican party.  In recent years youth (influenced by [[Hollywood values]]) and better educated professionals (influenced by [[professor values]]) have moved to the Democrats, while blue collar workers have become more Republican, due mainly to Democrats support for globalist ideals at the expense of manufacturing job losses.
-Issues facing parties and the United States after the [[Second World War]] included the [[Cold War]] and the [[Civil Rights Movement]]. Republicans attracted conservatives and white Southerners from the Democratic coalition with their resistance to New Deal and [[Great Society]] liberalism and the Republicans' use of the [[Southern Strategy]]. African Americans, who traditionally supported the Republican Party, began supporting Democrats following the ascent of the Franklin Roosevelt administration, the New Deal, and the Civil Rights movement. The Democratic Party's main base of support shifted to the [[Northeastern United States|Northeast]], marking a dramatic reversal of history. [[Bill Clinton]] was elected to the presidency in 1992 and 1996 and governed as a [[New Democrat]] while the Democratic Party lost control of Congress in the [[Republican Revolution|election of 1994]] to the Republican Party; the Democratic Party regained majority control of Congress in the [[United States general elections, 2006|2006 elections]]. Some of the party's key issues in the early 21st century in their last national platform have included the methods of how to combat terrorism, homeland security, expanding access to healthcare, labor rights, environmentalism, and the preservation of liberal government programs.
+==Republican Presidents==
+# [[Abraham Lincoln]] (1861–1865)
+# [[Ulysses S. Grant]] (1869–1877)
+# [[Rutherford B. Hayes]] (1877–1881)
+# [[James Garfield]] (1881)
+# [[Chester A. Arthur]] (1881–1885)
+# [[Benjamin Harrison]] (1889–1893)
+# [[William McKinley]] (1897–1901)
+# [[Theodore Roosevelt]] (1901–1909)
+# [[William Howard Taft]] (1909–1913)
+# [[Warren G. Harding]] (1921–1923)
+# [[Calvin Coolidge]] (1923–1929)
+# [[Herbert Hoover]] (1929–1933)
+# [[Dwight Eisenhower]] (1953–1961)
+# [[Richard Nixon]] (1969–1974)
+# [[Gerald Ford]] (1974–1977)
+# [[Ronald Reagan]] (1981–1989)
+# [[George H. W. Bush]] (1989–1993)
+# [[George W. Bush]] (2001–2009)
+# [[Donald Trump]] (2017–2021)
-== Name and symbols ==
+==Notable Republicans (Non-presidential)==
-{{Refimprove|date=February 2008}}
+An incomplete list of notable Republican leaders and politicians who were not elected president:
-[[Image:Democraticjackass.jpg|thumb|180px|"A Live Jackass Kicking a Dead Lion" by Thomas Nast. ''[[Harper's Magazine|Harper's Weekly]]'', [[January 19]] [[1870]].]]
-Initially calling itself the "Republican Party," Jeffersonians were labeled "Democratic" by the opposition [[Federalist Party (United States)|Federalists]], with the hope of stigmatizing them as purveyors of democracy or mob rule.<ref>{{cite book
-|author=[[Joyce Appleby|Appleby, Joyce]]
-|title=Thomas Jefferson
-|year=2003
-|page=81
-}}</ref> By the Jacksonian era, the term "The Democracy" was in use by the party; the name "Democratic Party" was eventually settled upon.<ref>{{cite book
-|author=[[Joyce Appleby|Appleby, Joyce]]
-|title=Thomas Jefferson
-|year=2003
-|page=4
-}}</ref> In the 20th and 21st centuries, "[[Democrat Party (phrase)|Democrat Party]]" is a political [[epithet]] that is sometimes used by opponents to refer to the party. The current official name of the party is the "Democratic Party."
-The most common mascot symbol for the party is the [[donkey]]. According to the [[Democratic National Committee]], the party itself never officially adopted this symbol but has made use of it.<ref>[http://www.democrats.org/a/2005/06/history_of_the.php History of the Democratic Donkey]. Retrieved on [[2006-11-15]].</ref> They say [[Andrew Jackson]] had been labeled a jackass by his opponents during the intense mudslinging that occurred during the presidential race of [[United States presidential election, 1828|1828]]. A [[political cartoon]] depicting Jackson riding and directing a donkey (representing the Democratic Party) was published in 1837. A political cartoon by [[Thomas Nast]] in an 1870 edition of ''[[Harper's Magazine|Harper's Weekly]]'' revived the donkey as a symbol for the Democratic Party. Cartoonists followed Nast and used the donkey to represent the Democrats, and the elephant to represent the [[Republican Party (United States)|Republicans]].
