Republican Party (United States)

{{pp-semi-indef|small=yes}} {{Redirect|GOP}} {{For|the 1792–1825 party|Democratic-Republican Party}} {{POV|date=May 2026}} {{Protection padlock|small=yes}} {{Use American English|date=May 2022}} {{Use mdy dates|date=August 2025}}{{Infobox political party | name = Republican Party | logo = GOP logo (positive).svg | symbol = 100px | logo_size = 250 | colorcode = {{party color|Republican Party (United States)}} | chairperson = Joe Gruters | governing_body = Republican National Committee | leader1_title = U.S. President | leader1_name = Donald Trump | leader2_title = U.S. Vice President | leader2_name = JD Vance | leader4_title = Senate Majority Leader | leader4_name = John Thune | leader5_title = House Majority Leader | leader5_name = Steve Scalise | leader3_title = Speaker of the House | leader3_name = Mike Johnson | founders = {{plainlist| *Alvan E. Bovay<ref name = college>[http://content.wisconsinhistory.org/cdm4/document.php?CISOROOT=/tp&CISOPTR=46379&CISOSHOW=46363 ''The Origin of the Republican Party''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120322223415/http://content.wisconsinhistory.org/cdm4/document.php?CISOROOT=%2Ftp&CISOPTR=46379&CISOSHOW=46363 |date=March 22, 2012 }} by Prof. A. F. Gilman, Ripon College, WI, 1914.</ref> *Henry Jarvis Raymond<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/03/19/a-very-mad-man/ |title=A Very Mad-Man|last=Widmer|first=Ted|department=Opinionator|access-date=March 12, 2017|work=The New York Times|date=March 19, 2011 }}</ref> * Horace Greeley * John C. Frémont * Francis Preston Blair * Edwin D. Morgan * Amos Tuck * Salmon P. Chase }} | foundation = {{start date and age|1854|3|20}} Ripon, Wisconsin, U.S. | merger = Whig Party<ref>{{#invoke:cite|web|title=Political Parties |url=https://digital.lib.niu.edu/illinois/lincoln/topics/message/parties |access-date=May 27, 2024 |website=Northern Illinois University Digital Library |archive-date=May 17, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240517050217/https://digital.lib.niu.edu/illinois/lincoln/topics/message/parties |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Howe |first=Daniel Walker |date=Winter 1995 |title=Why Abraham Lincoln Was a Whig |url=http://hdl.handle.net/2027/spo.2629860.0016.105 |journal=Journal of the Abraham Lincoln Association |volume=16 |issue=1 |pages=27–38 |doi=10.5406/19457987.16.1.05 |hdl=2027/spo.2629860.0016.105 |issn=1945-7987|hdl-access=free }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:cite|web|title=Historical Context: The Breakdown of the Party System {{!}} Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History |url=https://www.gilderlehrman.org/history-resources/teaching-resource/historical-context-breakdown-party-system |access-date=May 27, 2024 |website= |archive-date=May 18, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240518041908/https://www.gilderlehrman.org/history-resources/teaching-resource/historical-context-breakdown-party-system |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="e238">{{#invoke:cite|web| title=Major American Political Parties of the 19th Century | website=Norwich University Resource Library | url=https://online.norwich.edu/online/about/resource-library/major-american-political-parties-19th-century | access-date=May 28, 2024 | archive-date=May 17, 2024 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240517033817/https://online.norwich.edu/online/about/resource-library/major-american-political-parties-19th-century | url-status=live }}</ref> Free Soil Party<ref>McPherson, James (2003) [1988]. ''The Illustrated Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era''. Oxford University Press. p. 129. {{ISBN|978-0-19-974390-2}}.</ref> Anti-Nebraska movement<ref>James M. McPherson, ''Ordeal by Fire: Volume I. The Coming of War'', second edition ({{ISBN|0-07045837-5}}) p. 94.</ref> | headquarters = 310 First Street SE, Washington, D.C., U.S. | student_wing = College Republicans High School Republican National Federation | youth_wing = {{unbulleted list|Young Republicans|Teen Age Republicans}} | womens_wing = National Federation of Republican Women | wing1_title = Overseas wing | wing1 = Republicans Overseas | position = Right-wing to far-right<ref> * {{Cite web |date=March 17, 2026|title=DEMOCRACY REPORT 2026: Unraveling The Democratic Era?|url=https://v-dem.net/documents/75/V-Dem_Institute_Democracy_Report_2026_lowres.pdf|access-date=March 22, 2026|website=V-Dem Institute|quote=One notable shift is the transformation of the Republican Party to endorsing a far-right, nationalist, and anti-pluralist agenda. Nationalist, anti-liberal, far-right parties and leaders have largely driven the "third wave of autocratization." Yet the USA stands out as the only case where such movement seized control over one party in a rigid two-party system.}} * {{Citation |last=McKay |first=David |title=Facilitating Donald Trump: Populism, the Republican Party and Media Manipulation |date=2020 |work=Authoritarian Populism and Liberal Democracy |pages=107–121 |editor-last=Crewe |editor-first=Ivor |url=https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-17997-7_7 |access-date=June 13, 2024 |place=Cham |publisher=Springer International Publishing |language=en |doi=10.1007/978-3-030-17997-7_7 |isbn=978-3-030-17997-7 |quote="The first was the transformation of the Republican Party from a centre-right party used to brokering policy solutions with the Democrats to a far-right insurgent outlier intent on imposing its will through manipulation and confrontation." |editor2-last=Sanders |editor2-first=David |url-access=subscription }} * {{Cite journal |last1=Arhin |first1=Kofi |last2=Stockemer |first2=Daniel |last3=Normandin |first3=Marie-Soleil |date=May 29, 2023 |title=THE REPUBLICAN TRUMP VOTER: A Populist Radical Right Voter Like Any Other? |journal=World Affairs |language=en |volume=186 |issue=3 |doi=10.1177/00438200231176818 |issn=1940-1582 |doi-access=free |quote= In this article, we first illustrate that the Republican Party, or at least the dominant wing, which supports or tolerates Donald Trump and his Make America Great Again (MAGA) agenda have become a proto-typical populist radical right-wing party (PRRP).}} * {{#invoke:cite|web|last=Greenberg |first=David |date=January 27, 2021 |title=An Intellectual History of Trumpism |url=https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2016/12/trumpism-intellectual-history-populism-paleoconservatives-214518/ |access-date=June 13, 2024 |website=Politico Magazine |quote="The larger ideology that the president-elect represents is a post-Iraq War, post-crash, post-Barack Obama update of what used to be called paleoconservatism: On race and immigration, where the alt-right affinities are most pronounced, its populist ideas are carrying an already right-wing party even further right." |archive-date=April 11, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240411023158/https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2016/12/trumpism-intellectual-history-populism-paleoconservatives-214518/ |url-status=live }}</ref> | ideology =  {{unbulleted list|class=nowrap| |Right-wing populism{{efn|Includes Trumpism<ref name="Ball 2024"/><ref name="v075"/><ref name="i277"/>}}<ref name="different" />{{refn|name="Dominant"}} |Neo-nationalism (US)<ref name="different" /><ref name=":499">{{Cite web |date=March 17, 2026|title=DEMOCRACY REPORT 2026: Unraveling The Democratic Era?|url=https://v-dem.net/documents/75/V-Dem_Institute_Democracy_Report_2026_lowres.pdf|access-date=March 22, 2026|website=V-Dem Institute|quote=One notable shift is the transformation of the Republican Party to endorsing a far-right, nationalist, and anti-pluralist agenda. Nationalist, anti-liberal, far-right parties and leaders have largely driven the “third wave of autocratization.” Yet the USA stands out as the only case where such movement seized control over one party in a rigid two-party system.}}</ref> }} '''Factions''':{{unbulleted list|class=nowrap| | Conservatism (US){{efn|Reagan-era conservatism, generally considered to be a leading faction of the party that is distinct from national-populism, is now a minority.<ref name="different" /> Due to the hegemonic historical influence of classical liberalism on American conservatism, scholars disagree on whether Trumpism is a form of, outgrowth, or deviation away from the ideology, a subject discussed in Max Boot's ''Reagan: His Life and Legend''.<ref name="different" /><ref>{{Cite news |last=Burns |first=Jennifer |date=2024-09-09 |title=Did Ronald Reagan Pave the Way for Donald Trump? |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2024/09/09/books/review/reagan-max-boot.html |access-date=2026-05-12 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> The GOP continues to generally adhere to socially conservative positions, and scholars have noted analogies between Trumpism and national conservative parties.<ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Meaney |first=Thomas |title=Trumpism After Trump: Will the movement outlive the man? |language=en |volume=February 2020 |magazine=Harper's Magazine |url=https://harpers.org/archive/2020/02/trumpism-after-trump/ |access-date=July 8, 2023 |issn=0017-789X}}</ref>}}<ref name="different" /><ref name=":499"/> |Christian right{{refn| * {{cite book |author=|editor-last1=Baker|editor-first1=Paula|editor-last2=Critchlow|editor-first2=Donald T.|date=2020 |title=The Oxford Handbook of American Political History |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Rd7QDwAAQBAJ |location=New York City |publisher=Oxford University Press |chapter=Chapter 15: Religion and American Politics |pages=278–294 |isbn=9780199341788}} * {{cite encyclopedia |last=Lewis |first=Andrew R. |encyclopedia=Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Politics |title=The Inclusion-Moderation Thesis: The U.S. Republican Party and the Christian Right |doi=10.1093/acrefore/9780190228637.013.665|date=August 28, 2019 |publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-022863-7 |quote=Considering all the evidence, the most apt description is that conservative Christianity has transformed the Republican Party, and the Republican Party has transformed conservative Christianity ... With its inclusion in the Republican Party, the Christian right has moderated on some aspects ... At the same time, the Christian right has altered Republican politics. }} * {{cite journal |author-last=Perry |author-first=Samuel L. |date=2022 |title=American Religion in the Era of Increasing Polarization |journal=Annual Review of Sociology |location=San Mateo, California |publisher=Annual Reviews |volume=48 |issue=1 |pages=87–107 |doi=10.1146/annurev-soc-031021-114239 |doi-access=free |issn=0360-0572 |quote=Unaffiliated Americans were not abandoning orthodox beliefs, but rather, the increase in "no religion" was confined to political moderates and liberals who were likely reacting to the growing alignment of Christian identity with the religious Right and Republicans.|quote-page=91}} * {{cite book |author=|editor-last1=Berlet |editor-first1=Chip |editor-last2=Hardisty|editor-first2=Berlet|date=2019 |edition=1 |title=Trumping Democracy: From Reagan to the Alt-right |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aL8ktAEACAAJ |location=London |publisher=Routledge |chapter=Drifting Right and going wrong: An overview of the US political Right |chapter-url=https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9781315438412-9/drifting-right-going-wrong-1-chip-berlet-jean-hardisty|page=91 |doi=10.4324/9781315438412-9 |isbn=9781315438412|quote=Within the Republican Party, the Christian Right competes with more secular, upstart free market libertarianism and button-down business conservatism for dominance.}} * {{cite journal |author-last=Gannon |author-first=Thomas M. |date=July–September 1981 |title=The New Christian Right in America as a Social and Political Force |url=https://www.persee.fr/doc/assr_0335-5985_1981_num_52_1_2226 |journal=Archives de sciences sociales des religions |location=Paris |publisher=Éditions de l'EHESS |volume=26 |issue=52–1 |pages=69–83 |doi=10.3406/assr.1981.2226 |doi-access=free |issn=0335-5985 |jstor=30125411}} * {{cite journal |author-last=Ben Barka |author-first=Mokhtar |date=December 2012 |title=The New Christian Right's relations with Israel and with the American Jews: the mid-1970s onward |journal=E-Rea |location=Aix-en-Provence and Marseille |publisher=Centre pour l'Édition Électronique Ouverte on behalf of Aix-Marseille University |volume=10 |issue=1 |doi=10.4000/erea.2753 |doi-access=free |issn=1638-1718 |s2cid=191364375}} * {{cite book |author1-last=Palmer |author1-first=Randall |author2-last=Winner |author2-first=Lauren F. |year=2005 |orig-date=2002 |chapter=Protestants and Homosexuality |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hMVH6upbI9QC&pg=PA149 |title=Protestantism in America |location=New York City |publisher=Columbia University Press |series=Columbia Contemporary American Religion Series |pages=149–178 |isbn=9780231111317 |lccn=2002023859}} * {{#invoke:cite|web|url=http://hirr.hartsem.edu/ency/Cright.htm|title=Content Pages of the Encyclopedia of Religion and Social Science|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303230556/http://hirr.hartsem.edu/ency/Cright.htm|archive-date=March 3, 2016}} * {{cite magazine |author-last=Trollinger |author-first=William |date=October 8, 2019 |title=Fundamentalism turns 100, a landmark for the Christian Right |url=http://theconversation.com/fundamentalism-turns-100-a-landmark-for-the-christian-right-123651 |url-status=live |magazine=The Conversation |issn=2201-5639 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220507013412/https://theconversation.com/fundamentalism-turns-100-a-landmark-for-the-christian-right-123651 |archive-date=May 7, 2022 |access-date=July 3, 2022|quote=The emergent Christian Right attached itself to the Republican Party, which was more aligned with its members' central commitments than the Democrats ... By the time Falwell died, in 2007, the Christian Right had become the most important constituency in the Republican Party. It played a crucial role in electing Donald Trump in 2016.}} * {{cite news |last=Thomson-DeVeaux |first=Amelia |date=October 27, 2022 |title=How Much Power Do Christians Really Have? |url=https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/how-much-power-do-christians-really-have/ |url-status=dead |work=FiveThirtyEight |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240410175350/https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/how-much-power-do-christians-really-have/ |archive-date=April 10, 2024 |access-date=June 16, 2024 |quote=In the 1980s and 1990s, as white Christian conservatives forged an alliance with the Republican Party, Christianity itself started to become a partisan symbol. Identifying as a Christian was no longer just about theology, community or family history — to many Americans, the label became uncomfortably tangled with the Christian Right's political agenda, which was itself becoming increasingly hard to separate from the GOP's political agenda.}} }} |Right-libertarianism (US)<ref name="Wilbur-2012">{{cite book|last=Wilbur |first=Miller |date=2012 |title=The Social History of Crime and Punishment in America |volume=3 |chapter=Libertarianism|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tYME6Z35nyAC |location=Thousand Oaks, California |publisher=SAGE Publications |pages=1006{{ndash}}1007 |isbn=978-1-4129-8876-6 |quote=While right-libertarianism has been equated with libertarianism in general in the United States, left-libertarianism has become a more predominant aspect of politics in western European democracies over the past three decades. ... Since the 1950s, libertarianism in the United States has been associated almost exclusively with right-libertarianism ... As such, right-libertarianism in the United States remains a fruitful discourse with which to articulate conservative claims, even as it lacks political efficacy as a separate ideology. However, even without its own movement, libertarian sensibility informs numerous social movements in the United States, including the U.S. patriot movement, the gun-rights movement, and the incipient Tea Party movement.}}</ref> }} | affiliation1_title = Caucuses | affiliation1 = {{indented plainlist| * Republican Governance Group * Republican Main Street Partnership * Republican Study Committee * Freedom Caucus}} | international = {{Tree list}} * International Democracy Union<ref>{{#invoke:cite|web|url=http://idu.org/member-parties/|title=Members|publisher=IDU|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150716031006/http://idu.org/member-parties/|archive-date=July 16, 2015}}</ref> ** Asia Pacific Democracy Union<ref>{{#invoke:cite|web|title=Regional Unions |url=http://www.idu.org/regional_list.aspx?id=1 |website=International Democracy Union |access-date=August 19, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100617014146/http://www.idu.org/regional_list.aspx?id=1 |archive-date=June 17, 2010 |url-status=dead}}</ref> ** European Conservatives and Reformists Party (global partner)<ref>{{#invoke:cite|web|title=About – ECR Party |url=https://ecrparty.eu/about/ |website=European Conservatives and Reformists Party |access-date=August 19, 2024 |date=August 4, 2022 |archive-date=July 1, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230701085842/https://ecrparty.eu/about/ |url-status=live }}</ref> {{Tree list/end}} | colors = {{color box|{{party color|Republican Party (US)}}|border=darkgray}} Red | seats1_title = Senate | seats1 = {{composition bar|53|100|hex={{party color|Republican Party (US)}}}} | seats2_title = House of Representatives | seats2 = {{composition bar|217|435|hex={{party color|Republican Party (US)}}|ref={{Efn| 217 representatives are members of the party; however, one independent member, Kevin Kiley, caucuses with the Republicans.|name=|group=}}}} | seats3_title = State governors | seats3 =  {{composition bar|26|50|hex={{party color|Republican Party (US)}}}} | seats4_title = State upper chambers | seats4 =  {{composition bar|1122|1973|hex={{party color|Republican Party (US)}}}} | seats5_title = State lower chambers | seats5 =  {{composition bar|2977|5413|hex={{party color|Republican Party (US)}}}} | seats6_title = Territorial governors | seats6 =  {{composition bar|2|5|hex={{party color|Republican Party (US)}}}} | seats7_title = Territorial upper chambers | seats7 =  {{composition bar|15|97|hex={{party color|Republican Party (US)}}}} | seats8_title = Territorial lower chambers | seats8 =  {{composition bar|9|91|hex={{party color|Republican Party (US)}}}} | website = {{Official URL}} | country = the United States }} The '''Republican Party''', also known as the '''Grand Old Party''' ('''GOP'''), is a right-wing to far-right political party in the United States. It emerged as the main rival of the Democratic Party in the 1850s, and the two parties have dominated American politics since then.

