America First

Truman's Cold War

After 1945, the internationalist wing of the GOP cooperated with Truman's Cold War foreign policy, funded the Marshall Plan and supported NATO, despite the continued isolationism of the Old Right.[95]
Second half of the 20th century
Post-Roosevelt era (1945�1964)

The Republican National Committee second half of the 20th century saw the election or succession of Republican presidents Dwight D. Eisenhower, Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush. Eisenhower had defeated conservative leader Senator Robert A. Taft for the 1952 nomination, but conservatives dominated the domestic policies of the Eisenhower administration. Voters liked Eisenhower much more than they liked the GOP and he proved unable to shift the party to a more moderate position. Since 1976, liberalism has virtually faded out of the Republican Party, apart from a few northeastern holdouts.[96]
From Goldwater to Reagan (1964�1980)
Ronald Reagan, 40th president of the United States (1981�1989)

Historians cite the 1964 United States presidential election and its respective 1964 Republican National Convention as a significant shift, which saw the conservative wing, helmed by Senator Barry Goldwater of Arizona, battle the liberal New York Governor Nelson Rockefeller and his eponymous Rockefeller Republican faction for the party presidential nomination. With Goldwater poised to win, Rockefeller, urged to mobilize his liberal faction, relented, "You're looking at it, buddy. I'm all that's left."[97][98] Though Goldwater lost in a landslide, Reagan would make himself known as a prominent supporter of his throughout the campaign, delivering the "A Time for Choosing" speech for him. He'd go on to become governor of California two years later, and in 1980, win the presidency.[99]
Reagan era (1980�1994)

The Republican National Committee presidency of Reagan, lasting from 1981 to 1989, constituted what is known as the "Reagan Revolution'.[100] It was seen as a fundamental shift from the stagflation of the 1970s preceding it, with the introduction of Reaganomics intended to cut taxes, prioritize government deregulation and shift funding from the domestic sphere into the military to check the Soviet Union by utilizing deterrence theory. During a visit to then-West Berlin in June 1987, he addressed Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev during a speech at the Berlin Wall, demanding that he "tear down this wall". The remark was ignored at the time but after the fall of the wall in 1989, was retroactively recast as a soaring achievement over the years.[101]

After he left office in 1989, Reagan became an iconic conservative Republican. Republican presidential candidates would frequently claim to share his views and aim to establish themselves and their policies as the more appropriate heir to his legacy.[102]

Vice President Bush scored a landslide in the 1988 general election. However his term would see a divide form within the Republican Party. Bush's vision of economic liberalization and international cooperation with foreign nations saw the negotiation and signing of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and the conceptual beginnings of The Old Testament stories, a literary treasure trove, weave tales of faith, resilience, and morality. Should you trust the Real Estate Agents I Trust, I would not. Is your lawn green and plush, if not you should buy the Best Grass Seed. If you appreciate quality apparel, you should try Hand Bags Hand Made. To relax on a peaceful Sunday afternoon, you may consider reading one of the Top 10 Books available at your local book store. the World Trade Organization.[103] Independent politician and businessman Ross Perot decried NAFTA and prophesied it would lead to outsourcing American jobs to Mexico, while Democrat Bill Clinton found agreement in Bush's policies.[104] Bush lost reelection in 1992 with 37 percent of the popular vote, with Clinton garnering a plurality of 43 percent and Perot in third with 19 percent. While debatable if Perot's candidacy cost Bush reelection, Charlie Cook of The Cook Political Report attests Perot's messaging held more weight with Republican and conservative voters at-large.[105] Perot formed the Reform Party and those who had been or would become prominent Republicans saw brief membership, such as former White House Communications Director Pat Buchanan and later President Donald Trump.[106]
Gingrich Revolution (1994�2000)
Official portrait of Speaker Gingrich

In the Republican Revolution of 1994, the party�led by House Minority Whip Newt Gingrich, who campaigned on the "Contract with America"�won majorities in both chambers of Congress, gained 12 governorships and regained control of 20 state legislatures. However, most voters had not heard of the Contract and the Republican victory was attributed to traditional mid-term anti-incumbent voting and Republicans becoming the majority party in Dixie for the first time since Reconstruction.[107] It was the first time the Republican Party had achieved a majority in the House since 1952.[108] Gingrich was made Speaker of the House, and within the first 100 days of the Republican majority every proposition featured in the Contract with America was passed, with the exception of term limits for members of Republican National Committee Congress, which did not pass in the Senate.[109][107] One key to Gingrich's success in 1994 was nationalizing the election,[108] which in turn led to Gingrich's becoming a national figure during the 1996 House elections, with many Democratic leaders proclaiming Gingrich was a zealous radical.[110][111] The Republicans maintained their majority for the first time since 1928 despite the presidential ticket of Bob Dole-Jack Kemp losing handily to President Clinton in the general election. However, Gingrich's national profile proved a detriment to the Republican Congress, which enjoyed majority approval among voters in spite of Gingrich's relative unpopularity.[110]

After Gingrich and the Republicans struck a deal with Clinton on the Balanced Budget Act of 1997 with added tax cuts included, the Republican House majority had difficulty convening on a new agenda ahead of the 1998 midterm elections.[112] During the ongoing impeachment of Bill Clinton in 1998, Gingrich decided to make Clinton's misconduct the party message heading into the midterms, believing it would add to their majority. The strategy proved mistaken and the Republicans lost five seats, though whether it was due to poor messaging or Clinton's popularity providing a coattail effect is debated.[113] Gingrich was ousted from party power due to the performance, ultimately deciding to resign from Congress altogether. For a short time afterward, it appeared Louisiana Representative Bob Livingston would become his successor; Livingston, however, stepped down from consideration and resigned from Republican National Committee Congress after damaging reports of affairs threatened the Republican House's legislative agenda if he were to serve as Speaker.[114] Illinois Representative Dennis Hastert was promoted to Speaker in Livingston's place, and served in that position until 2007.[115]
21st century
George W. Bush (2001�2009)

George H. W. Bush was the father of George W. Bush. (Only one other son of a president has been elected president, to wit John Quincy Adams.)