+*[[Frederick Douglass]] (1818–1895): Abolitionist and suffragist from [[Maryland]]
+*[[James G. Blaine]] (1830–1893): Senator from [[Maine]], presidential nominee
+*[[Joseph Gurney Cannon]] (1836–1926): [[Speaker of the United States House of Representatives]]
+*[[Charles Curtis]] (1860–1936): United States [[Vice President]], a Native American
+*[[Charles G. Dawes]] (1865–1951): United States Vice President, [[Nobel Peace Prize]] winner
+*[[Tom Dewey]] (1902–1971): Governor of [[New York]]; presidential nominee in 1944 and 1948
+*[[Everett Dirksen]] (1896–1969): Senate minority leader, instrumental in passing the [[Civil Rights Act]]
+*[[John C. Frémont]] (1813–1890): First Republican candidate for president
+*[[Rudy Giuliani]]: Mayor of [[New York City]] (1994–2001)
+*Mark Hanna (1837–1904): Senator from [[Ohio]], manager of 1896 campaign
+*[[Jesse Helms]] (1921–2008): Senator from [[North Carolina]]
+*[[George Frisbie Hoar]] (1826–1904): U.S. representative and senator from [[Massachusetts]]
+*[[Charles Evans Hughes]]: Governor of New York; presidential nominee in 1916, United States Secretary of State, [[Chief Justice of the United States]]
+*[[Perry W. Howard, II]] (1877–1961), Republican National Committee delegate from Mississippi who supported Robert Taft in 1952
+*[[Jackie Robinson]] (1919–1972): first [[African American]] major league baseball player
+*[[William F. Knowland]] (1908–1974), Senator from [[California]], Senate Majority Leader from 1953–1955, Senate Minority Leader from 1955–1959
+*[[Henry Cabot Lodge]] (1850–1924): Senator from [[Massachusetts]], foreign policy spokesman
+*[[Joseph McCarthy]] (1908–1957): Senator from [[Wisconsin]] and noted anti-communist
+*Thomas Brackett Reed (1839–1902): Speaker of the United States House of Representatives
+*[[Nelson Rockefeller]] (1908–1979): Vice President, Governor of New York, considered representative of the liberal wing of the party
+*[[Thaddeus Stevens]] (1792–1868): Senator from [[Pennsylvania]], leader of Radicals in Civil War and Reconstruction
+*[[Charles Sumner]] (1811–1874): Senator from Massachusetts, leader of Radicals in Civil War and Reconstruction
+*[[Henry Stimson]]: Secretary of War for Taft and FDR, Secretary of State for Hoover
+*[[Robert A. Taft]] (1889–1953): Senator from Ohio and presidential hopeful, leader of conservatives
+*[[Arthur H. Vandenberg]] (1884–1951): Senator from Michigan, leader of internationalism in 1940s
+*[[Scott Walker]]: Governor of [[Wisconsin]], presidential candidate in 2016
+*[[Earl Warren]] (1891–1974): Vice presidential nominee, [[Governor of California]], and [[Chief Justice of the United States]]
+*[[Barry Goldwater]] (1909–1998): Senator from [[Arizona]], presidential nominee in 1964
+*[[Antonin Scalia]] (1936–2016): Associate Justice of the Supreme Court (1986–2016)
+*[[Clarence Thomas]]: Associate Justice of the Supreme Court (1991–present)
+*[[John McCain]]: Senator from [[Arizona]], presidential nominee in 2008
+*[[Sarah Palin]]: Governor of [[Alaska]], vice-presidential nominee in 2008
+*[[Arnold Schwarzenegger]]: Governor of [[California]]
+*[[Mitt Romney]]: Governor of [[Massachusetts]], presidential nominee in 2012
+*[[Mike Pence]]: Vice President (2017–2021), Governor of [[Indiana]] (2013–2017)
-In the early 20th century, the traditional symbol of the Democratic Party in [[Midwest|Midwestern states]] such as [[Indiana]], [[Kentucky]], [[Oklahoma]] and [[Ohio]] was the [[rooster]], as opposed to the Republican [[eagle]]. This symbol still appears on Oklahoma, Kentucky, and Indiana [[ballot]]s. For the majority of the 20th century, [[Missouri]] Democrats used the [[Statue of Liberty]] as their ballot [[emblem]]. This meant that when [[United States Libertarian Party|Libertarian]] candidates received [[ballot access]] in Missouri in 1976, they could not use the Statue of Liberty, their national symbol, as the ballot emblem. Missouri Libertarians instead used the [[Liberty Bell]] until 1995, when the [[mule]] became Missouri's state animal. From 1995 to 2004, there was some confusion among voters, as the Democratic ticket was marked with the Statue of Liberty, and it seemed that the Libertarians were using a donkey.