The Republican Party was founded in 1854 by anti-slavery activists who opposed the Kansas–Nebraska Act and the expansion of slavery into American territories. It rapidly gained support in the North, drawing in former Whigs, Free Soilers, and former Know Nothings. Abraham Lincoln's election in 1860 as president led to the secession of Southern states and the outbreak of the American Civil War. Under Lincoln and a Republican-controlled Congress, the party led efforts to preserve the Union, defeat the Confederacy, and abolish slavery. During the Reconstruction era, Republicans sought to extend civil rights protections to freedmen, but by the late 1870s, the party shifted its focus toward business interests and industrial expansion. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, it dominated national politics, promoting protective tariffs, infrastructure development, and ''laissez-faire'' economic policies, while navigating internal divisions between progressive and conservative factions. The party's support declined during the Great Depression, as the New Deal coalition reshaped American politics. Republicans returned to national power with the 1952 election of Dwight D. Eisenhower, whose moderate conservatism reflected a pragmatic acceptance of many New Deal-era programs.

Following the civil rights era, the Republican Party's use of the Southern strategy appealed to many white voters disaffected by Democratic support for civil rights, and ''de facto'' flipping the two parties stances. The 1980 election of Ronald Reagan as president realigned national politics, consolidating a coalition of free market advocates, social conservatives and foreign policy hawks under the Republican banner. Since 2009, a shift toward right-wing populism{{refn|name="RWP"| * {{Cite news |last1=Hacker |first1=Jacob S. |last2=Pierson |first2=Paul |date=July 7, 2020 |title=The origins of the Republican Party's plutocratic populism |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2020/07/07/republican-party-uses-populist-politics-advance-plutocratic-policy/ |access-date=January 28, 2025 |newspaper=The Washington Post |archive-date=January 30, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210130213622/https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2020/07/07/republican-party-uses-populist-politics-advance-plutocratic-policy/ |url-status=live }} * {{Cite news |last=Bolton |first=Alexander |date=July 17, 2023 |title=GOP senators rattled by radical conservative populism |url=https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/4098609-gop-senators-rattled-by-radical-conservative-populism/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241214211103/https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/4098609-gop-senators-rattled-by-radical-conservative-populism/ |archive-date=December 14, 2024 |access-date=January 28, 2025 |work=The Hill |language=en-US |url-status=live }} * {{Cite news |last1=Lange |first1=Jason |last2=Oliphant |first2=James |date=March 21, 2024 |title=Republicans have taken sharp populist turn in the Trump era: Reuters/Ipsos |url=https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-republicans-have-taken-sharp-populist-turn-trump-era-reutersipsos-data-shows-2024-03-21/ |access-date=January 28, 2025 |work=Reuters |archive-date=June 28, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240628151808/https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-republicans-have-taken-sharp-populist-turn-trump-era-reutersipsos-data-shows-2024-03-21/ |url-status=live }} * {{#invoke:cite|web|url=https://www.newstatesman.com/international-politics/2023/02/strange-death-centre-right-moderate-conservatism|title=The strange death of the centre right|quote=In Western democracies conventional conservatism is foundering. How did this once-dominant political force become so diminished?|first1=Jeremy|last1=Cliffe|date=February 15, 2023|access-date=February 5, 2025|website=The New Statesman|archive-date=February 11, 2025|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250211103019/https://www.newstatesman.com/international-politics/2023/02/strange-death-centre-right-moderate-conservatism|url-status=live}}}} culminated in the 2016 election of Donald Trump as president, whose leadership style and political agenda—often referred to as Trumpism—reshaped the party's identity and political platform.<ref name="Ball 2024"/><ref name="v075">{{#invoke:cite|web|last=Martin |first=Jonathan |date=March 1, 2021 |title=Trumpism Grips a Post-Policy G.O.P. as Traditional Conservatism Fades |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/01/us/politics/trump-republicans-policy.html |access-date=February 3, 2025 |website=The New York Times |archive-date=May 23, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240523144800/https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/01/us/politics/trump-republicans-policy.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="i277">{{#invoke:cite|web|last=Peoples |first=Steve |date=February 14, 2021 |title=Trump remains dominant force in GOP following acquittal |url=https://apnews.com/trump-remains-dominant-force-in-gop-following-acquittal-54a562159db21bd2c806c0c3c366be62 |access-date=February 3, 2025 |website=AP News |archive-date=June 12, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240612135007/https://apnews.com/trump-remains-dominant-force-in-gop-following-acquittal-54a562159db21bd2c806c0c3c366be62 |url-status=live }}</ref>

The modern Republican Party is primarily right-wing populist<ref name=":6" /><ref name="different" /> and neo-nationalist<ref name="different" /> with smaller conservative,<ref name="different" /> Christian right,<ref name="Contreras 02182026">{{Cite web |last=Contreras |first=Russell |date=February 18, 2026 |title=Where Christian nationalism is most dominant in the U.S. |url=https://www.axios.com/2026/02/18/republicans-christian-nationalism-trump |access-date=February 18, 2026 |website=Axios |language=en |quote=56% of all Republicans are Christian nationalism "adherents" or "sympathizers," the survey said}}</ref> and libertarian<ref name="Wilbur-2012" /> factions, all of which have greatly diminished in influence since 2016.<ref name=":2">{{Cite book |last=Tyler Godines Camarillo |first=C. |title=The Roads to Congress 2024: Navigating Elections in an Era of Upheaval |last2=Clark Wilson |first2=Walter |last3=Perroud |first3=Jace |last4=VanGoethem |first4=Margaret |date=January 3, 2026 |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan Cham |isbn=978-3-032-07119-4 |pages=127-151 |chapter=The New Republican Revolution: The Implications of Illiberalism and Populism for GOP Politics and Policy}}</ref> Its ideology has since largely shifted towards illiberalism,<ref name="Illiberalism" /> favoring strong presidential power<ref name=":6" /><ref name=":10">{{Cite news |date=2026-01-23 |title=How President Trump has challenged a constitutional foundation |url=https://www.npr.org/2026/01/23/g-s1-106562/trump-democracy-constitution-executive-power |access-date=2026-05-09 |work=NPR |language=en |quote=In his first year back in the White House, President Trump has presided over a sweeping expansion of executive power while eroding democratic norms. Many scholars of democracy say that these moves are unprecedented in U.S. history and that Trump has pushed the United States toward authoritarianism.}}</ref> and a statist government to enforce conservative cultural values.<ref name=":2" /> This includes broad opposition to abortion,<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Barber |first=Michael |last2=Canes-Wrone |first2=Brandice |last3=Clinton |first3=Joshua |last4=Huber |first4=Greg |date=2025 |title=Which Republican Constituencies Support Restrictive Abortion Laws? Comparisons Among Donors, Wealthy, and Mass Publics |url=https://doi.org/10.1093/poq/nfaf012 |journal=Public Opinion Quarterly |volume=89 |issue=2 |pages=289–309 |doi=10.1093/poq/nfaf012 |issn=0033-362X|url-access=subscription }}</ref> LGBT rights,<ref name=":02">{{Citation |last=Wyatt-Nichol |first=Heather |title=Political Attacks on the Lgbtqia+ Community |date=2025-11-21 |work=LGBTQIA+ Communities, Pandemics, and Policy Responses |pages=23–41 |url=https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003566687-4 |access-date=2026-05-09 |place=New York |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-003-56668-7|quote=This chapter explores the sociopolitical contestation of power in the fight for LGBTQIA+ rights by examining the rightward shift in the Republican Party and its use of anti-LGBTQIA+ tropes during pandemics, and as a political wedge strategy that contributes to the polarization of Americans.}}</ref> and immigration.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Beirich |first=Heidi |date=2025-12-08 |title=White Supremacist Movements Worldwide |url=https://doi.org/10.1002/9781394300365.ch17 |journal=Contemporary Social Movements |pages=122–128 |doi=10.1002/9781394300365.ch17 |quote=The Republican Party has become openly anti-immigrant and is proposing mass deportations... |url-access=subscription}}</ref> On economic policy, it supports state capitalism<ref>{{Cite web |date=2025-10-28 |title=State Capitalism in America: The Government as Investor, Broker, Rentier |url=https://www.cfr.org/articles/state-capitalism-america-government-investor-broker-rentierthug |access-date=2026-05-30 |website=Council on Foreign Relations |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Staff |first=F. P. |date=2026-06-04 |title=Trump’s State Capitalism, by the Numbers |url=https://foreignpolicy.com/2026/01/14/trump-state-capitalism-equity-stakes-list-companies/ |access-date=2026-05-30 |website=Foreign Policy |language=en-US}}</ref> while opposing labor unions.<ref name="New Fusionism" /> During the 20th and early 21st centuries, it cooperated internationally with conservative parties. Since the 2020s it has aligned with global far-right parties,<ref name=":7" /><ref name=":11">{{Cite news |last=Sunshine |first=Spencer |date=2026-01-06 |title=The Far Right Is Quietly Building Power Under Trump |url=https://newrepublic.com/article/204915/far-right-quietly-building-power-trump |access-date=2026-05-09 |work=The New Republic |issn=0028-6583 |quote=The administration has also made efforts to help the European far right, which it is increasingly allied with. Trump is close to Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and Britain’s head of the nativist Reform Party, Nigel Farage, while JD Vance met with the leader of the extremist Alternative for Germany party and called on European parties to remove their “firewalls” against cooperating with the far right.}}</ref> and ethnic nationalist beliefs have become influential among factions,<ref name=":1" /><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Massey |first=Douglas S. |date=2021 |title=The Bipartisan Origins of White Nationalism |url=https://direct.mit.edu/daed/article/150/2/5/98320/The-Bipartisan-Origins-of-White-Nationalism |journal=Daedalus |language=en |volume=150 |issue=2 |page=Abstract |doi=10.1162/daed_a_01843 |issn=0011-5266 |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20260129231106/https://direct.mit.edu/daed/article/150/2/5/98320/The-Bipartisan-Origins-of-White-Nationalism |archive-date=2026-01-29 |quote=Until 2016, this cultivation relied on a dog whistle politics of racially coded symbolic language, but with the election of Donald Trump as president, White nationalist sentiments became explicit and White nationalism emerged as an ideological pillar of the Republican Party.|doi-access=free }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Ehrenberg |first=John |url=https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/9781003182962 |title=White Nationalism and the Republican Party: Toward Minority Rule in America |date=2022-05-18 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-003-18296-2 |edition=1 |location=New York |language=en |doi=10.4324/9781003182962}}</ref> including support for remigration.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Shamim |first=Sarah |title=What is remigration, the far-right fringe idea going mainstream? |url=https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/12/26/what-is-remigration-the-far-right-fringe-idea-going-mainstream |access-date=2026-05-06 |website=Al Jazeera |language=en|quote=Remigration — once a fringe far-right notion advocating the deportation of ethnic minorities — is now gaining traction in United States Republican circles as President Donald Trump’s second term enters the final weeks of its first year.}}</ref><ref name=":12">{{Cite news |last=Yousef |first=Odette |date=2025-12-09 |title='Remigration,' once a fringe idea, becomes a mantra for the Trump administration |url=https://www.npr.org/2025/12/09/nx-s1-5630505/remigration-once-a-fringe-idea-becomes-a-mantra-for-the-trump-administration |access-date=2026-05-09 |work=NPR |language=en |quote=So President Trump on Thanksgiving Day posted to social media about how immigration policies have hurt, quote, "gains and living conditions for many." And he said only reverse migration can fully cure this situation. But also, the State Department's proposed reorganization plan included a new office of remigration, and the Department of Homeland Security has called for remigration on social media posts. One of them, for example, Ailsa, with simply the word remigrate.}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Tharoor |first=Ishaan |date=2025-11-30 |title=Trump’s embrace of ‘remigration’ echoes Europe’s far right |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2025/11/30/remigration-trump-far-right-europe/ |access-date=2026-05-09 |work=The Washington Post |language=en-US |issn=0190-8286}}</ref>