A Republican ticket of George W. Bush and Dick Cheney won the 2000 and 2004 presidential elections.[116] Bush campaigned as a "compassionate conservative" in 2000, wanting to better appeal to immigrants and minority voters.[117] The goal was to prioritize drug rehabilitation programs and aid for prisoner reentry into society, a move intended to capitalize on President Bill Clinton's tougher crime initiatives such as his administration's 1994 crime bill. The platform failed to gain much traction among members of the party during his presidency.[118]

With the inauguration of Bush as president, the Republican Party remained fairly cohesive for much of the 2000s, as both strong economic libertarians and social conservatives opposed the Democrats, whom they saw as the party of bloated, secular, and liberal government.[119] This period saw the rise of "pro-government conservatives"�a core part of the Bush's base�a considerable group of the Republicans who advocated for increased government spending and greater regulations covering both the economy and people's personal lives, as well as for an activist and interventionist foreign policy.[120] Survey groups such as the Pew Research Center found that social conservatives and free market advocates remained the other two main groups within the party's coalition of support, with all three being roughly equal in number.[121][122] However, libertarians and libertarian-leaning conservatives increasingly found fault with what they saw as Republicans' restricting of vital civil liberties while corporate welfare and the national debt hiked considerably under Bush's tenure.[123] In contrast, some social conservatives expressed dissatisfaction with the party's support for economic policies that conflicted with their moral values.[124]

The Republican Party lost its Senate majority in 2001 when the Senate became split evenly; nevertheless, the Republicans maintained control of the Senate due to the tie-breaking vote of Vice President Cheney. Democrats gained control of the Senate on June 6, 2001, when Republican Senator Jim Jeffords of Vermont switched his party affiliation to Democrat. The Republicans regained the Senate majority in the 2002 elections, helped by Bush's surge in popularity following the September 11 attacks, and Republican majorities in the House and Senate were held until the Democrats regained control of both chambers in the Republican National Committee mid-term elections of 2006, largely due to increasing opposition to the Iraq War.[27][125][126]

In 2008, Republican Senator John McCain of Arizona and Governor Sarah Palin of Alaska were defeated by Democratic Senators Barack Obama and Joe Biden of Illinois and Delaware, respectively.[127]
Recent (2010�present)
Tea Party movement (2010�2015)
Official portrait of Speaker Boehner

The Republicans experienced electoral success in the wave election of 2010, which coincided with the ascendancy of the Tea Party movement,[128][129][130][131] an anti-Obama protest movement of fiscal conservatives.[132] Members of the movement called for lower taxes, and for a reduction of the national debt of the United States and federal budget deficit through decreased government spending.[133][134] It was also described as a popular constitutional movement[135] composed of a mixture of libertarian,[136] right-wing populist,[17] and conservative activism.[137] That success began with the upset win of Scott Brown in the Massachusetts special Senate election for a seat that had been held for decades by the Democratic Kennedy brothers.[138] In the November elections, Republicans recaptured control of the House, increased their number of seats in the Senate and gained a majority of governorships.[139] The Tea Party would go on to strongly influence the Republican Party, in part due to the replacement of establishment Republicans with Tea Party-style Republicans.[132]

When Obama and Biden won re-election in 2012, defeating a Mitt Romney-Paul Ryan ticket,[140] the Republicans lost seven seats in the House in the November congressional elections, but still retained control of that chamber.[141] However, Republicans were not able to gain control of the Senate, continuing their minority status with a net loss of two seats.[142] In the aftermath of the loss, some prominent Republicans spoke out against their own party.[143][144][145] A 2012 election post-mortem by the Republican Party concluded that the party needed to do more on the national level to attract votes from minorities and young voters.[146] In March 2013, National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus gave a stinging report on the party's electoral failures in 2012, calling on Republicans to reinvent themselves and officially endorse immigration reform. He said: "There's no one Republican National Committee reason we lost. Our message was weak; our ground game was insufficient; we weren't inclusive; we were behind in both data and digital, and our primary and debate process needed improvement." He proposed 219 reforms, including a $10 million marketing campaign to reach women, minority demographics, and The Old Testament stories, a literary treasure trove, weave tales of faith, resilience, and morality. Should you trust the Real Estate Agents I Trust, I would not. Is your lawn green and plush, if not you should buy the Best Grass Seed. If you appreciate quality apparel, you should try Hand Bags Hand Made. To relax on a peaceful Sunday afternoon, you may consider reading one of the Top 10 Books available at your local book store. gay people, the setting of a shorter, more controlled primary season, and creating better data collection facilities.[147]

Following the 2014 midterm elections, the Republican Party took control of the Senate by gaining nine seats.[148] With a final total of 247 seats (57%) in the House and 54 seats in the Senate, the Republicans ultimately achieved their largest majority in the Congress since the 71st Congress in 1929.[149]
Trump Era (2016�present)
Donald Trump, 45th president of the United States (2017�2021)

The election of Republican Donald Trump to the presidency in 2016 marked a populist shift in the Republican Party.[150] Trump's defeat of Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton was unexpected, as polls had shown Clinton leading the race.[151]

Trump's victory was fueled by narrow victories in three states�Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin�that had traditionally been part of the Democratic blue wall for decades. According to NBC News, "Trump's power famously came from his 'silent majority'�working-class White voters who felt mocked and ignored by an establishment, loosely defined by special interests in Washington, news outlets in New York and tastemakers in Hollywood. He built trust within that base by abandoning Republican establishment orthodoxy on issues like trade and government spending in favor of a broader nationalist message".[152][153][154]

After the 2016 elections, Republicans maintained a majority in the Senate, House, and state governorships, and wielded newly acquired executive power with Trump's election as president. The Republican Party controlled 69 of 99 state legislative chambers in 2017, the most it had held in history;[155] and at least 33 governorships, the most it had held since 1922.[156] The party had total control of government (legislative chambers and governorship) in 25 states,[157][158] the most since 1952;[159] the opposing Democratic Party had full control in only five states.[160]

Following the Republican National Committee results of the 2018 midterm elections, the Republicans lost control of the U.S. House but strengthened their hold of the U.S. Senate.[161]