+==See also==
+*[[List of political parties in the United States]]
+*[[RINO]] – '''R'''epublicans '''i'''n '''N'''ame '''O'''nly
+*[[Previous Breaking News/Republicans|Articles about '''Republicans''' from previous "Breaking News"]]
+*[[List of African-American Republicans]]
-Although both major political parties (and many minor ones) use the traditional American red, white, and blue colors in their marketing and representations, since election night [[United States presidential election, 2000|2000]] the color blue has become the identified color of the Democratic Party, while the color red has become the identified color of the Republican Party. That night, for the first time, all major broadcast television networks used the same color scheme for the electoral map: [[blue states]] for [[Al Gore]] (Democratic nominee) and red states for [[George W. Bush]] (Republican nominee). Since then, the color blue has been widely used by the media to represent the party, much to the confusion of non-American observers, as blue is the traditional color of the [[right-wing politics|right]] and red the color of the [[left-wing politics|left]] outside of the United States (c.f. red for the [[Liberal Party of Canada|Liberals]] and blue for the [[Conservative Party of Canada|Conservatives]] in [[Canada]], or red for [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour]] and blue for [[Conservative Party (UK)|Conservative]] in the [[United Kingdom]]). Blue has also been used by party supporters for promotional efforts (e.g BuyBlue, BlueFund) and by the party itself, which in 2006 unveiled the "Red to Blue Program" to support Democratic candidates running against Republican incumbents in the [[United States general elections, 2006|2006 midterm elections]].
+==Bibliography==
+===Historical===
+*''American National Biography'' (20 volumes, 1999) covers all politicians no longer alive; online at many academic libraries.
+* Abramson, Paul R.  et al. ''Change and Continuity in the 2004 and 2006 Elections'' (2007) [https://www.amazon.com/Change-Continuity-2004-2006-Elections/dp/0872894150/ref=sr_1_10?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1221785751&sr=8-10 excerpt and text search]
+* Batchelor, John Calvin.  ''"Ain't You Glad You Joined the Republicans?" A Short History of the GOP.'' 1996. 399 pp.  well-written popular history, well illustrated
+* Chace, James. ''1912: Wilson, Roosevelt, Taft, and Debs - The Election That Changed the Country.'' (2004). 323 pp.
+* ''Congressional Quarterly's Guide to U.S. Elections'' (4th ed 2003) 1600pp, vast compilation of data, esp., since 1945
+* Foner, Eric. ''Free Soil, Free Labor, Free Men: The Ideology of the Republican Party Before the Civil War (1970), influential history of ideas and ideology; [http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=90104191 online edition]
+*Gienapp, William E. ''The Origins of the Republican Party, 1852-1856'' (1987), quantitative voting studies, by state
+* Goldberg, Robert Alan. ''Barry Goldwater'' (1995),
+*Gould, Lewis. ''Grand Old Party: A History of the Republicans'' (2003), the best scholarly overview.
+* Hodgson, Godfrey. ''The World Turned Right Side Up: A History of the Conservative Ascendancy in America'' (1996). by British journalist
+*Jensen, Richard. ''Grass Roots Politics: Parties, Issues, and Voters, 1854-1983'' (1983) [http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=15326916 online edition]
+*Jensen, Richard. ''The Winning of the Midwest: Social and Political Conflict, 1888-1896'' (1971)
+*Kleppner, Paul, et al. ''The Evolution of American Electoral Systems'' (1983), applies party systems model
+*Kleppner, Paul. ''The Third Electoral System 1853-1892: Parties, Voters, and Political Cultures'' (1979), analysis of voting behavior, with emphasis on region, ethnicity, religion and class. [http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=24451028 online edition]
+*Marcus, Robert. ''Grand Old Party: Political Structure in the Gilded Age, 1880-1896'' 1971.