== History == {{Main|History of the Republican Party (United States)}}

=== 1850s to 1930s === [[File:Republican Schoolhouse, Second and Elm Streets, Ripon, Fond du Lac County, WI HABS WIS,20-RIPO,1-1.tif|thumb|left|Birthplace of the Republican Party in the Little White Schoolhouse in Ripon, Wisconsin]] In 1854, the Republican Party began as an antislavery party to combat the expansion of slavery into western territories after the passing of the Kansas–Nebraska Act by the Democrats under Stephan Douglas. The party was formed in the Northern and Border states, but not the South. It rapidly gained support in the North, drawing in former Whigs and Free Soil Democrats. Under the Presidency of Abraham Lincoln it led the successful war effort against the Confederacy.<ref>Lewis L. Gould: ''The Republicans a history of the Grand Old Party'' (Oxford University Press/ 2014), pp. 3–23.</ref>

By 1865 it encompassed northern Protestants, factory workers, professionals, businessmen, prosperous farmers, and also black former slaves. It also included a minority of white Southerners who had opposed the Confederacy—men ridiculed by Democrats as "Scalawags". The great majority of white southerners were Democrats, as were the great majority of Irish Catholics and German Catholics. While both parties adopted pro-business policies in the 19th century, the early GOP was distinguished by its support for the national banking system, the gold standard, railroads, and high tariffs.<ref>Gould, pp. 34–115.</ref>

The Republican Party largely dominated the national political scene until 1932. However it split in 1912, as former president Theodore Roosevelt formed the liberal Progressive Party to oppose the conservatives under William Howard Taft. The split allowed Democrats under Woodrow Wilson to win in 1912. The GOP lost its congressional majorities during the Great Depression (1929–1940). Under Franklin D. Roosevelt and Harry S Truman, the Democrats formed a winning New Deal coalition that was dominant from 1932 through 1952.<ref>Gould, pp. 116–245.</ref>

=== Shift rightward === After the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Voting Rights Act of 1965, and the Southern strategy, the party's core base shifted with the Southern states becoming more reliably Republican in presidential politics and the Northeastern states becoming more reliably Democratic. White voters increasingly identified with the Republican Party after the 1960s.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Zingher|first=Joshua N.|date=2018 |title=Polarization, Demographic Change, and White Flight from the Democratic Party|journal=The Journal of Politics|language=en |volume=80 |issue=3|pages=860–872|doi=10.1086/696994|s2cid=158351108|issn=0022-3816}}</ref> Following the Supreme Court's 1973 decision in ''Roe v. Wade'', the Republican Party opposed abortion in its party platform and grew its support among evangelicals.<ref name="The Great Divide: Religious and Cultural Conflict in American Party Politics">{{Cite book |url=https://cup.columbia.edu/book/the-great-divide/9780231120593|title=The Great Divide: Religious and Cultural Conflict in American Party Politics|last=Layman |first=Geoffrey|date=2001|publisher=Columbia University Press|isbn=978-0231120586|pages=115, 119–120}}</ref> The Republican Party won five of the six presidential elections from 1968 to 1988. Two-term President Ronald Reagan, who held office from 1981 to 1989, was a transformative party leader. His conservative policies called for reduced social government spending and regulation, increased military spending, lower taxes, and a strong anti-Soviet foreign policy. Reagan's influence upon the party persisted into the 21st century.

Since the 1990s, the party's support has chiefly come from the South, the Great Plains, the Mountain States, and rural areas in the North.<ref name="auto3">{{cite web |url=http://www.dailykos.com/story/2016/11/14/1598918/-Republicans-now-dominate-state-government-with-32-legislatures-and-33-governors |title=Republicans Now Dominate State Government|publisher=Daily Kos}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/elections/results/president |title=Presidential Election Results: Donald J. Trump Wins |work=The New York Times |date=August 9, 2017 }}</ref>

=== Trump era === {{Main|First presidency of Donald Trump|Second presidency of Donald Trump|Trumpism}}

[[File:Official Presidential Portrait of President Donald J. Trump (2025).jpg|thumb|Donald Trump, the 45th (2017–2021) and 47th (since 2025) president]] In the 2016 presidential election, Republican nominee Donald Trump defeated Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton. The result was unexpected; polls leading up to the election showed Clinton leading the race.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/elections/12-days-stunned-nation-how-hillary-clinton-lost-n794131|title=12 days that stunned a nation: How Hillary Clinton lost|website=NBC News|date=August 23, 2017|access-date=December 8, 2019|archive-date=January 28, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210128124221/https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/elections/12-days-stunned-nation-how-hillary-clinton-lost-n794131|url-status=live}}</ref> Trump's victory was fueled by narrow victories in three states—Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin—that had been part of the Democratic blue wall for decades.<ref name= "elites">{{Cite web|url=https://www.nbcnews.com/specials/donald-trump-republican-party/presidency|title=How Trump won and proved everyone wrong with his populist message|website=NBC News Specials|date=December 14, 2016|access-date=December 8, 2019|archive-date=November 8, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201108102242/https://www.nbcnews.com/specials/donald-trump-republican-party/presidency/|url-status=live}}</ref> It was attributed to strong support amongst working-class white voters, who felt dismissed and disrespected by the political establishment.<ref name="campani" /><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/10/upshot/why-trump-won-working-class-whites.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161109094913/http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/10/upshot/why-trump-won-working-class-whites.html |archive-date=November 9, 2016 |url-access=limited|url-status=live|title=Why Trump Won: Working-Class Whites|first=Nate|last=Cohn|work=The New York Times|date=November 9, 2016|access-date=February 15, 2021}}</ref> Trump became popular with them by abandoning Republican establishment orthodoxy in favor of a broader nationalist message.<ref name= "elites" /> His election accelerated the Republican Party's shift towards right-wing populism{{refn|name="RWP"}} and resulted in decreasing influence among its conservative factions.<ref name="forgot">{{Cite web |last=Starr |first=Paul |date=2026-03-27 |title=How the Republican Party Forgot It Was Conservative |url=https://prospect.org/2026/03/27/apr-2026-magazine-how-republican-party-forgot-it-was-conservative/ |access-date=2026-05-04 |website=The American Prospect |language=en-US |quote=But the truly consequential change is that Republicans have broken with their own past. Under Donald Trump, the party hasn’t just reversed its positions on specific policies. It has routinely betrayed basic tenets of the conservative philosophy that Republicans have long claimed was the bedrock of their party.}}</ref><ref name="now">{{Cite web |last=Graham |first=David A. |date=2023-07-08 |title=The Democrats Are Now America’s Conservative Party |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2023/07/conservative-democrats-supreme-court-status-quo/674643/ |access-date=2026-05-04 |website=The Atlantic |language=en |quote=Third, and relatedly, the Trump-era Republican Party has abandoned much of the party’s old orthodoxy in favor of radicalism on domestic and foreign affairs.}}</ref><ref name="v075" /><ref name="different">{{Cite web |last=Boot |first=Max |date=2024-09-08 |title=How the GOP Went From Reagan to Trump |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2024/09/reagan-trump-republicans/679746/ |access-date=2026-05-04 |website=The Atlantic |language=en |quote=The Trump-dominated, populist-nationalist GOP is certainly very different from the conservative party that Reagan led in the 1980s [...]}}</ref>

After the 2016 elections, Republicans maintained their majority in the Senate, the House, and governorships, and wielded newly acquired executive power with Trump's election. The Republican Party controlled 69 of 99 state legislative chambers in 2017, the most it had held in history.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/12/us/republicans-expand-control-in-a-deeply-divided-nation.html?_r=0|title=Republicans Expand Control in a Deeply Divided Nation|work=The New York Times|date=November 11, 2016 |access-date=February 18, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161119193906/http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/12/us/republicans-expand-control-in-a-deeply-divided-nation.html?_r=0|archive-date=November 19, 2016|url-status=live|last1=Bosman |first1=Julie |last2=Davey |first2=Monica }}</ref> The Party also held 33 governorships,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.governing.com/archive/gov-2017-2018-governors-races-predictions.html|title=2017–2018 Governors' Races: Where Power Is Most and Least Likely to Flip|date=January 3, 2017|website=Governing|access-date=January 28, 2024|archive-date=January 28, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240128024618/https://www.governing.com/archive/gov-2017-2018-governors-races-predictions.html|url-status=live}}</ref> the most it had held since 1922.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.usnews.com/news/us/articles/2016-11-09/republicans-expand-control-of-governorships-legislatures|title=Republicans Governorships Rise to Highest Mark Since 1922|work=U.S. News & World Report|access-date=September 10, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170915132840/https://www.usnews.com/news/us/articles/2016-11-09/republicans-expand-control-of-governorships-legislatures|archive-date=September 15, 2017|url-status=live}}</ref> The party had total control of government in 25 states,<ref>{{cite news|title=Republican governorships rise to highest mark since 1922|url=https://www.usnews.com/news/us/articles/2016-11-09/republicans-expand-control-of-governorships-legislature|work=U.S. News & World Report|date=November 6, 2016|first=David A.|last=Lieb|agency=Associated Press}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last=Phillips|first=Amber|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2016/11/12/these-3-maps-show-just-how-dominant-republicans-are-in-america-after-tuesday/|title=These 3 maps show just how dominant Republicans are in America after Tuesday|newspaper=The Washington Post|date=November 12, 2016|access-date=November 14, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161113061740/https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2016/11/12/these-3-maps-show-just-how-dominant-republicans-are-in-america-after-tuesday/|archive-date=November 13, 2016|url-status=live}}</ref> the most since 1952.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Lieb|first1=David A.|title=GOP-Controlled States Aim to Reshape Laws|url=https://www.pressreader.com/usa/chicago-tribune/20161229/281822873464433|date=December 29, 2016|agency=Associated Press|access-date=December 30, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161231075054/https://www.pressreader.com/usa/chicago-tribune/20161229/281822873464433|archive-date=December 31, 2016|url-status=live}}</ref> The opposing Democratic Party held full control of only five states in 2017.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Greenblatt|first1=Alan|title=Republicans Add to Their Dominance of State Legislatures|url=http://www.governing.com/topics/elections/gov-republicans-add-dominance-state-legislatures.html|date=November 9, 2016|work=Governing|access-date=November 17, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161116125852/http://www.governing.com/topics/elections/gov-republicans-add-dominance-state-legislatures.html|archive-date=November 16, 2016|url-status=live}}</ref> In the 2018 elections, Republicans lost control of the House, but strengthened their hold on the Senate.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2018/11/2018-election-results-democrats-regain-control-house/575122/|title=The Democrats Are Back, and Ready to Take On Trump|first=David A.|last=Graham|work=The Atlantic|date=November 7, 2018|access-date=November 17, 2020|archive-date=December 9, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191209204842/https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2018/11/2018-election-results-democrats-regain-control-house/575122/|url-status=live}}</ref>