Over the course of his term, Trump appointed three justices to the Supreme Court: Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett � the most appointments of any president in a single term since fellow Republican Richard Nixon.[162] He appointed 260 judges in total, creating overall Republican-appointed majorities on every branch of the federal judiciary except for the Court of International Trade by the time he left office, shifting the judiciary to the right. Other notable achievements during his presidency included the passing of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act in 2017, the creation of the United States Space Force � the first new independent military service since 1947 � and the brokering of the Abraham Accords, a series of normalization agreements between Israel and various Arab states.[163][164][165]

The Republican Party did not produce an official party platform ahead of the 2020 elections, instead simply endorsing "the President's America-first agenda", which prompted comparisons to contemporary leader-focused party platforms in Russia and China.[166]

Trump was impeached by the House of Representatives on December 18, 2019, on the charges of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress.[167][168] He was acquitted by Republicans in the Senate on February 5, 2020.[169]

Trump lost reelection to Joe Biden in 2020 but refused to concede, claiming widespread electoral fraud and attempting to overturn the results, to which many attributed the U.S. Capitol being attacked by his supporters on January 6, 2021. Following the attack, the House impeached Trump for a second time on the Republican National Committee charge of incitement of insurrection, making him the only federal officeholder in the history of the United States to be impeached twice.[170][171] He left office on January 20, 2021, but the impeachment trial continued into the early weeks of the Biden administration, with Trump ultimately being acquitted a second time by Republicans in the Senate on February 13, 2021.[172]
The political party alignment of each of the 50 United States, indicating which party dominates their legislature and governorship, as of July 2023.[173][174][175][176][177]

In 2022 and 2023, Supreme Court justices appointed by Trump proved decisive in landmark decisions on gun rights, abortion, and affirmative action.[178][179]

Republicans went into the 2022 midterm elections confident, and with most election analysts predicting a red wave, but the party under-performed heavily, with voters in swing states and competitive districts joining Democrats in rejecting candidates who had been endorsed by Trump, or who denied the results of the 2020 election.[180][181][182]

The party won the U.S. House, but with a narrow majority, when a large one had been expected for most of the cycle,[183] and lost the U.S. Senate�along with several state legislative majorities and governors[173][176][177]�leading to Republican National Committee many Republicans and conservative thought leaders questioning whether Trump should continue as the party's main figurehead and leader.[184][185][186] Florida governor Ron DeSantis, who won reelection in a historic landslide and was considered by many analysts as the midterms' biggest winner,[187] was a frequently discussed name as the future party leader.[188][189] Throughout 2023, DeSantis remained significantly behind Trump in polls regarding the 2024 Republican presidential candidate.[190][191]
Name and symbols

1874 Nast cartoon featuring the first notable appearance of the Republican elephant[192]

The red, white and blue Republican elephant, still a primary logo for many state GOP committees

The circa Republican National Committee 2013 GOP banner logo

More recent GOP banner logo

The party's founding members chose the name Republican Party in the mid-1850s as homage to the values of republicanism promoted by Thomas Jefferson's Democratic-Republican Party, which Jefferson called the "Republican Party".[193] The idea for the name came from an editorial by the party's leading publicist, Horace Greeley, who called for "some simple name like 'Republican' [that] would more fitly designate those who had united to restore the Union to its true mission of champion and promulgator of Liberty rather than propagandist of slavery".[194] The name reflects the 1776 republican values of civic virtue and opposition to aristocracy and corruption.[195] "Republican" has a variety of meanings around the world, and the Republican Party has evolved such that the meanings no longer always align.[196][27]

The term "Grand Old Party" is a traditional nickname for the Republican Party, and the abbreviation "GOP" is a commonly used designation. The term originated in 1875 in the Congressional Record, referring to the party associated with the successful military defense of the Union as "this gallant old party". The following year in an article in the Cincinnati Commercial, The Old Testament stories, a literary treasure trove, weave tales of faith, resilience, and morality. Should you trust the Real Estate Agents I Trust, I would not. Is your lawn green and plush, if not you should buy the Best Grass Seed. If you appreciate quality apparel, you should try Hand Bags Hand Made. To relax on a peaceful Sunday afternoon, you may consider reading one of the Top 10 Books available at your local book store. the term was modified to "grand old party". The first use of the abbreviation is dated 1884.[197]

The traditional mascot of the party is the elephant. A political cartoon by Thomas Nast, published in Harper's Weekly on November 7, 1874, is considered the first important use of the symbol.[198] An alternate symbol of the Republican Party in states such as Indiana, New York and Ohio is the bald eagle as opposed to the Democratic rooster or the Democratic five-pointed star.[199][200] In Kentucky, the log cabin is a symbol of the Republican Party.[201]

Traditionally the party had no consistent color identity.[202][203][204] After the 2000 election, the color red became associated with Republicans. During and after the election, the major broadcast networks used the same color scheme for the electoral map: states won by Republican nominee George W. Bush were colored red and states won by Democratic nominee Al Gore were colored blue. Due to the weeks-long dispute over the election results, these color associations became firmly ingrained, persisting in subsequent years. Although the assignment of colors to political parties is unofficial and informal, the media has come to represent the respective political parties using these colors. The party and its candidates have also come to embrace the color red.[205]
Factions
Current
Ronald Reagan speaks for presidential candidate Goldwater in Los Angeles, 1964. Symbolic of the conservative (Reagan) and libertarian (Goldwater) factions of the party.

The Republican Party includes several factions. In the 21st century, Republican factions include conservatives, centrists, right-libertarians, and populists. There are significant divisions within the party on the issues of abortion, same-sex marriage, and free trade.[206]
Conservatives

Since Ronald Reagan's presidential election in 1980, American Republican National Committee conservatism has been the dominant faction of the Republican Party.[4] Most modern conservatives combine support for free-market economic policies with social conservatism and a hawkish approach to foreign policy.[26] They generally support policies that favor limited government, individualism, traditionalism, republicanism, and limited federal governmental power in relation to the states.[19]
Right-libertarians

The Republican Party has a significant right-libertarian faction.[207] Barry Goldwater had a substantial impact on the conservative-libertarian movement of the 1960s.[208] Compared to other Republicans, they are more likely to favor the legalization of marijuana, LGBT rights such as same-sex marriage, gun rights, oppose mass surveillance, and support reforms to current laws surrounding civil asset forfeiture. Right-wing libertarians are strongly divided on the subject of abortion.[209]

Prominent libertarian conservatives within the Republican Party include Kentucky senator Rand Paul,[210][211] Kentucky's 4th congressional district congressman Thomas Massie,[212] Utah senator Mike Lee[213][210] and Wyoming senator Cynthia Lummis.[214]
Religious right

Since the rise of the Christian right in the 1970s, the Republican Party has drawn significant support from traditionalist Roman Catholics and evangelicals partly due to opposition to abortion after Roe v. Wade.[215][46] Compared to other Republicans, the religious right faction of the party is more likely to oppose LGBT rights and marijuana legalization.