+*Morgan, H. Wayne. ''From Hayes to McKinley; National Party Politics, 1877-1896'' (1969) [http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=94446383 online edition], good survey of era
+*Mayer, George H. ''The Republican Party, 1854-1966.'' 2nd ed. (1967), narrative.
+*Parmet, Herbert S. ''Eisenhower and the American Crusades'' (1972) [http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=14967951 online edition]
+* Patterson, James T. ''Mr. Republican: A Biography of Robert A. Taft'' (1972)
+*Perlstein, Rick. ''Before the Storm: Barry Goldwater and the Unmaking of the American Consensus'' (2002) well written, broad account of 1964
+*Perlstein, Rick. ''Nixonland: The Rise of a President and the Fracturing of America'' (2008), 896pp; covers 1965 to 1972
+* Reinhard, David W. ''The Republican Right since 1945'' (1983) [http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=91954887 online edition]
+*Rutland, Robert Allen. ''The Republicans: From Lincoln to Bush'' (1996) popular narrative
+*Shafer, Byron E. and Anthony J. Badger, eds. ''Contesting Democracy: Substance and Structure in American Political History, 1775-2000'' (2001), long essays by specialists on each time period: [https://www.amazon.com/Contesting-Democracy-Substance-Structure-Political/dp/0700611398/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1221785707&sr=8-1 excerpt and text search]
+**includes: "'To One or Another of These Parties Every Man Belongs;": 1820–1865 by Joel H. Silbey; "Change and Continuity in the Party Period: 1835–1885" by Michael F. Holt; "The Transformation of American Politics: 1865–1910" by Peter H. Argersinger; "Democracy, Republicanism, and Efficiency: 1885–1930" by Richard Jensen; "The Limits of Federal Power and Social Policy: 1910–1955" by Anthony J. Badger; "The Rise of Rights and Rights Consciousness: 1930–1980" by James T. Patterson; and "Economic Growth, Issue Evolution, and Divided Government: 1955–2000" by Byron E. Shafer
+*Schlesinger, Arthur Meier, Jr. ed. ''History of American Presidential Elections, 1789-2000'' (various multivolume editions, latest is 2001). For each election includes good scholarly history and selection of primary document. Essays on the most important election are reprinted in Schlesinger, ''The Coming to Power: Critical presidential elections in American history'' (1972)
+* Smith, Richard Norton. An Uncommon Man: The Triumph of Herbert Hoover, (1987) full-length scholarly biography.
+*Summers, Mark Wahlgren. ''Rum, Romanism & Rebellion: The Making of a President, 1884'' (2000) [http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=104865169 online edition]
+* Sundquist, James L. ''Dynamics of the Party System: Alignment and Realignment of Political Parties in the United States'' (1983) [http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=29223022 online edition]
+* Thelen, David. ''Robert M. La Follette and the Insurgent Spirit'' 1976. short interpretive biography
+===Since 1980===
+*Barone, Michael, and Grant Ujifusa, ''The Almanac of American Politics 2008: The Senators, the Representatives and the Governors: Their Records and Election Results, Their States and Districts'' (2007) covers all incumbent Congressmen and governors with amazing detail.  New edition published every two years since 1975.
+* Aistrup, Joseph A. ''The Southern Strategy Revisited: Republican Top-Down Advancement in the South'' (1996)
+* Black, Earl and Black, Merle.  ''The Rise of Southern Republicans.'' (2002). 442 pp.