Over the course of his presidency, Trump appointed three justices to the Supreme Court.<ref>{{cite news |last=Kumar |first=Anita |date=September 26, 2020 |title=Trump's legacy is now the Supreme Court |work=Politico |url=https://www.politico.com/news/2020/09/26/trump-legacy-supreme-court-422058 |access-date=November 17, 2020 |archive-date=February 16, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210216160832/https://www.politico.com/news/2020/09/26/trump-legacy-supreme-court-422058 |url-status=live }}</ref> Trump lost the 2020 presidential election to Joe Biden but refused to concede the race, claiming widespread electoral fraud and attempting to overturn the results. On January 6, 2021, the United States Capitol was attacked by Trump supporters following a rally at which Trump spoke. After the attack, the House impeached Trump for a second time on the charge of incitement of insurrection, making him the only federal officeholder to be impeached twice; however, he was not removed from office.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.npr.org/sections/trump-impeachment-effort-live-updates/2021/01/13/956449072/house-impeaches-trump-a-2nd-time-citing-insurrection-at-u-s-capitol|title=House Impeaches Trump A 2nd Time, Citing Insurrection At U.S. Capitol|first=Bill|last=Chappell|work=NPR|date=January 13, 2021|access-date=February 14, 2021|archive-date=February 20, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210220221620/https://www.npr.org/sections/trump-impeachment-effort-live-updates/2021/01/13/956449072/house-impeaches-trump-a-2nd-time-citing-insurrection-at-u-s-capitol|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/13/us/politics/trump-impeached.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20211228/https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/13/us/politics/trump-impeached.html |archive-date=December 28, 2021 |url-access=limited|title=Trump Impeached for Inciting Insurrection|first=Nicholas|last=Fandos|work=The New York Times|date=January 13, 2021|access-date=February 14, 2021}}{{cbignore}}</ref> The Senate acquitted him in February 2021, after he had already left office.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/trump-acquitted-impeachment-trial-7-gop-senators-vote-democrats-convict-n1257876|title=Trump acquitted in impeachment trial; 7 GOP Senators vote with Democrats to convict|first=Dareh|last=Gregorian|work=NBC News|date=February 13, 2021|access-date=February 14, 2021|archive-date=February 13, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210213205205/https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/trump-acquitted-impeachment-trial-7-gop-senators-vote-democrats-convict-n1257876|url-status=live}}</ref> Following the 2020 election, election denial became increasingly mainstream in the party,<ref name="c990">{{cite web |last1=Riccardi |first1=Nicholas |last2=Mascaro |first2=Lisa |date=May 21, 2024 |title=Election deniers moving closer to GOP mainstream, report shows, as Trump allies fill Congress |url=https://apnews.com/article/congress-election-lies-2024-certification-president-460cde281d48e62e09e24c7573d6a9ff |access-date=August 15, 2024 |website=AP |archive-date=May 21, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240521145524/https://apnews.com/article/congress-election-lies-2024-certification-president-460cde281d48e62e09e24c7573d6a9ff |url-status=live }}</ref> with the majority of Republican candidates in 2022 being election deniers.<ref name="t387">{{cite news |last1=Blanco |first1=Adrián |last2=Wolfe |first2=Daniel |last3=Gardner |first3=Amy |date=November 7, 2022 |title=Tracking which 2020 election deniers are winning, losing in the midterms |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/interactive/2022/election-deniers-midterms/ |access-date=August 15, 2024 |newspaper=Washington Post |archive-date=January 11, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240111222807/https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/interactive/2022/election-deniers-midterms/ |url-status=live }}</ref> The party also made efforts to restrict voting based on false claims of fraud.<ref>{{Cite web|last1=Izaguirre|first1=Anthony|last2=Coronado|first2=Acacia|date=January 31, 2021|title=GOP lawmakers seek tougher voting rules after record turnout|url=https://apnews.com/article/bills-voting-rights-elections-coronavirus-pandemic-voter-registration-0e94844d72d2a2bf8b51b1c950bd64fc |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210131151357/https://apnews.com/article/bills-voting-rights-elections-coronavirus-pandemic-voter-registration-0e94844d72d2a2bf8b51b1c950bd64fc |access-date=January 17, 2023 |archive-date=January 31, 2021 |url-status=live|website=Associated Press}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=McCaskill|first=Nolan D.|date=March 15, 2021|title=After Trump's loss and false fraud claims, GOP eyes voter restrictions across nation |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210315142648/https://www.politico.com/news/2021/03/15/voting-restrictions-states-475732 |archive-date=March 15, 2021 |url=https://www.politico.com/news/2021/03/15/voting-restrictions-states-475732 |access-date=January 17, 2023 |url-status=live|website=Politico}}</ref>

By the early 2020s, the Republican Party had largely shifted towards illiberalism,{{refn|name="Illiberalism"| * {{Cite news |date=October 31, 2020 |title=The Republican Party has lurched towards populism and illiberalism |newspaper=The Economist |url=https://www.economist.com/graphic-detail/2020/10/31/the-republican-party-has-lurched-towards-populism-and-illiberalism |access-date=November 9, 2024 |archive-date=June 2, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240602072716/https://www.economist.com/graphic-detail/2020/10/31/the-republican-party-has-lurched-towards-populism-and-illiberalism |url-status=live |issn=0013-0613|quote=In the late 20th century the Republican Party already looked a bit less liberal and more populist than most mainstream European parties. But according to the V-Dem Institute's analysis, it only really started to deviate to "illiberalism" when it embraced religious values under Mr Bush after his election in 2000. The party then veered into populism in 2010 with the rise of the Tea Party movement, which vowed to curb what it saw as the unjustifiable expansion of the federal government under Barack Obama. However, the greatest shift, especially towards illiberalism, came with the election of Mr Trump.}} * {{Cite journal |last=Encarnación |first=Omar G. |date=June 12, 2023 |title=Democratic Backsliding: Comparative Reflections on the American Experience |journal=Political Science Quarterly |volume=138 |issue=3 |pages=407–424 |doi=10.1093/psquar/qqad036 |quote=Despite the appearance of being consolidated, the American political system is institutionally vulnerable to backsliding—from an electoral system fraught with so many deficiencies that election experts deem it archaic and undemocratic; to an imperial presidency that sits at the center of federal power and towers over the legislature and the judiciary; to the recent transformation of the Republican Party into an illiberal force more interested in acquiring power than in governing. ... The Republican Party's pivotal role in enabling backsliding in the Trump era mirrors the post-Communist experience. In recent years, the Republican party has fashioned itself after the Fidesz Party in Hungary (Europe's most sobering example of backsliding), from embracing the ideology of Christian Nationalism to using the state to fight culture wars to cynically rejecting the idea of democracy. In connection to the last point, a popular argument among Republican election deniers is that the United States is not a democracy but a republic. As noted by the New York Times, "There is more at stake than the health of the Republican Party when its core activists, as well as a growing number of officials and those campaigning for governmental positions, openly espouse hostility not just to democratic principles, but, increasingly, to the word 'democracy' itself." Indeed, this illiberal behavior puts American democracy in peril. |quote-pages=410{{ndash}}423 }} * {{cite book |last=Main |first=Thomas J. |date=January 4, 2022 |title=The Rise of Illiberalism |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mPL2DwAAQBAJ |location=Washington, D.C. |publisher=Brookings Institution Press |page=188 |isbn=9780815738503 |quote=A sharp repudiation at the polls would have checked the vogue for illiberal and identitarian ideologies and driven the Republican party back within the bounds of the liberal democratic political spectrum. |archive-date=January 28, 2025 |access-date=November 12, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250128234748/https://books.google.com/books?id=mPL2DwAAQBAJ |url-status=live }} * {{Cite journal |last1=Laruelle |first1=Marlene |date=March 1, 2022 |title=Illiberalism: a conceptual introduction |journal=East European Politics |volume=38 |issue=2 |pages=303–327 |issn=2159-9165 |doi=10.1080/21599165.2022.2037079 |quote=Classical conservatives—such as the Christian Democrats in Europe or the Republican Party in the US before Donald Trump—are/were fervent supporters of political rights and constitutionalism, while illiberalism challenges them ... The struggle of the European People's Party to win concessions from Orbán's Fidesz or the Polish PiS, as well as the subjugation of the Republican Party by Donald Trump, have revealed how attractive illiberal leaders may be to the more mainstream right. As Marc Plattner has stated, the future of liberal democracy will largely depend on how successful or unsuccessful the classical conservative right is at resisting illiberalism. |quote-pages=315{{ndash}}316|doi-access=free }} * {{cite magazine |last1=Cooley |first1=Alexander |last2=Nexon |first2=Daniel H. |date=January–February 2022 |title=The Real Crisis of Global Order: Illiberalism on the Rise |url=https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/world/2021-12-14/illiberalism-real-crisis-global-order |magazine=Foreign Affairs |volume=101 |issue=1 |location=New York City |publisher=Council on Foreign Relations |access-date=November 12, 2024 |issn=0015-7120 |quote=The election of Donald Trump in 2016 sparked a major debate over the nature and fate of the liberal international order, suddenly caught, it seemed, between the Charybdis of illiberal great-power challengers and the Scylla of a hostile U.S. president. Trump may have lost the presidency in 2020, but the liberal order remains under threat. ... In the United States, one of the two major political parties remains beholden to an authoritarian demagogue. Motivated by the "Big Lie" (the objectively false claim that Democrats stole the election from Trump through systematic voter fraud), the Republican Party is purging officials who stood in the way of efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election. Republican voter-suppression efforts are accelerating.}} * {{Cite journal |last1=Dunwoody |first1=Phillip T. |last2=Gershtenson |first2=Joseph |last3=Plane |first3=Dennis L. |last4=Upchurch-Poole |first4=Territa |date=August 9, 2022 |title=The fascist authoritarian model of illiberal democracy |journal=Frontiers in Political Science |volume=4 |issue= |article-number=907681 |issn=2673-3145 |doi=10.3389/fpos.2022.907681 |doi-access=free |quote=All the components of the fascist authoritarian model of illiberal democracy were evidenced in the recent 2020 U.S. presidential election. ... In classic authoritarian fashion, Trump sought to remain in power by asserting his preferred fiction over more objective realities promoted by those in traditional, truth-based professions. Trump engaged in threat othering to work up his base so that they would support the use of force to "save" their country. The result of these combined mechanisms was the support of blatantly illiberal antidemocratic behavior at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021. |quote-page=12}} * {{cite book |last1=Hopkin |first1=Jonathan |author1-link=Jonathan Hopkin |last2=Blyth |first2=Mark |author2-link=Mark Blyth |editor1-last=Vormann |editor1-first=Boris |editor2-last=Weinman |editor2-first=Michael D. |title=The Emergence of Illiberalism |date=2020 |publisher=Routledge |chapter=Global Trumpism: Understanding Anti-System Politics in Western Democracies |isbn=978-0367366247 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=C_3vDwAAQBAJ&q=global+trumpism&pg=PT107 |access-date=October 11, 2020 |archive-date=February 15, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210215222839/https://books.google.com/books?id=C_3vDwAAQBAJ&q=global+trumpism&pg=PT107 |url-status=live }} * {{cite journal |last1=Norris |first1=Pippa |date=2017 |title=Online Exchange on "Democratic Deconsolidation |url=https://www.journalofdemocracy.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/Journal-of-Democracy-Web-Exchange-Norris_0.pdf |journal=Journal of Democracy |volume=12 |access-date=November 9, 2024 |quote=The rise of populist authoritarianism in the United States, especially by the risks that President Trump poses to core democratic values, practices and institutions, pose major threats to liberal democracy. ... When the populist style of governance is coupled with authoritarian values, however, this potent combination presents most dangerous risk to the principles and practices at the heart of liberal democracy. Trump falls into this category. ... populist-authoritarian forces threatening to dismantle core values in liberal democracy pose the gravest risk, especially in America, given the vast powers of the U.S. presidency and its hegemonic role in the world. The mainstream news media, the courts, and a reenergized civil society are actively pushing back to resist the threats to democracy arising from the Trump administration. In Congress and State Houses, however, the Democrats are decimated, and the Republican party and conservative activists seem willing to be seduced by dreams of power.|quote-pages=14{{ndash}}15{{ndash}}18}} * {{Cite news |last=Drutman |first=Lee |author-link=Lee Drutman |date=2021-06-08 |title=The Republican party is now an explicitly illiberal party |url=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/jun/08/american-democracy-fighting-for-its-life-republicans |access-date=2026-05-04 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077 |quote=Though these anti-democratic sentiments have been building within the ranks of the party for years, the events of 2021 mark the transformation of the Republican party into a genuinely illiberal party, and a grave threat to the continuation of American democracy as we’ve known it.}}}} with a 2020 study conducted by the V-Dem Institute concluding that it was more ideologically extreme than France's National Rally and similar in its views, rhetoric, actions and practices to authoritarian or far-right parties such as Law and Justice in Poland, Fidesz in Hungary, Justice and Development in Turkey, Bharatiya Janata Party in India, and Alternative for Germany.{{refn| *{{Cite news |date=October 31, 2020 |title=The Republican Party has lurched towards populism and illiberalism |newspaper=The Economist |url=https://www.economist.com/graphic-detail/2020/10/31/the-republican-party-has-lurched-towards-populism-and-illiberalism |access-date=November 9, 2024 |archive-date=June 2, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240602072716/https://www.economist.com/graphic-detail/2020/10/31/the-republican-party-has-lurched-towards-populism-and-illiberalism |url-status=live |issn=0013-0613|quote=In the late 20th century the Republican Party already looked a bit less liberal and more populist than most mainstream European parties. But according to the V-Dem Institute's analysis, it only really started to deviate to "illiberalism" when it embraced religious values under Mr Bush after his election in 2000. The party then veered into populism in 2010 with the rise of the Tea Party movement, which vowed to curb what it saw as the unjustifiable expansion of the federal government under Barack Obama. However, the greatest shift, especially towards illiberalism, came with the election of Mr Trump.}} *{{Cite web |last1=Lührmann |first1=Anna |last2=Medzihorsky |first2=Juraj |last3=Hindle |first3=Garry |last4=Lindberg |first4=Staffan I. |date=October 2020 |title=New Global Data on Political Parties: V-Party |url=https://www.v-dem.net/documents/8/vparty_briefing.pdf |series=Briefing Paper No. 9 |publisher=V-Dem Institute |access-date=November 13, 2024 |archive-date=November 14, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241114171742/https://www.v-dem.net/documents/8/vparty_briefing.pdf |url-status=live }} *{{Cite web |last=Drutman |first=Lee |author-link=Lee Drutman |date=2021-03-18 |title=American Democracy Can't Survive Unless the Far Right Is Marginalized. Here's How to Do It |url=https://time.com/5947962/reform-american-democracy-marginalize-far-right/ |access-date=2026-05-09 |website=Time |quote=By international standards, the current Republican Party is an illiberal anti-democratic nativist global outlier, with positions more extreme than France’s National Rally, and in line with the Germany’s AfD, Hungary’s Fidesz, Turkey’s AKP and Poland’s PiS, according to the widely respected V-Dem (Varieties of Democracy) Institute.}} *{{Cite web |last=Kottasová |first=Ivana |date=2020-10-26 |title=Republicans are starting to look like authoritarian parties in Hungary and Turkey, study finds |url=https://www.cnn.com/2020/10/26/world/republican-party-more-illiberal-study-intl |access-date=2026-05-09 |website=CNN |language=en |quote=Experts from the V-Dem Institute at the University of Gothenburg in Sweden said the US Republican Party had become more illiberal and populist in recent decades and that its recent retreat from democratic norms has left it resembling authoritarian ruling parties like Hungary’s Fidesz and Turkey’s AKP.}} *{{Cite web |date=2020-10-26 |title=Trump’s GOP resembles authoritarian parties in India and Turkey, and Poland, study stays |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-election-2020/gop-trump-republican-democrats-authoritarian-hungary-austria-india-poland-turkey-b1343847.html |access-date=2026-05-09 |website=The Independent |language=en |quote=Donald Trump’s Republican party has become more illiberal and retreated from upholding democratic norms in recent years, a study has found, with its rhetoric shifting closer that of authoritarian parties ruling in Turkey, Hungary, Poland and India.}} *{{Cite news |last=Borger |first=Julian |date=2020-10-26 |title=Republicans closely resemble autocratic parties in Hungary and Turkey – study |url=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/oct/26/republican-party-autocratic-hungary-turkey-study-trump |access-date=2026-05-09 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077 |quote=In a significant shift since 2000, the GOP has taken to demonising and encouraging violence against its opponents, adopting attitudes and tactics comparable to ruling nationalist parties in Hungary, India, Poland and Turkey.}}}} The United States has experienced substantial democratic backsliding under the two presidencies of Donald Trump, with a majority of political scientists and several democracy indices classifying the country as either having transitioned or being in a phase of transition from a liberal democracy to an illiberal democracy or hybrid regime since 2016.{{refn| *{{Cite web |date=March 17, 2026|title=DEMOCRACY REPORT 2026: Unraveling The Democratic Era?|url=https://v-dem.net/documents/75/V-Dem_Institute_Democracy_Report_2026_lowres.pdf|access-date=March 22, 2026|website=V-Dem Institute|quote=One notable shift is the transformation of the Republican Party to endorsing a far-right, nationalist, and anti-pluralist agenda. Nationalist, anti-liberal, far-right parties and leaders have largely driven the “third wave of autocratization.” Yet the USA stands out as the only case where such movement seized control over one party in a rigid two-party system.}} *{{Cite web |last=Klaas|first=Brian|author-link=Brian Klaas|date=September 9, 2025|title=Is The United States Still A Democracy?|url=https://blogs.lse.ad.uk/europpblog/2025/09/19/brian-klaas-is-the-united-states-still-a-democracy-competitive-authoritarian-system|access-date=April 9, 2026|website=The London School of Economics and Political Science|quote=Political scientists continue to debate this topic, but few would classify the United States as a robust democracy. It is either a democracy in crisis that is barely clinging onto the label, or one that has tipped over the edge into competitive authoritarianism - and I believe it's the latter.}} *{{cite journal |author1-last=Grumbach|author1-first=Jacob M.|date=December 1, 2021|title=Laboratories of Democratic Backsliding|journal=American Political Science Review|publisher=Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the American Political Science Association|volume=117|issue=3|pages=967–984|doi=10.1017/S0003055422000934|doi-access=free|issn=0003-0554|quote=Prominent cross-national measures of democracy from the Varieties of Democracy Project (V-Dem), Bright Line Watch, and Freedom House, which had once ranked the country as a global leader, show a U.S. democracy slipping toward "mixed regime" or "illiberal democracy" status.}} *{{Cite web |last=Morris |first=G. Elliott |author-link=G. Elliott Morris |date=2025-10-01 |title=Experts now rate the U.S. as a "mixed" or "illiberal" democracy |url=https://www.gelliottmorris.com/p/experts-now-rate-the-us-as-a-mixed |access-date=2026-05-09 |website=www.gelliottmorris.com |language=en}} *{{Cite news |last=Langfitt |first=Frank |date=2025-04-22 |title=Hundreds of scholars say U.S. is swiftly heading toward authoritarianism |url=https://www.npr.org/2025/04/22/nx-s1-5340753/trump-democracy-authoritarianism-competive-survey-political-scientist |access-date=2026-05-09 |work=NPR |language=en |quote=A survey of more than 500 political scientists finds that the vast majority think the United States is moving swiftly from liberal democracy toward some form of authoritarianism.}} *{{Cite news |last=Gambino |first=Lauren |date=2026-01-21 |title=American democracy on the brink a year after Trump’s inauguration, experts say |url=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jan/21/trump-american-democracy |access-date=2026-05-09 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}} *{{Cite web |last=Schenkkan |first=Nate |date=2026-01-15 |title=Century’s New Democracy Meter Shows America Took an Authoritarian Turn in 2025 |url=https://tcf.org/content/report/centurys-new-democracy-meter-shows-america-took-an-authoritarian-turn-in-2025/ |access-date=2026-05-09 |website=The Century Foundation |language=en |quote=The Century Foundation’s 2025 evaluation finds that American democracy is already collapsing—the Democracy Meter rates the United States at 57/100, a 28 percent drop in just one year. In the first year of Trump 2.0, the United States went from being a passing if imperfect democracy to behaving like an authoritarian state: breaking the law, ignoring court rulings, engaging in grand corruption, targeting critics for persecution, and conducting a campaign against immigrants, in particular, that flagrantly violates civil rights.}} *{{Cite web |title=index |url=https://www.systemicpeace.org/ |access-date=2026-05-09 |publisher=Polity data series |quote=The USA is no longer considered a democracy and lies at the cusp of autocracy; it has experienced a Presidental Coup and an Adverse Regime Change event (8-point drop in its POLITY score).}} *<ref name=":10" />}}