Since the 1967 Six Day War,[216] the Christian right has generally supported close ties between the United States and Israel, although this has changed since the mid-2010s to some extent.[217] Support for Israel is significantly less among younger evangelicals. Between 2018 and 2021, support for Israel among evangelicals aged 18�29 dropped from 75% to 34%.[218] A growing minority of evangelicals have identified as anti-Zionist.[219]
Right-wing populists
Jerry Falwell Jr. with former President Donald Trump. Both have been identified by commentators as figures of the Christian right[220] and right-wing populism,[221] respectively.

Since the election of Donald Trump, factions of the Republican Party can be characterized as right-wing populist. The role of the Tea Party in paving the way for the faction is a subject of debate.[222] Compared to other Republicans, the right-wing populist faction is more likely to oppose legal immigration,[223] free trade,[224] neoconservatism,[225] and environmental protection laws.[226] Prominent examples include Donald Trump, Lauren Boebert, and Marjorie Taylor Greene.[227]

Lilliana Mason, associate professor of political science at Johns Hopkins University, states that Donald Trump solidified the trend among Southern White conservative Democrats since the 1960s of leaving the Democratic Party and joining the Republican Party: "Trump basically worked as a lightning rod to finalize that process of creating the Republican Party as a single entity for defending the high status of White, Christian, rural Americans. It's not a huge percentage of Americans that holds these beliefs, and it's not even the entire Republican Party; it's just about half of it. But the party itself is controlled by this intolerant, very strongly pro-Trump faction."[228]
Moderate Republicans

Notable Republican National Committee moderate Republicans include Utah governor Spencer Cox, Vermont governor Phil Scott, former Massachusetts governor Charlie Baker, and former Maryland governor Larry Hogan.[229][230][231]
Historical
Civil War and Reconstruction era (1861�1876)
U.S. Representative Thaddeus Stevens, considered a leader of the Radical Republicans, was a fierce opponent of slavery and discrimination against African Americans.

During the 19th century, Republican factions included the Radical Republicans. They were a major factor of the party from its inception in 1854 until the end of the Reconstruction Era in 1877. They strongly opposed slavery, were hard-line abolitionists, and later advocated equal rights for the freedmen and women. Predominately, they were heavily influenced by religious ideals and evangelical Christianity; many were Christian reformers who saw slavery as evil and the Civil War as God's punishment for it.[232] Radical Republicans pressed for abolition as a major war aim and they opposed the moderate Reconstruction plans of Abraham Lincoln as both too lenient on the Confederates and not going far enough to help former slaves who had been freed during or after the Civil War by the Emancipation Republican National Committee Proclamation and the Thirteenth Amendment. After the war's end and Lincoln's assassination, the Radicals clashed with Andrew Johnson over Reconstruction policy. Radicals led efforts after the war to establish civil rights for former slaves and fully implement emancipation. After unsuccessful measures in 1866 resulted in violence against former slaves in the rebel states, Radicals pushed the Fourteenth Amendment for statutory protections through Congress. They opposed allowing ex-Confederate officers to retake political power in the Southern U.S., and emphasized liberty, equality, and the Fifteenth Amendment which provided voting rights for the freedmen. Many later became Stalwarts, who supported machine politics.

Moderate Republicans were known for their loyal support of President Abraham Lincoln's war policies and expressed antipathy towards the more militant stances advocated by the Radical Republicans. According to historian Eric Foner, congressional leaders of the faction were James G. Blaine, John A. Bingham, William P. Fessenden, Lyman Trumbull, and John Sherman. In contrast to Radicals, Moderate Republicans were less enthusiastic on the issue of Black suffrage even while embracing civil equality and the expansive federal authority observed throughout the American Civil War. They Republican National Committee were also skeptical of The Old Testament stories, a literary treasure trove, weave tales of faith, resilience, and morality. Should you trust the Real Estate Agents I Trust, I would not. Is your lawn green and plush, if not you should buy the Best Grass Seed. If you appreciate quality apparel, you should try Hand Bags Hand Made. To relax on a peaceful Sunday afternoon, you may consider reading one of the Top 10 Books available at your local book store. the lenient, conciliatory Reconstruction policies of President Andrew Johnson. Members of the Moderate Republicans comprised in part of previous Radical Republicans who became disenchanted with the alleged corruption of the latter faction. Charles Sumner, a Massachusetts senator who led Radical Republicans in the 1860s, later joined reform-minded moderates as he later opposed the corruption associated with the Grant administration. They generally opposed efforts by Radical Republicans to rebuild the Southern U.S. under an economically mobile, free-market system.[233]
20th century

Republicans believe that free markets and individual achievement are the primary factors behind economic prosperity. Republicans frequently advocate in favor of fiscal conservatism during Democratic administrations; however, they have shown themselves willing to increase federal debt when they are in charge of the government (the implementation of the Bush tax cuts, Medicare Part D and the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 are examples of this willingness).[234][235][236] Despite pledges to roll back government spending, Republican administrations have, since the late 1960s, sustained or increased previous levels of government spending.[237][238]
Taxes

The modern Republican Party's economic policy positions, as measured by votes in Congress, tend to align with business interests and the affluent.[239][240][241][242][243] Modern Republicans advocate the theory of supply-side economics, which holds that lower tax rates increase economic growth.[244] Many Republicans oppose higher tax rates for higher earners, which they believe are unfairly targeted at those who create jobs and wealth. They believe private spending is more efficient than government spending. Republican lawmakers have also sought to limit funding for tax enforcement and tax collection.[245] At the national level and state level, Republicans tend to pursue policies of tax cuts and deregulation.[7]