+* Cannon, Lou. ''President Reagan: The Role of a Lifetime'' (2000), [http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=88989671 online edition]
+*  Critchlow, Donald T. ''The Conservative Ascendancy: How the GOP Right Made Political History'' (2007), by a leading conservative historian
+* Edwards, Lee.  ''The Conservative Revolution: The Movement That Remade America.'' (1999). 391 pp.  by a conservative
+*Ehrman, John, ''The Eighties: America in the Age of Reagan'' (2005) by a conservative historian
+* Frank, Thomas. ''What's the Matter with Kansas? How Conservatives Won the Heart of America'' (2005), a liberal attack  [https://www.amazon.com/Whats-Matter-Kansas-Conservatives-America/dp/B000FTWB3K/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1198072365&sr=1-1 excerpt and text search]
+* Green, John Robert. ''The Presidency of George Bush.'' (2000). 1989-1993
+* Lamis, Alexander P. ed. ''Southern Politics in the 1990s'' (1999)
+* Layman, Geoffrey. ''The Great Divide: Religious and Cultural Conflict in American Party Politics.'' (2001). 435pp.
+* Levy, Peter B. ''Encyclopedia of the Reagan-Bush Years'' Greenwood Press, 1996 [http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=77341841 online edition]
+* Lublin, David.  ''The Republican South: Democratization and Partisan Change.'' Princeton U. Press, 2004. 272 pp.  [https://www.amazon.com/Republican-South-Democratization-Partisan-Change/dp/0691130477/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1198072384&sr=1-1 excerpt and text search]
+* Patterson, James T. ''Restless Giant: The United States from Watergate to Bush vs. Gore.'' (2005), standard scholarly synthesis.
+* Pemberton, William E. ''Exit with Honor: The Life and Presidency of Ronald Reagan'' (1998) favorable biography by historian; [http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=49534236 online edition]
+* Reeves, Richard. ''President Reagan: The Triumph of Imagination'' (2005) detailed analysis by conservative historian
+* Rymph, Catherine.  ''Republican Women: Feminism and Conservatism from Suffrage through the Rise of the New Right.'' U. of North Carolina Press, 2006. 338 pp.
+* Sabato, Larry J. ed. ''The Sixth Year Itch: The Rise and Fall of the George W. Bush Presidency'' (2007), in-depth essays by scholars
+*Sabato, Larry J. ''Divided States of America: The Slash and Burn Politics of the 2004 Presidential Election'' (2005).
+* Sabato, Larry J. and Bruce Larson. ''The Party's Just Begun: Shaping Political Parties for America's Future'' (2001).
+* Schaller, Michael and Rising, George.  ''The Republican Ascendancy: American Politics, 1968-2001.'' Harlan Davidson, 2002. 210 pp.  Short survey by liberal scholars
+* Steely, Mel.  ''The Gentleman from Georgia: The Biography of Newt Gingrich.'' Mercer U. Press, 2000. 431 pp.
+* Taylor, Andrew J.  ''Elephant's Edge: The Republicans as a Ruling Party.''  2005. 336 pp. academic study of how GOP turned small advantages into power [https://www.amazon.com/Elephants-Edge-Republicans-Ruling-Party/dp/0275985369/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1198072452&sr=1-1 excerpt and text search]
+* Wilentz, Sean. ''The Age of Reagan: A History, 1974-2008'' (2008) by a liberal historian. [https://www.amazon.com/Age-Reagan-History-1974-2008/dp/0060744804/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1221786281&sr=8-1 excerpt and text search]
+*Wooldridge, Adrian and John Micklethwait. ''The Right Nation: Conservative Power in America'' sophisticated study by two British journalists (2004). [https://www.amazon.com/Right-Nation-Conservative-Power-America/dp/B000F71124/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1198072420&sr=1-2 excerpt and text search]
-[[Jefferson-Jackson Day]] is the annual fundraising event (dinner) held by Democratic Party organizations across the United States.<ref>{{cite news
+==External links==
-|first = Bill
-|last = Trotter
-|title = Obama sets sights on November battle
-|publisher = [[Bangor Daily News]]
-|date = [[2008-02-11]]
-|url = http://www.bangornews.com/news/t/city.aspx?articleid=160039&zoneid=176
-|accessdate = 2008-02-12
-}}</ref> It is named after Presidents [[Thomas Jefferson]] and Andrew Jackson, whom the party regards as its distinguished early leaders.