Trump easily won the nomination to be the party's candidate again in 2024, marking the third straight election of him being the GOP nominee.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Pfannenstiel |first=Brianne |date=July 15, 2024 |title="Make America great again!": Iowa Republican chair gives fiery Trump nominating speech at RNC |url=https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/politics/elections/2024/07/15/rnc-2024-iowa-gop-chair-jeff-kaufmann-trump-nominating-speech-republican-national-convention/74411262007/ |access-date=July 18, 2024 |work=The Des Moines Register |archive-date=July 22, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240722151222/https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/politics/elections/2024/07/15/rnc-2024-iowa-gop-chair-jeff-kaufmann-trump-nominating-speech-republican-national-convention/74411262007/ |url-status=live}}</ref> Trump achieved victory against Vice President Kamala Harris. He won both the electoral college and a plurality of the popular vote, becoming the first Republican to do so since George W. Bush in 2004, and improving his vote share among working class voters, particularly among young men, those without college degrees, and Hispanic voters.<ref name="Lange-2024">{{Cite web |last1=Lange |first1=Jason |last2=Erickson |first2=Bo |last3=Heath |first3=Brad |date=November 7, 2024 |title=Trump's return to power fueled by Hispanic, working-class voter support |url=https://www.reuters.com/world/us/trumps-return-power-fueled-by-hispanic-working-class-voter-support-2024-11-06/ |access-date=November 13, 2024 |website=Reuters|archive-date=December 21, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241221233938/https://www.reuters.com/world/us/trumps-return-power-fueled-by-hispanic-working-class-voter-support-2024-11-06/ |url-status=live}}</ref>

=== Current status === As of {{CURRENTYEAR}}, the GOP holds the presidency, and majorities in both the U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate, giving them a federal government trifecta. It also holds 26 state governorships, 28 state legislatures, and 23 state government trifectas. Six of the nine current U.S. Supreme Court justices were appointed by Republican presidents. There have been 19 Republicans who have served as president, the most from any one political party;<ref>{{Cite web |title=Presidents of the United States of America |url=https://www.ohiosos.gov/elections/election-results-and-data/historical-election-comparisons/presidents-of-the-united-states-of-america/ |access-date=2025-08-24 |website=OhioSoS.gov |publisher=Ohio Secretary of State}}</ref> the most recent being current president Donald Trump, who became the 47th president on January 20, 2025. Trump also served as the 45th president from 2017 to 2021.<ref name="s635">{{cite web | agency=Associated Press | title=Trump clinches 2024 Republican nomination | website=PBS NewsHour | date=March 12, 2024 | url=https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/trump-clinches-2024-republican-nomination | access-date=June 11, 2024 | archive-date=April 29, 2024 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240429091649/https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/trump-clinches-2024-republican-nomination | url-status=live }}</ref>

During Trump's second term, the GOP has been partially divided on a number of key policies, including tariffs and support for Ukraine against Russia.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Sinclair |first=Anthony |date=2026-03-17 |title=The GOP's Shifting Policy Stance in President Trump's Second Term |url=https://congress.net/the-gops-shifting-policy-stance-in-president-trumps-second-term/ |access-date=2026-03-18 |website=CONGRESS.NET |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |title=Contrasting views of Russia show deepening Republican split over foreign policy |url=https://www.reuters.com/world/us/contrasting-views-russia-show-deepening-republican-split-over-foreign-policy-2025-12-11/ |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20251219033343/https://www.reuters.com/world/us/contrasting-views-russia-show-deepening-republican-split-over-foreign-policy-2025-12-11/ |archive-date=2025-12-19 |access-date=2026-03-18 |work=Reuters |language=en-US}}</ref>

== Name and symbols == The Republican Party's founding members chose its name as homage to the values of republicanism promoted by the Democratic-Republican Party, which its founder, Thomas Jefferson, called the "Republican Party".<ref name="Rutland">{{cite book|last=Rutland|first=RA|title=The Republicans: From Lincoln to Bush|year=1996|page=[https://archive.org/details/republicansfroml00rutl_0/page/2 2]|publisher=University of Missouri Press |isbn=0826210902|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/republicansfroml00rutl_0/page/2}}</ref> 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".<ref name="ushistory">{{cite web|url=http://www.ushistory.org/gop/origins.htm|title=The Origins of the Republican Party|publisher=UShistory.org|date=July 4, 1995|access-date=October 25, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120930194002/http://www.ushistory.org/gop/origins.htm|archive-date=September 30, 2012|url-status=live}}</ref> The name was selected as it "connected voters with the original political organization of Thomas Jefferson in the 1790s, the Democratic-Republican Party".<ref name="Gould2003p14">Gould, pp. 14–15</ref> "Republican" has a variety of meanings around the world, and the Republican Party has evolved such that the meanings no longer always align.<ref name="Republican Party | political party">{{Cite encyclopedia|url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Republican-Party|title=Republican Party {{!}} political party, United States [1854–present]|encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica|access-date=May 9, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170505234240/https://www.britannica.com/topic/Republican-Party|archive-date=May 5, 2017|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2011/10/the-changing-definition-of-conservative/246652/?single_page=true|title=The Changing Definition of 'Conservative'|last=Joyner|first=James|work=The Atlantic|access-date=May 9, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170525034711/https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2011/10/the-changing-definition-of-conservative/246652/?single_page=true|archive-date=May 25, 2017|url-status=live}}</ref>

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 term was modified to "grand old party". The first use of the abbreviation is dated 1884.<ref>"Grand Old Party", ''Oxford English Dictionary''.</ref>

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.<ref name=harpweek/> The cartoon was published during the debate over a possible run for a third term by President Ulysses S. Grant. It draws imagery and text from the Aesop fable "The Ass in the Lion's Skin", combined with rumors of animals escaping from the Central Park Zoo. 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.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.unc.edu/~asreynol/ballot_pages/us_ballot_pages/indiana.html|title=Ballots of United States: Indiana|publisher=University of North Carolina|access-date=February 6, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170525034148/http://www.unc.edu/~asreynol/ballot_pages/us_ballot_pages/indiana.html|archive-date=May 25, 2017|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Poor Ballot Design Hurts New York's Minor Parties ... Again|publisher=Brennan Center for Justice|first=Tomas|last=Lopez|date=October 23, 2014|url=https://www.brennancenter.org/blog/poor-ballot-design-hurts-new-yorks-minor-parties-again|access-date=February 6, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170207031521/https://www.brennancenter.org/blog/poor-ballot-design-hurts-new-yorks-minor-parties-again|archive-date=February 7, 2017|url-status=dead}}</ref> In Kentucky, the log cabin is a symbol of the Republican Party.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://westkentuckystar.com/News/Local-Regional/Western-Kentucky/See-Sample-Ballots-for-Today-s-Primary-Elections.aspx|title=See Sample Ballots for Today's Primary Elections|publisher=West Kentucky Star|date=May 19, 2015|access-date=February 6, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170207032021/http://westkentuckystar.com/News/Local-Regional/Western-Kentucky/See-Sample-Ballots-for-Today-s-Primary-Elections.aspx|archive-date=February 7, 2017|url-status=dead}}</ref>