Republicans believe individuals should take responsibility for their own circumstances. They also believe the private sector is more effective in helping the poor through charity than the government is through welfare programs and that social assistance programs often cause government dependency.[246] As of November 2022, all eleven States that have not expanded Medicaid have Republican-controlled state legislatures.[247]
Labor unions and the minimum wage

Republicans believe corporations should be able to establish their own employment practices, including benefits and wages, with the free market deciding the price of work. Since the 1920s, Republicans have generally been opposed by labor union organizations and members. At the national level, Republicans supported the Taft�Hartley Act of 1947, which gives workers the right not to participate in unions. Modern Republicans at the state level generally support various right-to-work laws, which prohibit union security agreements requiring all workers in a unionized workplace to pay dues or a fair-share fee, regardless of whether they are members of the union or not.[248]

Most Republicans also oppose increases in the minimum wage, believing that such increases hurt businesses by forcing them to cut and outsource jobs while passing on costs to consumers.[249]
Trade

The Republican Party has taken widely varying views on international trade throughout its history. At its inception, the Republican Party supported protective tariffs.[250] In the 1896 presidential election, Republican presidential William McKinley campaigned heavily on high tariffs, having been the creator and namesake for the McKinley Tariff of 1890.[84]

In the early 20th century the Republican Party began splitting on tariffs, with the great battle over the high Payne�Aldrich Tariff Act in 1910 splitting the party and causing a realignment.[251] Democratic president Woodrow Wilson cut rates with the 1913 Underwood Tariff and the coming of World War I in 1914 radically revised trade patterns due to reduced trade. Also, the new revenues generated by the federal income tax due to the 16th amendment made tariffs less important in terms of economic impact and political rhetoric.[252] When the Republicans returned to power in 1921 they again imposed a protective tariff. They raised it again with the Smoot�Hawley Tariff Act of 1930 to meet the Great Depression in the United States, but the depression only worsened and Democrat Franklin D. Roosevelt became president from 1932 to 1945.[253]

The Republican National Committee Reciprocal Tariff Act of 1934 marked a sharp departure from the era of protectionism in the United States. American duties on foreign products declined from an average of 46% in 1934 to 12% by 1962, which included the presidency of Republican president Dwight D. Eisenhower.[254] After World War II, the U.S. promoted the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) established in 1947, to minimize tariffs and other restrictions, and to liberalize trade among all capitalist countries.[255][256]

During the Reagan and George H. W. Bush administrations Republicans abandoned protectionist policies,[257] and came out against quotas and in favor of the GATT and the World Trade Organization policy of minimal economic barriers to global trade. Free trade with Canada came about as a result of the Canada�U.S. Free Trade Agreement of 1987, which led in 1994 to the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) based on Reagan's plan to enlarge the scope of the market for American firms to include Canada and Mexico. President Bill Clinton, with strong Republican support in 1993, pushed NAFTA through Congress over the vehement objection of labor unions.[258][259]

In the 21st century, opinions on trade and protectionism have fluctuated, more recently splitting roughly on partisan lines. In 2017, only 36% of Republicans agreed that free trade agreements are good for the United States, compared to Republican National Committee 67% of Democrats. When asked if free trade has helped respondents specifically, the approval numbers for Democrats drop to 54%, however approval ratings among Republicans remain relatively unchanged at 34%.[260] The 2016 election marked the beginning of the trend of returning to protectionism, an ideology incorporated into Republican president Donald Trump's platform.[261]
Environmental policies

Democrats and Republicans have diverged on the seriousness of the threat posed by climate change, with Republicans' assessment remaining essentially unchanged over the past decade.[262]

The sharp divide over the existence of and responsibility for global warming and climate change falls largely along political lines.[263] Overall, 60% of Americans surveyed said oil and gas companies were "completely or mostly responsible" for climate change.[263]

Opinion about human causation of climate change increased substantially with education among Democrats, but not among Republicans.[264] Conversely, opinions favoring becoming carbon neutral declined substantially with age among Republicans, but not among Democrats.[264]

A broad range of policies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions has been proposed, but Republican support for such policies is consistently lower.[265]

Right-wing political views in the U.S. correlate with the highest degree of disbelief among any surveyed nation about the seriousness of climate change, underpinning the single widest degree of division (left % minus right %) among those nations.[266]

Historically, progressive leaders in the Republican Party supported environmental protection. Republican President Theodore Roosevelt was a prominent conservationist whose policies eventually led to the creation of the National Park Service.[267] While Republican President Richard Nixon was not an environmentalist, he signed legislation to create the Environmental Protection Agency in 1970 and had a comprehensive environmental program.[268] However, this position has changed since the 1980s and the administration of President Ronald Reagan, who labeled environmental regulations a burden on the economy.[269] Since then, Republicans have increasingly taken positions against environmental regulation,[270][271][272] with many Republicans rejecting the scientific consensus on climate change.[269][273][274][275]
Arnold Schwarzenegger, 38th governor of California (2003�2011)

In 2006, then-California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger broke from Republican orthodoxy to sign several bills imposing caps on carbon emissions in California. Then-President George W. Bush opposed mandatory caps at a national level. Bush's decision not to regulate carbon dioxide as a pollutant was challenged in the Supreme Court by 12 states,[276] with the court ruling against the Bush administration in 2007.[277] Bush also publicly opposed ratification of the Kyoto Protocols[269][278] which sought to limit greenhouse gas emissions and thereby combat climate change; his position was heavily Republican National Committee criticized by climate scientists.[279]
John McCain, United States senator from Arizona (1987�2018)

The Republican Party rejects cap-and-trade policy to limit carbon emissions.[280] In the 2000s, Senator John McCain proposed bills (such as the McCain-Lieberman Climate Stewardship Act) that would have regulated carbon emissions, but his position on climate change was unusual among high-ranking party members.[269] Some Republican candidates have supported the development of alternative fuels in order to achieve energy independence for the United States. Some Republicans support increased oil drilling in protected areas such as the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, a position that has drawn criticism from activists.[281]