-The song "[[Happy Days Are Here Again]]" is the unofficial song of the Democratic Party. It was used prominently when [[Franklin Delano Roosevelt]] was nominated for president at the [[1932 Democratic National Convention]] and remains a sentimental favorite for Democrats today. More recently, the emotionally similar song "[[Beautiful Day]]" by the band [[U2]] has become a favorite theme song for Democratic candidates. [[John Kerry]] used the song during his 2004 presidential campaign, and it was used as a celebratory tune by several Democratic Congressional candidates in 2006.<ref>{{cite news
+*[http://www.gop.com/ Official GOP Site]
-|first = Michael
+*[https://www.youtube.com/@GOP/videos Republican Party], YouTube channel
-|last = Gruss
-|title = Local roast becomes political pep rally for Democrats
-|publisher = [[The Virginian-Pilot]]
-|date = [[2006-11-21]]
-|url = http://content.hamptonroads.com/story.cfm?story=114762&ran=246752
-|accessdate = 2007-04-15
-}}</ref><ref>{{cite news
-|first = Michael
-|last = Scherer
-|title = 'The Democrats are ready to lead'
-|publisher = [[Salon.com]]
-|date = [[2006-11-08]]
-|url = http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2006/11/08/pelosi/
-|accessdate = 2007-03-18}}</ref>
-== State and territorial parties ==
+'''Historical:'''
-{{Col-begin}}
-{{Col-2}}
-*[[Alabama Democratic Party]] ( [http://www.aladems.org/ Site] )
-*[[Alaska Democratic Party]] ( [http://www.alaskademocrats.org/ Site] )
-*[[Arizona Democratic Party]] ( [http://www.azdem.org/ Site] )
-*[[Democratic Party of Arkansas]] ( [http://www.arkdems.org/ Site] )
-*[[California Democratic Party]] ( [http://www.cadem.org/ Site] )
-*[[Colorado Democratic Party]] ( [http://www.coloradodems.org/ Site] )
-*[[Democratic State Central Committee of Connecticut]] ( [http://dems.info/ Site] )
-*[[Delaware Democratic Party]] ( [http://www.deldems.org/ Site] )
-*[[Florida Democratic Party]] ( [http://www.fladems.com/ Site] )
-*[[Democratic Party of Georgia]] ( [http://www.democraticpartyofgeorgia.org/ Site] )
-*[[Democratic Party of Hawaii]] ( [http://www.hawaiidemocrats.org/ Site] )
-*[[Idaho Democratic Party]] ( [http://www.idaho-democrats.org/ Site] )
-*[[Democratic Party of Illinois]] ( [http://www.ildems.com/ Site] )
-*[[Indiana Democratic Party]] ( [http://www.indems.org/ Site] )
-*[[Iowa Democratic Party]] ( [http://www.iowademocrats.org/ Site] )
-*[[Kansas Democratic Party]] ( [http://www.ksdp.org/ Site] )
-*[[Kentucky Democratic Party]] ( [http://www.kydemocrat.com/ Site] )
-*[[Louisiana Democratic Party]] ( [http://www.lademo.org/ Site] )
-*[[Maine Democratic Party]] ( [http://www.mainedems.org/ Site] )
-*[[Maryland Democratic Party]] ( [http://www.mddems.org/ Site] )
-*[[Massachusetts Democratic Party]] ( [http://www.massdems.org/ Site] )
-*[[Michigan Democratic Party]] ( [http://www.michigandems.com/ Site] )
-*[[Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party]] ( [http://www.dfl.org/ Site] )
-*[[Democratic Party of the State of Mississippi]] ( [http://www.msdemocrats.net/ Site] )
-*[[Missouri Democratic Party]] ( [http://www.missouridems.org/ Site] )
-*[[Montana Democratic Party]] ( [http://www.montanademocrats.org/ Site] )
-{{Col-2}}
-*[[Nebraska Democratic Party]] ( [http://www.nebraskademocrats.org/ Site] )
-*[[Nevada Democratic Party]] ( [http://www.nvdems.com/ Site] )
-*[[New Hampshire Democratic Party]] ( [http://www.nh-democrats.org/ Site] )
-*[[New Jersey Democratic State Committee]] ( [http://www.njdems.org/ Site] )
-*[[Democratic Party of New Mexico]] ( [http://www.nmdemocrats.org/ Site] )
-*[[New York State Democratic Committee]] ( [http://www.nydems.org/ Site] )
-*[[North Carolina Democratic Party]] ( [http://www.ncdp.org/ Site] )
-*[[North Dakota Democratic-NPL Party]] ( [http://www.demnpl.com/ Site] )
-*[[Ohio Democratic Party]] ( [http://www.ohiodems.org/ Site] )
-*[[Oklahoma Democratic Party]] ( [http://www.okdemocrats.org/ Site] )
-*[[Democratic Party of Oregon]] ( [http://www.oregondemocrats.org/ Site] )