Traditionally the party had no consistent color identity.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2016/11/08/red-vs-blue-a-brief-history-of-how-we-use-political-colors/|title=Red vs. Blue: A history of how we use political colors|last=Bump|first=Philip|date=November 8, 2016|newspaper=The Washington Post|access-date=October 30, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171107022519/https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2016/11/08/red-vs-blue-a-brief-history-of-how-we-use-political-colors/|archive-date=November 7, 2017|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://washingtonmonthly.com/2004/11/13/red-state-blue-state-2/|title=Red State, Blue State|last=Drum|first=Kevin|date=November 13, 2004|website=Washington Monthly|access-date=October 30, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171107013719/https://washingtonmonthly.com/2004/11/13/red-state-blue-state-2/|archive-date=November 7, 2017|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://washingtonmonthly.com/2004/11/14/red-states-and-blue-states-explained/|title=Red States and Blue States ... Explained!|last=Drum|first=Kevin|date=November 14, 2004|website=Washington Monthly|access-date=October 30, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171107013032/https://washingtonmonthly.com/2004/11/14/red-states-and-blue-states-explained/|archive-date=November 7, 2017|url-status=live}}</ref> After the 2000 presidential election, the color red became politically 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.<ref>{{cite news |first1=Philip |last1=Bump |title=Red vs. Blue: A history of how we use political colors |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2016/11/08/red-vs-blue-a-brief-history-of-how-we-use-political-colors/?noredirect=on |newspaper=The Washington Post |access-date=November 8, 2018 |archive-date=February 22, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210222013526/https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2016/11/08/red-vs-blue-a-brief-history-of-how-we-use-political-colors/?noredirect=on |url-status=live }}</ref>

Contrarily, the color red tends to represent left-leaning socialist, communist, and labor political movements in many nations, while blue is linked with conservatism.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Holland |first=Oscar |date=2024-09-20 |title=Republicans are red and Democrats blue. But it wasn’t always that way |url=https://www.cnn.com/style/why-republicans-red-democrats-blue |access-date=2026-05-30 |website=CNN |language=en}}</ref>

<gallery mode="packed"> File:NastRepublicanElephant.jpg|An 1874 cartoon by Thomas Nast, featuring the first notable appearance of the Republican elephant<ref name=harpweek>{{cite web|title=The Third-Term Panic|work=Cartoon of the Day|date=November 7, 2003|url=http://www.harpweek.com/09Cartoon/BrowseByDateCartoon.asp?Year=2003&Month=November&Date=7|access-date=September 5, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110921045800/http://www.harpweek.com/09Cartoon/BrowseByDateCartoon.asp?Year=2003&Month=November&Date=7|archive-date=September 21, 2011|url-status=live}}</ref> File:Republicanlogo.svg|The red, white, and blue elephant as seen on the GOP website in 2011 File:GOP logo (2004–2015).svg|The GOP banner logo, {{circa|2013}} File:GOP logo.svg|A GOP banner logo, {{circa|2017}} </gallery>

== Factions == {{main|Factions in the Republican Party (United States)}}

=== Civil War and Reconstruction era === {{main|Radical Republicans}}

[[File:Thaddeus Stevens - Brady-Handy-crop.jpg|thumb|upright=.7|U.S. representative Thaddeus Stevens, considered a leader of the Radical Republicans, was a fierce opponent of slavery and discrimination against African Americans.]]

The Radical Republicans were a major factor in the party from its inception in 1854 until the end of the Reconstruction Era in 1877. Like the moderate Republicans the radicals strongly opposed the expansion of slavery. Unlike the moderates they were hard-line abolitionists calling for the end of slavery in the South. By 1865 Both factions advocated equal rights for the freedmen. Radicals were heavily influenced by religious ideals and evangelical Christianity.<ref name="Howard2015">{{cite book |first=Victor B. |last=Howard |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6bIfBgAAQBAJ&pg=PA1 |title=Religion and the Radical Republican Movement, 1860–1870 |publisher=University Press of Kentucky |year=2015 |isbn=978-0-8131-6144-0 |access-date=March 24, 2023 |archive-date=December 15, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231215023724/https://books.google.com/books?id=6bIfBgAAQBAJ&pg=PA1#v=onepage&q&f=false |url-status=live }}</ref> 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. After the war's end and Lincoln's assassination, the Radicals clashed with Andrew Johnson over Reconstruction policy. Radicals led efforts to establish civil rights for former slaves and fully implement emancipation, pushing 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. 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 were also skeptical of the lenient, conciliatory Reconstruction policies of President Andrew Johnson. Members of the Moderate Republicans comprised in part of the previous Radical Republicans who became disenchanted with the alleged corruption of the latter faction. They generally opposed efforts by Radical Republicans to rebuild the Southern U.S. under an economically mobile, free-market system.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Foner |first=Eric |title=Reconstruction: America's Unfinished Revolution, 1863–1877 |year=1988 |edition=1st |pages=236–37 |author-link=Eric Foner}}</ref>

=== 20th century === [[File:Goldwater-Reagan in 1964.jpg|thumb|Ronald Reagan speaks in support of Republican presidential candidate Barry Goldwater during the 1964 presidential campaign.]] The 20th century saw the Republican party split into an Old Right and a moderate-liberal faction in the Northeast that eventually became known as Rockefeller Republicans. Opposition to Roosevelt's New Deal saw the formation of the conservative coalition.<ref name="Bowen">{{Cite web|url=https://www.uncpress.org/book/9781469618968/the-roots-of-modern-conservatism|title=The Roots of Modern Conservatism {{!}} Michael Bowen|website=University of North Carolina Press|access-date=May 20, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170522220118/https://www.uncpress.org/book/9781469618968/the-roots-of-modern-conservatism/|archive-date=May 22, 2017|url-status=live}}</ref> The 1950s saw fusionism of traditionalist and social conservatism and right-libertarianism,<ref name="New Fusionism">{{cite journal |last1=Ashbee |first1=Edward |last2=Waddan |first2=Alex |title=US Republicans and the New Fusionism |journal=The Political Quarterly |date=December 13, 2023 |volume=95 |pages=148–156 |doi=10.1111/1467-923X.13341 |s2cid=266282896 |issn=1467-923X |language=en-us}}</ref> along with the rise of the First New Right to be followed in 1964 with a more populist Second New Right.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Gottfried|first1=Paul|last2=Fleming|first2=Thomas|author-link1=Paul Gottfried|author-link2=Thomas Fleming (political writer) |year=1988 |title=The Conservative Movement |location=Boston|publisher=Twayne Publishers|pages=77–95|isbn=0805797238}}</ref>

The rise of the Reagan coalition in the 1980s began what has been called the Reagan era. Reagan's rise displaced the liberal-moderate faction of the GOP and established Reagan-style conservatism as the prevailing ideological faction of the Party for the next thirty years, until the rise of the right-wing populist faction.<ref name="Smith-2021">{{cite journal |last1=Smith |first1=Robert C. |date=2021 |title=Ronald Reagan, Donald Trump, and the Future of the Republican Party and Conservatism in America |journal=American Political Thought |volume=10 |issue=2 |pages=283–289 |doi=10.1086/713662 }}</ref><ref name="Ward 08-26-22">{{Cite news |last=Ward |first=Ian |date=August 26, 2022|title=Trump Didn't Kill Reaganism. These Guys Did. |url=https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2022/08/26/reagan-conservatism-nicole-hemmer-q-and-a-00053858 |access-date=February 8, 2024 |work=Politico |language=en-US}}</ref> Reagan conservatives generally supported policies that favored limited government, individualism, traditionalism, republicanism, and limited federal governmental power in relation to the states.<ref name="political-ideology-today">{{cite book |last=Adams |first=Ian |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=apstK1qIvvMC&pg=PA32 |title=Political Ideology Today |publisher=Manchester University Press |year=2001 |isbn=978-0719060205 |edition=reprinted, revised |location=Manchester |pages=32–33 |quote=Ideologically, all US parties are liberal and always have been. Essentially they espouse classical liberalism, that is a form of democratised Whig constitutionalism plus the free market. The point of difference comes with the influence of social liberalism" and the proper role of government... ...the American right has nothing to do with maintaining the traditional social order, as in Europe. What it believes in is... individualism... The American right has tended towards... classical liberalism... |access-date=February 2, 2023 |archive-date=January 20, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230120193242/https://books.google.com/books?id=apstK1qIvvMC&pg=PA32 |url-status=live }}</ref>

=== 21st century === {{see also|Neoconservatism|Tea Party movement|Right-wing populism|Trumpism}} Republicans began the 21st century with the election of George W. Bush in the 2000 United States presidential election and saw the peak of a neoconservative faction that held significant influence over the initial American response to the September 11 attacks through the war on terror.<ref name = "Rathburn 2008">{{cite journal |last1=Rathburn |first1=Brian C. |title=Does One Right Make a Realist? Conservatism, Neoconservatism, and Isolationism in the Foreign Policy Ideology of American Elites |journal=Political Science Quarterly |volume=123 |issue=2 |date=Summer 2008 |pages=271–299 |doi=10.1002/j.1538-165X.2008.tb00625.x |issn=1538-165X |language=en-us}}</ref> The election of Barack Obama saw the formation of the Tea Party movement in 2009 that coincided with a global rise in right-wing populist movements from the 2010s to 2020s.<ref name = "Isaac2017">{{cite journal |last1=Isaac |first1=Jeffrey |title=Making America Great Again? |journal=Perspectives on Politics |publisher=Cambridge University Press |volume=15 |issue=3 |date=November 2017 |pages=625–631 |doi=10.1017/S1537592717000871 |doi-access=free }}</ref> The global rise in right-wing populism has been attributed to factors including economic insecurity due to financialization,<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Scheiring |first1=Gábor |last2=Serrano-Alarcón |first2=Manuel |last3=Moise |first3=Alexandru |last4=McNamara |first4=Courtney |last5=Stuckler |first5=David |date=July 2024 |title=The Populist Backlash Against Globalization: A Meta-Analysis of the Causal Evidence |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S0007123424000024/type/journal_article |journal=British Journal of Political Science |language=en |volume=54 |issue=3 |pages=892–916 |doi=10.1017/S0007123424000024 |issn=0007-1234}}</ref> a decline in organized religion, backlash to globalization, and migrant crises.<ref name="Fallen Behind">{{Cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2024/10/26/upshot/census-relative-income.html|title=They Used to Be Ahead in the American Economy. Now They've Fallen Behind.|date=October 26, 2024|first1=Emily|last1=Badger|first2=Robert|last2=Gebeloff|first3=Aatish|last3=Bhatia|website=The New York Times|access-date=October 26, 2024|archive-date=October 27, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241027193004/https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2024/10/26/upshot/census-relative-income.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Maxwell 2019"/>

Right-wing populism became an increasingly dominant ideological faction within the GOP throughout the 2010s and helped lead to the election of Donald Trump in 2016.<ref name="campani">{{Cite journal |last1=Campani |first1=Giovanna |last2=Fabelo Concepción |first2=Sunamis |last3=Rodriguez Soler |first3=Angel |last4=Sánchez Savín |first4=Claudia |date=December 2022 |title=The Rise of Donald Trump Right-Wing Populism in the United States: Middle American Radicalism and Anti-Immigration Discourse |journal=Societies |language=en |volume=12 |issue=6 |pages=154 |doi=10.3390/soc12060154 |issn=2075-4698 |doi-access=free }}</ref> Starting in the 1970s and accelerating in the 2000s, American right-wing interest groups invested heavily in external mobilization vehicles that led to the organizational weakening of the GOP establishment. The outsized role of conservative media, in particular Fox News, led to it being followed and trusted more by the Republican base over traditional party elites. The depletion of organizational capacity partly led to Trump's victory in the Republican primaries against the wishes of a very weak party establishment and traditional power brokers.<ref name="Gidron-2019"/>{{Rp|27–28}} Trump's election exacerbated internal schisms within the GOP,<ref name="Gidron-2019">{{Cite journal |last1=Gidron |first1=Noam |last2=Ziblatt |first2=Daniel |date=2019 |title=Center-Right Political Parties in Advanced Democracies |journal=Annual Review of Political Science | publisher=Annual Reviews |language=en |volume=12 |pages=17–35 |doi=10.1146/annurev-polisci-090717-092750 |issn=1094-2939 |doi-access=free }}</ref>{{Rp|18}} and saw the GOP move from a center coalition of moderates and conservatives to a solidly right-wing party hostile to liberal views and any deviations from the party line.<ref>{{Citation |last=McKay |first=David |title=Facilitating Donald Trump: Populism, the Republican Party and Media Manipulation |date=2020 |work=Authoritarian Populism and Liberal Democracy |pages=107–121 |editor-last=Crewe |editor-first=Ivor |place=Cham |publisher=Springer International Publishing |language=en |doi=10.1007/978-3-030-17997-7_7 |isbn=978-3-030-17997-7 |quote=the Republicans changed from being a right of centre coalition of moderates and conservatives to an unambiguously right-wing party that was hostile not only to liberal views but also to any perspective that clashed with the core views of an ideologically cohesive conservative cadre of party faithfuls |editor2-last=Sanders |editor2-first=David }}</ref>