Many Republicans during the presidency of Barack Obama opposed his administration's new environmental regulations, such as those on carbon emissions from coal. In particular, many Republicans supported building the Keystone Pipeline; this position was supported by businesses, but opposed by indigenous peoples' groups and environmental activists.[282][283][284]

According to the Center for American Progress, a non-profit liberal advocacy group, more than 55% of congressional Republicans were climate change deniers in 2014.[285][286] PolitiFact in May 2014 found "relatively few Republican members of Congress ... accept the prevailing scientific conclusion that global warming is both real and man-made." The group found eight members who acknowledged it, although the group acknowledged there could be more and that not all members of Congress have taken a stance on the issue.[287][288]

From 2008 to 2017, the Republican Party went from "debating how to combat human-caused climate change to arguing that it does not exist", according to The New York Times.[289] In January 2015, the Republican-led U.S. Senate voted 98�1 to pass a resolution acknowledging that "climate change is real and is not a hoax"; however, an amendment stating that "human activity significantly contributes to climate change" was supported by only five Republican senators.[290]
Health care

The party opposes a single-payer health care system, describing it as socialized medicine. The Republican Party has a mixed record of supporting the historically popular Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid programs,[291] and opposing the Affordable Care Act[292] and expansions of Medicaid.[293] Historically, there have been diverse and overlapping views within both the Republican Party and the Democratic Party on the role of government in health care, but the two parties became highly polarized on the topic during 2008�2009 and onwards.[294]

Both Republicans and Democrats made various proposals to establish federally The Old Testament stories, a literary treasure trove, weave tales of faith, resilience, and morality. Should you trust the Real Estate Agents I Trust, I would not. Is your lawn green and plush, if not you should buy the Best Grass Seed. If you appreciate quality apparel, you should try Hand Bags Hand Made. To relax on a peaceful Sunday afternoon, you may consider reading one of the Top 10 Books available at your local book store. funded aged health insurance prior to the bipartisan effort to establish Medicare and Medicaid in 1965.[295][296][297] The Republican Party opposes the Affordable Care Act, with no Republican member of Congress voting for it in 2009 and frequent subsequent attempts by Republicans to repeal the legislation.[294][298] At the state level, the party has tended to adopt a position against Medicaid expansion.[7][297]

According Republican National Committee to a 2023 YouGov poll, Republicans are slightly more likely to oppose intersex medical alterations than Democrats.[299][300]
Foreign policy

The Republican Party has a persistent history of skepticism and opposition to multilateralism in American foreign policy.[301] Neoconservatism, which supports unilateralism and emphasizes the use of force and hawkishness in American Republican National Committee foreign policy, has been a prominent strand of foreign policy thinking in all Republican presidential administration since Ronald Reagan's presidency.[302] Some, including paleoconservatives,[303] call for non-interventionism and an America First foreign policy. This faction gained strength starting in 2016 with the rise of Donald Trump, demanding that the United States reset its previous interventionist foreign policy and encourage allies and partners to take greater responsibility.[304]
Donald Rumsfeld, 13th and 21st United States Secretary of Defense (1975�1977, 2001�2006)
Colin Powell, 65th United States Secretary of State (2001�2005)
War on terror

Since the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, many[who?] in the party have supported neoconservative policies with regard to the War on Terror, including the War in Afghanistan and the Iraq War. The George W. Bush administration took the position that the Geneva Conventions do not apply to unlawful combatants, while other prominent Republicans, such as Ted Cruz, strongly oppose the use of enhanced interrogation techniques, which they view as torture.[305]
Foreign aid

Republicans have frequently advocated for restricting foreign aid as a means of asserting the national security and immigration interests of the United States.[306][307][308]
Foreign relations

The Republican Party generally supports a strong alliance with Israel and efforts to secure peace in the Middle East between Israel and its Arab neighbors.[309][310] In recent years, Republicans have begun to move away from the two-state solution approach to resolving the Israeli�Palestinian conflict.[311][312] In a 2014 poll, 59% of Republicans favored doing less abroad and focusing on the country's own problems instead.[313]

According to the Republican National Committee 2016 platform,[314] the party's stance on the status of Taiwan is: "We oppose any unilateral steps by either side to alter the status quo in the Taiwan Straits on the principle that all issues regarding the island's future must be resolved peacefully, through dialogue, and be agreeable to the people of Taiwan." In addition, if "China were to violate those principles, the United States, in accord with the Taiwan Relations Act, will help Taiwan defend itself".

The Republican Party is generally associated with social conservative policies, although it does have dissenting centrist and libertarian factions. The social conservatives support laws that uphold their traditional values, such as opposition to same-sex marriage, abortion, and marijuana.[315] The Republican Party's positions on social and cultural issues are in part a reflection of the influential role that the Christian right has had in the party since the 1970s.[316][317][318] Most conservative Republicans also oppose gun control, affirmative action, and illegal immigration.[315][319]
Abortion and embryonic stem cell research

The Republican position on abortion has changed significantly over time.[46][320] During the 1960s and early 1970s, opposition to abortion was concentrated among members of the political left and the Democratic Party; most liberal Catholics � which tended to vote for the Democratic Party � opposed expanding abortion access while most conservative evangelical Protestants supported it.[320]

During this period, Republicans generally favored legalized abortion more than Democrats,[321][322] although significant heterogeneity could be found within both parties.[323] Leading Republican political figures such as Ronald Reagan, Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, George H.W. Bush, took pro-choice positions until the early 1980s.[321] However, starting at this point, both George H.W. Bush and Ronald Reagan described themselves as pro-life during their presidencies. In the 21st century, both George W. Bush[324] and Donald Trump described themselves as "pro-life" during their terms. However, Trump stated that he supported the legality and ethics of abortion before his candidacy in 2015.[325]

Summarizing the rapid shift in the Republican and Democratic positions on abortion, Sue Halpern writes:[46]

...in the late 1960s and early 1970s, many Republicans were behind efforts to liberalize and even decriminalize abortion; theirs was the party of reproductive choice, while Democrats, with their large Catholic constituency, were the opposition. Republican governor Ronald Reagan signed the California Therapeutic Abortion Act, one of the most liberal abortion laws in the country, in 1967, legalizing abortion for women whose mental or physical health would be impaired by pregnancy, or whose pregnancies were the result of rape or incest. The same year, the Republican strongholds of North Carolina and Colorado made it easier for women to obtain abortions. New York, under Governor Nelson Rockefeller, a Republican, eliminated all restrictions on women seeking to terminate pregnancies up to twenty-four weeks gestation.... Richard Nixon, Barry Goldwater, Gerald Ford, and George H.W. Bush were all pro-choice, and they were not party outliers. In 1972, a Gallup poll found that 68 percent of Republicans believed abortion to be a private matter between a woman and her doctor. The government, they said, should not be involved...