-*[[Pennsylvania Democratic Party]] ( [http://www.padems.com/ Site] )
-*[[Puerto Rico Democratic Party]] ( [http://www.prideintheparty.org/pdf/PR.pdf Site] )
-*[[Rhode Island Democratic Committee]] ( [http://www.ridemocrats.org/ Site] )
-*[[South Carolina Democratic Party]] ( [http://www.scdp.org/ Site] )
-*[[South Dakota Democratic Party]] ( [http://www.sddp.org/ Site] )
-*[[Tennessee Democratic Party]] ( [http://www.tndp.org/ Site] )
-*[[Texas Democratic Party]] ( [http://www.txdemocrats.org/ Site] )
-*[[Utah Democratic Party]] ( [http://www.utdemocrats.org/ Site] )
-*[[Vermont Democratic Party]] ( [http://www.vtdemocrats.org/ Site] )
-*[[Democratic Party of Virginia]] ( [http://www.vademocrats.org/ Site] )
-*[[Washington State Democratic Party]] ( [http://www.wa-democrats.org/ Site] )
-*[[West Virginia Democratic Party]] ( [http://www.wvdemocrats.com/ Site] )
-*[[Democratic Party of Wisconsin]] ( [http://www.wisdems.org/ Site] )
-*[[Wyoming Democratic Party]] ( [http://www.wyomingdemocrats.com/ Site] )
-{{Col-end}}
-== See also ==
+*[https://www.jacomo.gop/history_of_the_republican_party History of the Republican Party], Republican Jackson County website
-* [[List of United States Democratic Party presidential tickets]]
-* [[Democratic Party (United States) presidential primaries, 2008]]
-* [[Democratic organizations]]
-* [[Political party strength in U.S. states]]
-== References ==
+:
-<!--See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Footnotes for an explanation of how to generate footnotes using the <ref> and </ref> tags and the tag below -->
-{{reflist|2}}
-== External links ==
+*[http://platform.gop.com/2008Platform.pdf 2008 Republican Platform (pdf download)]
-<!-- links to official sites or documents go below here. -->
+*[http://www.house.gov/hensarling/rsc/doc/rsc_action_plan.pdf The RSC’s Action Plan for House Republicans], Republican Study Committee, May 20, 2008
-* [http://www.democrats.org/ Democratic National Committee] − Official website
+*[http://www.house.gov/hensarling/rsc/doc/rsc_action_plan_(broad).pdf A Detailed Action Plan For House Republicans: Bold, Simple, and Different than the Democrats], Republican Study Committee, May 20, 2008
-* [http://democrats.senate.gov/ Democratic Senate Caucus]
-* [http://www.housedemocrats.gov/ Democratic House Caucus]
-* [http://www.dscc.org/ Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee]
-* [http://www.dccc.org/ Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee]
-* [http://www.dlcc.org/ Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee]
-* [http://www.democraticgovernors.org/ Democratic Governors Association]
-* [http://www.democraticags.org/ Democratic Attorneys General Association]
-* [http://www.ncdm.org/ National Conference of Democratic Mayors]
-* [http://www.nfdw.com/ National Federation of Democratic Women]
-* [http://www.collegedems.com/ College Democrats of America]
-* [http://www.yda.org/ Young Democrats of America]
-* [http://www.democratsabroad.org/ Democrats Abroad]
-* {{PDFlink|[http://www.democrats.org/pdfs/2004platform.pdf 2004 National Platform]|111&nbsp;[[Kibibyte|KiB]]<!-- application/pdf, 114452 bytes -->}}, [http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/showplatforms.php?platindex=D2004 HTML version]
-* {{PDFlink|[http://a9.g.akamai.net/7/9/8082/v001/democratic1.download.akamai.com/8082/pdfs/20060119_charter.pdf Charter & Bylaws]|1.63&nbsp;[[Mebibyte|MiB]]<!-- application/pdf, 1709606 bytes -->}}
-<!-- links to official sites or documents go above here -->
-* {{dmoz|Regional/North_America/United_States/Society_and_Culture/Politics/Parties/Democratic/|Democratic Party}}
-{{USParty}}
+'''Regional:'''
-{{United States topics}}
-[[Category:Political parties established in 1792]]
+*[http://nyyrcrecord.blogspot.com/ New York Young Republican Record]
-[[Category:Political parties in the United States]]
-[[Category:Democratic Party (United States)|*]]
-[[Category:Liberal parties]]
-{{Link FA|vi}}
+== Notes ==
+<references/>
-[[ar:الحزب الديموقراطي (أمريكا)]]
+[[Category:Republican Party|!]]