The Party has since faced intense factionalism.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Broadwater |first=Luke |date=October 23, 2023 |title='5 Families' and Factions Within Factions: Why the House G.O.P. Can't Unite |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/23/us/politics/house-republicans-divisions-speaker.html |access-date=October 27, 2023 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=October 27, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231027050850/https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/23/us/politics/house-republicans-divisions-speaker.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/types-democrats-republicans-house-2024/|title=The 8 Types Of Democrats And Republicans In The House|website=FiveThirtyEight|date=May 4, 2024|access-date=May 4, 2024|archive-date=May 3, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240503180719/https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/types-democrats-republicans-house-2024/|url-status=dead}}</ref> These factions are particularly apparent in the U.S. House of Representatives, where three Republican House leaders (Eric Cantor, John Boehner, and Kevin McCarthy) have been ousted since 2009.{{refn| *{{Cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/10/05/mccarthy-trump-speaker-removed-tea-party/|title=McCarthy thought he could harness forces of disruption. Instead they devoured him.|newspaper=The Washington Post|date=October 5, 2023|first1=Paul|last1=Kane|quote=As far back as 2009, the future House speaker tried to channel the anti-politician, tea party wave building into a political force, but the movement crushed him.|archive-date=August 11, 2024|access-date=August 4, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240811014139/https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/10/05/mccarthy-trump-speaker-removed-tea-party/|url-status=live}} *{{Cite news |last=Martin |first=Jonathan |date=June 10, 2014 |title=Eric Cantor Defeated by David Brat, Tea Party Challenger, in G.O.P. Primary Upset |website=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/11/us/politics/eric-cantor-loses-gop-primary.html |url-access=subscription |access-date=August 4, 2024 |archive-date=June 11, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140611015851/http://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/11/us/politics/eric-cantor-loses-gop-primary.html |url-status=live }} *{{cite magazine|url=http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/12/14/a-house-divided|title=A House Divided: How a radical group of Republicans pushed Congress to the right|first=Ryan|last=Lizza|magazine=The New Yorker|date=December 14, 2015|access-date=January 8, 2016|archive-date=February 7, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210207063302/https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/12/14/a-house-divided|url-status=live}} *{{cite news |title=John Boehner Will Resign From Congress |first=Jennifer |last=Steinhauer |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/26/us/boehner-will-resign-from-congress.html |date=September 25, 2015 |access-date=October 8, 2015 |archive-date=March 27, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210327185152/https://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/26/us/john-boehner-to-resign-from-congress.html |url-status=live }} *{{Cite web |date=January 7, 2023 |title=McCarthy elected House speaker in rowdy post-midnight vote |url=https://apnews.com/article/politics-united-states-house-of-representatives-kevin-mccarthy-us-republican-party-0938c7358f41c83759246f8949ac7c15 |access-date=April 22, 2024 |website=AP News |language=en |archive-date=January 7, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230107135727/https://apnews.com/article/politics-united-states-house-of-representatives-kevin-mccarthy-us-republican-party-0938c7358f41c83759246f8949ac7c15 |url-status=live }} *{{Cite web |date=October 3, 2023 |title=Speaker McCarthy ousted in historic House vote, as scramble begins for a Republican leader |url=https://apnews.com/article/mccarthy-gaetz-speaker-motion-to-vacate-congress-327e294a39f8de079ef5e4abfb1fa555 |access-date=April 22, 2024 |website=AP News |language=en |archive-date=October 3, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231003173947/https://apnews.com/article/mccarthy-gaetz-speaker-motion-to-vacate-congress-327e294a39f8de079ef5e4abfb1fa555 |url-status=live }}}} All three of the top Republican elected officials during Trump's first term (Vice President, Speaker of the House, and Senate Republican leader) were ousted or stepped down by Trump's second term.

The party's establishment conservative faction has lost all of its influence.<ref name="Biebricher-2023">{{Cite journal |last1=Biebricher |first1=Thomas |date=October 25, 2023 |title=The Crisis of American Conservatism in Historical–Comparative Perspective |journal=Politische Vierteljahresschrift |volume=65 |issue=2 |pages=233–259 |language=en |doi=10.1007/s11615-023-00501-2 |issn=2075-4698 |doi-access=free |hdl=10419/312444 |hdl-access=free }}</ref><ref name="Arhin-2023">{{Cite journal |last1=Arhin |first1=Kofi |last2=Stockemer |first2=Daniel |last3=Normandin |first3=Marie-Soleil |date=May 29, 2023 |title=THE REPUBLICAN TRUMP VOTER: A Populist Radical Right Voter Like Any Other? |journal=World Affairs |language=en |volume=186 |issue=3 |doi=10.1177/00438200231176818 |issn=1940-1582 |doi-access=free |quote= In this article, we first illustrate that the Republican Party, or at least the dominant wing, which supports or tolerates Donald Trump and his Make America Great Again (MAGA) agenda have become a proto-typical populist radical right-wing party (PRRP).}}</ref><ref name="Punchbowl Old GOP">{{Cite news |last1=Desiderio |first1=Andrew |last2=Sherman |first2=Jake |last3=Bresnahan |first3=John |date=February 7, 2024 |title=The end of the Old GOP |language=en-US |work=Punchbowl News |url=https://punchbowl.news/article/the-end-of-the-old-republican-party-senate-conference/ |access-date=February 8, 2024 |archive-date=February 7, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240207114758/https://punchbowl.news/article/the-end-of-the-old-republican-party-senate-conference/ |url-status=live |quote=The structures and standards that have come to define the GOP have been breaking down since the Tea Party movement began in 2009. They were further eroded when Trump won the White House in 2016. But in recent months, the last holdout of the old Republican Party — the Senate GOP Conference — has all but abandoned many of its generational positions on foreign policy and governance. ... McConnell, perhaps the embodiment of the Republican Party for the last 40 years, is increasingly looking like an anachronism — and not just on policy.}}</ref><ref name="Price of Power">{{cite book | last=Tackett | first=Michael | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VF0CEQAAQBAJ| title=The Price of Power: How Mitch McConnell Mastered the Senate, Changed America, and Lost His Party | publisher=Simon and Schuster | publication-place=New York | date=2024 | isbn=978-1-6680-0584-2|quote=The Trump years brought with them the rise of an almost unrecognizable Republican party, suffused with a reactive populism that even McConnell himself would struggle to control.}}</ref> Many conservatives critical of the Trumpist faction have also lost influence within the party, with no former Republican presidential or vice presidential nominees attending the 2024 Republican National Convention.<ref name="Not Coming to Milwaukee">{{Cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/16/us/politics/rnc-bush-quayle-pence-cheney-romney.html|title=Guess Who's Not Coming to Milwaukee? Bush, Quayle, Pence, Cheney or Romney|date=July 16, 2024|website=The New York Times|first1=Adam|last1=Nagourney|access-date=September 17, 2024|archive-date=September 16, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240916130252/https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/16/us/politics/rnc-bush-quayle-pence-cheney-romney.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="washingtonpost.com">{{Cite news|title=Trump's overhaul of GOP shows his sway but leaves some on sidelines|date=July 19, 2024|newspaper=The Washington Post|first1=Josh|last1=Dawsey|first2=Isaac|last2=Arnsdorf|first3=Laura|last3=Vozzella|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/07/19/trump-republican-party-traditional-conservatives-milwaukee/|access-date=August 4, 2024|archive-date=July 21, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240721115428/https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/07/19/trump-republican-party-traditional-conservatives-milwaukee/|url-status=live}}</ref>

The victory of Trump in the 2024 presidential election saw the party increasingly shift towards Trumpism,<ref name="Cohn 12252024">{{Cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2024/12/25/upshot/trump-era-republicans-democrats.html|title=Trump's Re-election Defines a New Era of American Politics|date=December 25, 2024|access-date=December 25, 2024|website=The New York Times|first1=Nate|last1=Cohn|quote=Instead, it's the three Trump elections — in 2016, 2020 and 2024 — that look as if they have the makings of a new era of politics, one defined by Donald J. Trump's brand of conservative populism. ... Much of the Republican Party's old establishment — like the Cheneys, the Romneys, Paul Ryan — is now without a home.|archive-date=December 25, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241225055712/https://www.nytimes.com/2024/12/25/upshot/trump-era-republicans-democrats.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Ball 2024"/> and party criticism of Trump was described as being muted to non-existent. ''The New York Times'' described it as a "hostile takeover",<ref name="Swan 12122024">{{Cite news |last1=Swan |first1=Jonathan |last2=Haberman |first2=Maggie |date=December 12, 2024 |title=The Stock Market and TV: Trump's Most Durable Guardrails |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2024/12/12/us/politics/trump-tv-stock-market.html |url-access=subscription |access-date=January 20, 2025 |issn=0362-4331 |quote=Mr. Trump is likely to receive only the meekest resistance from his own party, which will control both the House and Senate and whose members fear Trump-backed primary challengers. He has completed his hostile takeover of the Republican Party and the dissenters have been driven into retirement, defeated in primaries or cowed into silence. |archive-date=January 28, 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250128231646/https://www.nytimes.com/2024/12/12/us/politics/trump-tv-stock-market.html |url-status=live }}</ref> and a victory of right-wing populism over the old conservative establishment.<ref name="Cohn 12252024"/><ref name="Price of Power"/><ref name="Cliffe 2023">{{Cite web|url=https://www.newstatesman.com/international-politics/2023/02/strange-death-centre-right-moderate-conservatism|title=The strange death of the centre right|quote=In Western democracies conventional conservatism is foundering. How did this once-dominant political force become so diminished? ... The picture today is drastically different. In every one of those countries the moderate conservative tendency represented by those leaders has been sidelined in one way or another. It has either been displaced by more hard-line elements within the same party, or by another party farther to the right; or it has started cooperating with the hard-line right; or has been partly or wholly marginalised within the political system. In one notable case (Orbán) it has self-radicalised. In several countries more than one of these things has occurred. ... The traditional centre right of the postwar decades could do so by "bundling" moderate social conservatism (moderate by the standards of its day, at least) with the pro-business economic conservatism favoured by higher earners. '''But today those two elements are coming apart: richer folk are more likely to have gone to university and be socially liberal, while social conservatism is more associated with poorer groups.''' That puts centre-right politics in zugzwang: forced to move, but with no good options. It can emphasize its social conservatism and lose pro-business graduates to the centre, or play it down, shore up its support among those voters and lose social conservatives to the radical right.|first1=Jeremy|last1=Cliffe|date=February 15, 2023|access-date=February 5, 2025|website=The New Statesman|archive-date=February 11, 2025|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250211103019/https://www.newstatesman.com/international-politics/2023/02/strange-death-centre-right-moderate-conservatism|url-status=live}}</ref> Polling found that 53% of Republican voters saw loyalty to Trump as central to their political identity and what it means to be a Republican.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Edwards-Levy |first=Ariel |date=January 19, 2025 |title=CNN Poll: Most Democrats think their party needs major change, while the GOP coalesces around Trump |work=CNN |url=https://www.cnn.com/2025/01/19/politics/democrats-party-change-cnn-poll/index.html |access-date=January 20, 2025 }}</ref> During Trump's second presidency, Republican members of Congress were described by political commentators and news media as largely submissive to Trump, letting him dictate policies without pushback.<ref>{{Cite magazine|url=https://newrepublic.com/post/191772/republican-lawmakers-trumpism-power-media|title=The Incredible Disappearing Republican Lawmaker|quote=The GOP's total withdrawal from governing is nearly complete, and they're increasingly determined to push the entire legislative branch into functional irrelevance.|first1=Jason|last1=Linkins|magazine=The New Republic|date=February 23, 2025|access-date=February 23, 2025}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/20/us/politics/trump-power-courts-crisis.html|title=How Trump Is Trying to Consolidate Power Over Courts, Congress and More|quote=President Trump's expansive interpretation of presidential power has become the defining characteristic of his second term.|first1=Erica L.|last1=Green|first2=Zolan|last2=Kanno-Youngs|first3=Maggie|last3=Haberman|website=The New York Times|date=March 20, 2025|access-date=March 20, 2025}}</ref>

==== Right-wing populists and Trumpists ==== {{main|Right-wing populism|Trumpism}}

{{see also|Radical right (United States)|National conservatism|Freedom Caucus}} [[File:March 2026 Official Vice Presidential Portrait of JD Vance (cropped).jpg|thumb|JD Vance, Donald Trump's vice president during Trump's second term. Initially critical of Trump, he became a staunch advocate of Trumpism later in Trump's first term and has been described as a right-wing populist.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Orr |first=James |author-link=James Orr (theologian) |date=July 16, 2024 |title=JD Vance's nomination proves Trumpism is here to stay |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/07/16/vance-nomination-proves-trumpism-is-here-to-stay/ |access-date=July 17, 2024 |work=The Daily Telegraph |issn=0307-1235 |archive-date=July 18, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240718054932/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/07/16/vance-nomination-proves-trumpism-is-here-to-stay/ |url-status=live }}</ref>]]