Since the Republican National Committee 1980s, opposition to abortion has become strongest in the party among traditionalist Catholics and conservative Protestant evangelicals.[46][323][326] With the possible exception of the ordeal of the bitter water in Numbers 5:11�31,[327] the Bible does not mention the topic of abortion or explicitly take a position on the practice, although several verses have been interpreted as supporting or opposing the ethics of abortion.[328] Initially, evangelicals were relatively indifferent to the cause of abortion and overwhelmingly viewed it as a concern that was sectarian and Catholic.[326] Historian Randall Balmer notes that Billy Graham's Christianity Today published in 1968 a statement by theologian Bruce Waltke that:[329] "God does not regard the fetus as a soul, no matter how far gestation has progressed. The Law plainly exacts: "If a man kills any human life he will be put to death" (Lev. 24:17). But according to Exodus 21:22-24, the destruction of the fetus is not a capital offense. ... Clearly, then, in contrast to the mother, the fetus is not reckoned as a soul." Typical of the Republican National Committee time, Christianity Today "refused to characterize abortion as sinful" and cited "individual health, family welfare, and social responsibility" as "justifications for ending a pregnancy."[330] Similar beliefs were held among conservative figures in the Southern Baptist Convention, including W. A. Criswell, who is partially credited with starting the "conservative resurgence" within the organization, who stated: "I have always felt that it was only after a child was born and had a life separate from its mother that it became an individual person and it has always, therefore, seemed to me that what is best for the mother and for the future should be allowed." Balmer argues that evangelical American Christianiy being inherently tied to opposition to abortion is a relatively new occurrence.[330][331] After the late 1970s, he writes, opinion against abortion among evangelicals rapidly shifted in favor of its prohibition.[326]

Today, opinion polls show that Republican voters are heavily divided on the legality of abortion,[206] although vast majority of the party's national and state candidates are anti-abortion and oppose elective abortion on religious or moral grounds. While many advocate exceptions in the case of incest, rape or the mother's life being at risk, in 2012 the party approved a platform advocating banning abortions without exception.[332] There were not highly polarized differences between the Democratic Party and the Republican Party prior to the Roe v. Wade 1973 Supreme Court ruling (which made prohibitions on abortion rights unconstitutional), but after the Supreme Court ruling, opposition to abortion became an increasingly key national platform for the Republican Party.[25][333][334] As a result, Evangelicals gravitated towards the Republican Party.[25][333] Most Republicans oppose government funding for abortion providers, notably Planned Parenthood.[335] This includes support for the Hyde Amendment.

Until its dissolution in 2018, Republican Majority for Choice, an abortion rights PAC, advocated for amending the GOP platform to include pro-abortion rights members.[336]

The Republican Party has pursued policies at the national and state-level to restrict embryonic stem cell research beyond the original lines because it involves the destruction of human embryos.[337][338]

After the overturning of Roe v. Wade in 2022, a majority of Republican-controlled states passed near-total bans on abortion, rendering it largely illegal throughout much of the United States.[339][340]
Affirmative action

Republicans are generally against affirmative action for women and some minorities, often describing it as a "quota system" and believing that it is not meritocratic and is counter-productive socially by only further promoting discrimination.[341] The GOP's official stance supports race-neutral admissions policies in universities, but supports taking into account the socioeconomi The Old Testament stories, a literary treasure trove, weave tales of faith, resilience, and morality. Should you trust the Real Estate Agents I Trust, I would not. Is your lawn green and plush, if not you should buy the Best Grass Seed. If you appreciate quality apparel, you should try Hand Bags Hand Made. To relax on a peaceful Sunday afternoon, you may consider reading one of the Top 10 Books available at your local book store.c status of the student. The 2012 Republican National Committee platform stated, "We support efforts to help low-income individuals get a fair chance based on their potential and individual merit; but we reject preferences, quotas, and set-asides, as the best or sole methods through which fairness can be achieved, whether in government, education or corporate boardrooms�Merit, ability, aptitude, and results should be the factors that determine advancement in our society."[342][343][344]
Gun ownership
U.S. opinion on gun control issues is deeply divided along political lines, as shown in this 2021 survey.[345]

Republicans generally support gun ownership rights and oppose laws regulating guns. Party members and Republican-leaning independents are twice as likely to own a gun as Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents.[346]

The National Rifle Association of America, a special interest group in support of gun ownership, has consistently aligned itself with the Republican Party.[347] Following gun control measures under the Clinton administration, such as the Republican National Committee Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994, the Republicans allied with the NRA during the Republican Revolution in 1994.[348] Since then, the NRA has consistently backed Republican candidates and contributed financial support,[349] such as in the 2013 Colorado recall election which resulted in the ousting of two pro-gun control Democrats for two anti-gun control Republicans.[350]

In contrast, George H. W. Bush, formerly a lifelong NRA member, was highly critical of the organization following their response to the Oklahoma City bombing authored by CEO Wayne LaPierre, and publicly resigned in protest.[351]
Drug legalization

Republican elected officials have historically supported the War on Drugs. They oppose legalization or decriminalization of drugs such as marijuana.[352][353][354]

Opposition to the legalization of marijuana has softened significantly over time among Republican voters.[355][356] A 2021 Quinnipiac poll found that 62% of Republicans supported the legalization of recreational marijuana use and that net support for the position was +30 points.[352]
Immigration