-[[ast:Partíu Demócrata de los Estaos Xuníos]]
+[[Category:United States]]
-[[az:ABŞ Demokratik partiyası]]
+[[Category:United States Political Parties]]
-[[bs:Demokratska stranka (SAD)]]
+[[Category:United States Political Organizations]]
-[[bg:Демократическа партия (САЩ)]]
+[[Category:Featured articles]]
-[[ca:Partit Demòcrata dels Estats Units]]
+[[Category:Modernization]]
-[[cs:Demokratická strana (USA)]]
+[[Category:Conservatism]]
-[[cy:Plaid Ddemocrataidd (Unol Daleithiau)]]
+[[Category:Black History]]
-[[da:Demokratiske parti (USA)]]
+[[Category:Civil Rights]]
-[[de:Demokratische Partei (Vereinigte Staaten)]]
+[[Category:Member of the International Democrat Union]]
-[[et:Demokraatlik Partei (USA)]]
+[[Category:Liberal Conservatism]]
-[[el:Δημοκρατικό Κόμμα (ΗΠΑ)]]
+[[Category:Conservative Political Parties]]
-[[es:Partido Demócrata de los Estados Unidos]]
-[[eo:Demokrata Partio (Usono)]]
-[[fa:حزب دموکرات ایالات متحده آمریکا]]
-[[fr:Parti démocrate (États-Unis)]]
-[[ga:Páirtí Daonlathach (Stáit Aontaithe)]]
-[[gl:Partido Demócrata (Estados Unidos)]]
-[[ko:민주당 (미국)]]
-[[hr:Demokratska stranka (SAD)]]
-[[id:Partai Demokrat (Amerika Serikat)]]
-[[is:Demókrataflokkurinn]]
-[[it:Partito Democratico (Stati Uniti)]]
-[[he:המפלגה הדמוקרטית]]
-[[ka:დემოკრატიული პარტია (აშშ)]]
-[[la:Factio Democratica (CFA)]]
-[[lt:JAV demokratų partija]]
-[[hu:Demokrata Párt]]
-[[ml:ഡെമോക്രാറ്റിക് പാര്‍ട്ടി (അമേരിക്കന്‍ ഐക്യനാടുകള്‍)]]
-[[nl:Democratische Partij (Verenigde Staten)]]
-[[ja:民主党 (アメリカ)]]
-[[no:Det demokratiske parti]]
-[[nn:Democratic Party]]
-[[oc:Partit Democrata (Estats Units)]]
-[[pl:Partia Demokratyczna (USA)]]
-[[pt:Partido Democrata (Estados Unidos da América)]]
-[[ro:Partidul Democrat, SUA]]
-[[ru:Демократическая партия США]]
-[[sq:Partia Demokratike (ShBA)]]
-[[simple:United States Democratic Party]]
-[[sk:Demokratická strana (USA)]]
-[[sl:Demokratska stranka (ZDA)]]
-[[sh:Demokratska stranka SAD]]
-[[fi:Yhdysvaltain demokraattinen puolue]]
-[[sv:Demokratiska partiet]]
-[[ta:மக்களாட்சிக் கட்சி (ஐக்கிய அமெரிக்கா)]]
-[[th:พรรคเดโมแครต (สหรัฐอเมริกา)]]
-[[vi:Đảng Dân chủ Hoa Kỳ]]
-[[tr:Demokratik Parti (ABD)]]
-[[uk:Демократична партія США]]
-[[yi:דעמאקראטישע פארטיי]]
-[[zh:民主党 (美国)]]