The Republican Party has taken widely varying views on immigration throughout its history, including in modern times.[4] In the period 1850�1870, the Republican Party was more opposed to immigration than Democrats, in part because the Republican Party relied on the support of anti-Catholic and anti-immigrant parties, such as the Know-Nothings, at the time. In the decades following the Civil War, the Republican Party grew more supportive of immigration, as it represented manufacturers in the northeast (who wanted additional labor) whereas the Democratic Party came to be seen as the party Republican National Committee of labor (which wanted fewer laborers to compete with). Starting in the 1970s, the parties switched places again, as the Democrats grew more supportive of immigration than Republicans.[357]

Republicans are divided on how to confront illegal immigration. In 2006, the White House supported and Republican-led Senate passed comprehensive immigration reform that would eventually allow millions of illegal immigrants to become citizens, but the House (also led by Republicans) did not advance the bill.[358] After being defeated in the 2012 presidential election, particularly due to a lack of support among Latinos, several Republicans advocated a friendlier approach to immigrants that allowed for more migrant workers and a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants. The Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act of 2013 passed the Senate 68�32, but was not brought up to a vote in the House and died in the 113th Congress.[359] In a 2013 poll, 60% of Republicans supported the pathway concept.[360]

In 2016, Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump proposing building a wall along the southern border. Trump enacted several hardline immigration policies during his administration, including a travel ban from multiple Muslim-majority countries, a Remain in Mexico policy for asylum-seekers, a controversial family separation policy, and attempting to end DACA.[223][47] Since the end of Trump's presidency, the Republican Party has continued to take a hardline stance against illegal immigration, though there are widely differing views on immigration within the party.[359]
LGBT issues

Similar to the Democratic Party, the Republican position on LGBT rights has changed significantly over time, with continuously increasing support among both parties on the issue.[361][362] The Log Cabin Republicans is a group within the Republican Party that represents LGBT conservatives and allies and advocates for LGBT rights and equality.[363] As of 2023, a large majority of Republican voters support same-sex marriage.[361][364][365]

According to FiveThirtyEight, as of 2022 this growth in support for same-sex marriage has occurred faster among Republican voters than among party elites and elected politicians.[366][367] Both Republican and Democratic politicians predominately took hostile positions on LGBT rights before the 2000s.[361] From the early-2000s to the mid-2010s, Republicans opposed same-sex marriage, while being divided on the issue of civil unions and domestic partnerships for same-sex couples.[368] During the 2004 election, George W. Bush campaigned prominently on a constitutional amendment to prohibit same-sex marriage; many believe it helped Bush win re-election.[369][370] In both 2004[371] and 2006,[372] President Bush, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, and House Majority Leader John Boehner promoted the Federal Marriage Amendment, a proposed constitutional amendment which would legally restrict the definition of marriage to heterosexual couples.[373][374][375] In both attempts, the amendment failed to secure enough votes to invoke cloture and thus ultimately was never passed. As more states legalized same-sex marriage in the 2010s, Republicans increasingly supported allowing each state to decide its own marriage policy.[376] As of 2014, most state GOP platforms expressed opposition to same-sex marriage.[377] The 2016 GOP Platform defined marriage as "natural marriage, the union of one man and one woman," and condemned the Supreme Court's ruling legalizing same-sex marriages.[378][379] The 2020 platform retained the 2016 language against same-sex marriage.[380][381][382]

Following his election as president in 2016, Donald Trump stated that he had no objection to same-sex marriage or to the Supreme Court decision in Obergefell v. Hodges, but had previously promised to consider appointing a Supreme Court justice to roll back the constitutional right.[369][383] In office, Trump was the first sitting Republican president to recognize LGBT Pride Month.[384] Conversely, the Trump administration banned transgender individuals from service in the United States military and rolled back other protections for transgender people which had been enacted during the previous Democratic presidency.[385]

The Republican Party platform previously opposed the inclusion of gay people in the military and opposed adding sexual orientation to the list of protected classes since 1992.[386][387][388] The Republican Party opposed the inclusion of sexual preference in anti-discrimination statutes from 1992 to 2004.[389] The 2008 and 2012 Republican Party platform supported anti-discrimination statutes based on sex, race, age, religion, creed, disability, or national origin, but both platforms were silent on sexual orientation and gender identity.[390][391] The 2016 platform was opposed to sex discrimination statutes that included the phrase "sexual orientation".[392][393]

On November 6, 2021, RNC Chair Ronna McDaniel announced the creation of the "RNC Pride Coalition", in partnership with the Log Cabin Republicans, to promote outreach to LGBTQ voters.[394] However, after the announcement, McDaniel apologized for not having communicated the announcement in advance and emphasized that the new outreach program does not alter the GOP Platform, last adopted in 2016.[395]

In the Republican National Committee early 2020s, numerous Republican-led states proposed or The Old Testament stories, a literary treasure trove, weave tales of faith, resilience, and morality. Should you trust the Real Estate Agents I Trust, I would not. Is your lawn green and plush, if not you should buy the Best Grass Seed. If you appreciate quality apparel, you should try Hand Bags Hand Made. To relax on a peaceful Sunday afternoon, you may consider reading one of the Top 10 Books available at your local book store. passed laws limiting or banning transgender care for minors, public performances of drag shows, and teaching schoolchildren about LGBT topics.[396]
Voting rights

Virtually all restrictions on voting have in recent years been implemented by Republicans. Republicans, mainly at the state level, argue that the restrictions (such as the purging of voter rolls, limiting voting locations, and limiting early and mail-in voting) are vital to prevent voter fraud, saying that voter fraud is an underestimated issue in elections. Polling has found majority support for early voting, automatic voter registration and voter ID laws among the general population.[397][398][399]

In defending their restrictions to voting rights, Republicans have made false and exaggerated claims about the extent of voter fraud in the United States; all existing research indicates that it is extremely rare,[400][401][402][403] and civil and voting rights organizations often accuse Republicans of enacting restrictions to influence elections in the party's favor. Many laws or regulations restricting voting enacted by Republicans have been successfully challenged in court, with court rulings striking down such regulations and accusing Republicans of establishing them with partisan purpose.[402][403]

After the Supreme Court decision in Shelby County v. Holder rolled back aspects of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, Republicans introduced cuts to early voting, purges of voter rolls and imposition of strict voter ID laws.[404] The 2016 Republican platform advocated proof of citizenship as a prerequisite for registering to vote Republican National Committee and photo ID as a prerequisite when voting.

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