Right-wing populism is the dominant political faction of the GOP.{{refn|name="Dominant"| * {{Cite journal |last=Winberg |first=Oscar |date=2017 |title=Insult Politics: Donald Trump, Right-Wing Populism, and Incendiary Language |url=https://journals.openedition.org/ejas/12132 |journal=European Journal of American Studies |volume=12 |issue=2 |access-date=February 2, 2025 |pages=1–16 |issn=1991-9336 |doi=10.4000/ejas.12132 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241231182356/https://journals.openedition.org/ejas/12132 |archive-date=December 31, 2024 |quote-pages=5-6|quote=With the presidency of George W. Bush, coinciding with the ascendance of the conservative media establishment and ending with the mass protests of the Tea Party, the long tradition of right-wing populism was a firmly institutionalized part of the conservative movement and, by extension, the Republican Party. Trump's rise should be understood as part of the long tradition of right-wing populism and the ultimate triumph of the Tea Party movement; a right-wing populist eruption within the Republican Party fueled by both a conservative media establishment and anti-intellectual and, at times, overtly racial appeals.}} * {{Cite journal |last=Fiorino |first=Daniel J. |date=2022 |title=Climate change and right-wing populism in the United States |journal=Environmental Politics |volume=31 |issue=5 |pages=801–819 |issn=0964-4016 |doi=10.1080/09644016.2021.2018854 |bibcode=2022EnvPo..31..801F |quote=In recent years, the Republican Party in the United States has taken on the characteristics of right-wing populism, especially under President Donald Trump. Like most right-wing populist parties, the party under Trump is hostile to climate mitigation. This is reflected in skepticism or rejection of climate science, opposition to multilateral institutions and agreements, aggressive domestic exploitation of fossil fuels, and depiction of climate advocates and experts as 'elites' set on undermining the will of 'the people'. }} * {{Cite journal |last1=Arhin |first1=Kofi |last2=Stockemer |first2=Daniel |last3=Normandin |first3=Marie-Soleil |date=May 29, 2023 |title=The Republican Trump Voter: A Populist Radical Right Voter Like Any Other? |journal=World Affairs |language=en |volume=186 |issue=3 |doi=10.1177/00438200231176818 |issn=1940-1582 |doi-access=free |quote= In this article, we first illustrate that the Republican Party, or at least the dominant wing, which supports or tolerates Donald Trump and his Make America Great Again (MAGA) agenda have become a proto-typical populist radical right-wing party (PRRP).}} * {{Cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2024/11/25/upshot/democrats-trump-working-class.html|title=How Democrats Lost Their Base and their Message|quote=Donald Trump's populist pitch bumped Democrats off their traditional place in American politics.|website=The New York Times|first1=Nate|last1=Cohn|date=November 25, 2024|access-date=November 25, 2024|archive-date=November 25, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241125104053/https://www.nytimes.com/2024/11/25/upshot/democrats-trump-working-class.html|url-status=live}} * {{Cite web|first1=John|last1=Burn-Murdoch|website=Financial Times|date=March 6, 2025|quote=US decisions can no longer be analyzed using assumptions shared across the democratic west|title=Why the Maga mindset is different|access-date=March 18, 2025|url=https://www.ft.com/content/3046013f-da85-4987-92a5-4a9e3008a9e1}} * {{Cite journal |last1=Arhin |first1=Kofi |last2=Stockemer |first2=Daniel |last3=Normandin |first3=Marie-Soleil |date=May 29, 2023 |title=THE REPUBLICAN TRUMP VOTER: A Populist Radical Right Voter Like Any Other? |journal=World Affairs |language=en |volume=186 |issue=3 |doi=10.1177/00438200231176818 |issn=1940-1582 |doi-access=free |quote= In this article, we first illustrate that the Republican Party, or at least the dominant wing, which supports or tolerates Donald Trump and his Make America Great Again (MAGA) agenda have become a proto-typical populist radical right-wing party (PRRP).}} * {{Cite web |last=Beauchamp |first=Zack |date=July 19, 2024 |title=It's Trump's party now. Mostly. |url=https://www.vox.com/politics/361684/trump-speech-rnc-gop-republicans-project-2025 |access-date=January 28, 2025 |website=Vox |language=en-US |archive-date=January 18, 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250118030630/https://www.vox.com/politics/361684/trump-speech-rnc-gop-republicans-project-2025 |url-status=live }} * {{Cite web |last=Page |first=Susan |title=Trump's takeover: In a redefined GOP, populism and a new coalition. Goodbye, old guard |url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/elections/2024/07/16/donald-trump-takeover-populism-and-a-new-coalition-reign-in-new-gop/74367458007/ |access-date=January 28, 2025 |website=USA TODAY |language=en-US |archive-date=September 2, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240902212758/https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/elections/2024/07/16/donald-trump-takeover-populism-and-a-new-coalition-reign-in-new-gop/74367458007/ |url-status=live }} * {{cite news |last1=Aratani |first1=Lauren |title=Republicans unveil two minimum wage bills in response to Democrats' push |url=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/feb/26/republicans-minimum-wage-bills-senate |access-date=September 7, 2021 |work=The Guardian |date=February 26, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210814230535/https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/feb/26/republicans-minimum-wage-bills-senate |archive-date=August 14, 2021 |quote=In keeping with the party's deep division between its dominant Trumpist faction and its more traditionalist party elites, the twin responses seem aimed at appealing on one hand to its corporate-friendly allies and on the other hand to its populist rightwing base. Both have an anti-immigrant element.}} }} Sometimes referred to as the MAGA or "America First" movement,<ref name="University of Washington 2021">{{cite web | title=Panel Study of the MAGA Movement | website=University of Washington | date=January 6, 2021 | url=https://sites.uw.edu/magastudy/ | access-date=March 24, 2024 | archive-date=March 24, 2024 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240324054136/https://sites.uw.edu/magastudy/ | url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Gabbatt Smith 2023">{{cite web | last1=Gabbatt | first1=Adam | last2=Smith | first2=David | title='America First 2.0': Vivek Ramaswamy pitches to be Republicans' next Trump | website=the Guardian | date=August 19, 2023 | url=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/aug/19/vivek-ramaswamy-republican-presidential-nomination-candidate | access-date=March 24, 2024}}</ref> Republican populists have been described as consisting of a range of right-wing ideologies including but not limited to right-wing populism,<ref name="campani" /><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Norris |first=Pippa |date=November 2020 |title=Measuring populism worldwide |journal=Party Politics |language=en |volume=26 |issue=6 |pages=697–717 |doi=10.1177/1354068820927686 |s2cid=216298689 |issn=1354-0688|doi-access=free }}</ref><ref name="Cassidy">{{cite magazine |url=https://www.newyorker.com/news/john-cassidy/donald-trump-is-transforming-the-g-o-p-into-a-populist-nativist-party |title=Donald Trump is Transforming the G.O.P. Into a Populist, Nativist Party |last=Cassidy |first=John |magazine=The New Yorker |date=February 29, 2016 |access-date=July 22, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304225035/http://www.newyorker.com/news/john-cassidy/donald-trump-is-transforming-the-g-o-p-into-a-populist-nativist-party |archive-date=March 4, 2016 |url-status=live}}</ref> national conservatism,<ref name="Economist Feb152024">{{cite news |date=February 15, 2024 |title="National conservatives" are forging a global front against liberalism |url=https://www.economist.com/briefing/2024/02/15/national-conservatives-are-forging-a-global-front-against-liberalism |url-status=live |newspaper=The Economist |location=London |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240220205122/https://www.economist.com/briefing/2024/02/15/national-conservatives-are-forging-a-global-front-against-liberalism |archive-date=February 20, 2024 |url-access=subscription}}</ref> neo-nationalism,<ref name="Zhou_12/8/2022">{{cite journal |last1=Zhou |first1=Shaoqing |title=The origins, characteristics and trends of neo-nationalism in the 21st century |journal=International Journal of Anthropology and Ethnology |volume=6 |issue=1 |date=December 8, 2022 |article-number=18 |doi=10.1186/s41257-022-00079-4 |doi-access=free |pmid=36532330 |quote=On a practical level, the United Kingdom's withdrawal from the European Union and Trump's election as the United States president are regarded as typical events of neo-nationalism.|pmc=9735003 }}</ref><ref name="Maga mindset">{{Cite web|first1=John|last1=Burn-Murdoch|website=Financial Times|date=March 6, 2025|title=Why the Maga mindset is different|access-date=March 18, 2025|url=https://www.ft.com/content/3046013f-da85-4987-92a5-4a9e3008a9e1|quote=US decisions can no longer be analyzed using assumptions shared across the democratic west ... But the series of shock decisions ... are less brain-bendingly inexplicable once you realise this: their version of America is operating on an entirely different set of values from the rest of the western world. ... A government seemingly driven by zero-sum ideology and a commitment to reducing international co-operation is one whose threats of a trade war you should probably take seriously despite possible economic self-harm. Likewise, a leadership team that believes geopolitics is a game of cards played by strong men and great powers is one whose support and cooperation other countries should quickly build independence from.}}</ref> mercantilism,<ref name="Helleiner 2021">{{Cite journal |last=Helleiner |first=Eric |date=January 5, 2021 |title=The Return of National Self-Sufficiency. Excavating Autarkic Thought in a De-Globalizing Era |journal=International Studies Review |volume=23 |issue=3 |pages=933–957 |doi=10.1093/isr/viaa092 |issn=1521-9488 |doi-access=free|quote=The election of Donald Trump as American president in 2016 encouraged further interest in ideas of national self-sufficiency. ... '''Trump's worldview was much closer to a neomercantilist one than an autarkist one,''' but some of his supporters on the far right are more clearly in the latter camp.14 For example, in a 2020 publication from the Claremont Institute, Curtis Yarvin called for the promotion of an "isolationist" policy of "neo-Sakoku". Like some other past autarkists, he argued that a world of autarkic states would be more peaceful because the reasons for conflict would diminish (Yarvin 2020). The Trump administration also indirectly encouraged new interest in greater national self-sufficiency in other countries because of its protectionism and its broader "weaponization" of America's international economic relations (Farrell and Newman 2019).|pmc=7928914 }}</ref> and Trumpism.<ref name="Ball 2024">{{cite news |last1=Ball |first1=Molly |title=The GOP Wants Pure, Uncut Trumpism |url=https://www.wsj.com/politics/elections/gop-new-hampshire-trump-haley-403080ca |access-date=February 22, 2024 |work=The Wall Street Journal |date=January 23, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240124014202/https://www.wsj.com/politics/elections/gop-new-hampshire-trump-haley-403080ca |archive-date=January 24, 2024 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="v075"/><ref name="i277"/>{{refn|*{{cite news |last1=Katzenstein |first1=Peter J. |author-link=Peter J. Katzenstein |title=Trumpism is US |url=https://www.wzb.eu/en/news/trumpism-is-us |access-date=September 11, 2021 |work=WZB {{!}} Berlin Social Science Center |date=March 20, 2019 |archive-date=February 15, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210215222927/https://www.wzb.eu/en/news/trumpism-is-us |url-status=live }} *{{cite web |author=The Christian Science Monitor |date=November 5, 2020 |title=Why Trumpism is here to stay |url=https://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Politics/2020/1105/Why-Trumpism-is-here-to-stay |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240612135009/https://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Politics/2020/1105/Why-Trumpism-is-here-to-stay |archive-date=June 12, 2024 |access-date=February 3, 2025 |website=The Christian Science Monitor}} *{{cite web |last1=Klein |first1=Rick |last2=Parks |first2=Mary Alice |date=June 13, 2018 |title=The Note: Trumpism again dominates Republican Party |url=https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/note-trumpism-dominates-republican-party/story?id=55849587 |access-date=February 3, 2025 |website=ABC News |archive-date=June 12, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240612135011/https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/note-trumpism-dominates-republican-party/story?id=55849587 |url-status=live }}}} Trump has been described as one of many nationalist leaders, including Vladimir Putin of Russia, Xi Jinping of China, Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey, Narendra Modi of India, Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia, Viktor Orbán of Hungary, and Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel.<ref name="The World Trump Wants">{{Cite magazine|url=https://www.foreignaffairs.com/united-states/world-trump-wants-michael-kimmage|title=The World Trump Wants: American Power in the New Age of Nationalism|date=February 25, 2025|access-date=March 18, 2025|website=Foreign Affairs|first1=Michael|last1=Kimmage|volume=104 |issue=2 |quote=In the two decades that followed the Cold War's end, globalism gained ground over nationalism. Simultaneously, the rise of increasingly complex systems and networks—institutional, financial, and technological—overshadowed the role of the individual in politics. But in the early 2010s, a profound shift began. By learning to harness the tools of this century, a cadre of charismatic figures revived the archetypes of the previous one: the strong leader, the great nation, the proud civilization. ... They are self-styled strongmen who place little stock in rules-based systems, alliances, or multinational forums. They embrace the once and future glory of the countries they govern, asserting an almost mystical mandate for their rule. '''Although their programs can involve radical change, their political strategies rely on strains of conservatism, appealing over the heads of liberal, urban, cosmopolitan elites to constituencies animated by a hunger for tradition and a desire for belonging.'''}}</ref>{{refn| *{{Cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/21/us/politics/trump-netanyahu-israel-political-strategy.html|title=For Trump and Netanyahu, Similar Strategies With Similar Goals|quote=The American and Israeli leaders have been mirroring each other as they go to war with their own governments|date=March 21, 2025|first1=Mark|last1=Mazzetti|first2=Patrick|last2=Kingsley|website=The New York Times|access-date=March 22, 2025}} *{{cite news|work=New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2024/11/08/world/europe/trump-populist-far-right-leaders.html|title=With Trump's Victory, Europe's Populist Right Sees Return of a Fellow Believer|date=November 8, 2024}} *{{cite news|work=Newsweek|title=Saudi Arabia Has Its Own 'Deal of the Century' for Trump|date=November 24, 2024|url=https://www.newsweek.com/saudi-arabia-has-its-own-deal-century-trump-1989311|quote=The president-elect's "America First" platform resounds heavily with the transformative, increasingly nationalist path on which Riyadh's monarch-in-waiting has embarked.}}}}

The Republican Party's right-wing populist movements emerged in concurrence with a global increase in populist movements in the 2010s and 2020s,<ref name="Isaac2017"/><ref name="Maxwell 2019">{{cite news |last=Maxwell |first=Rahsaan |date=March 5, 2019 |title=Analysis {{!}} Why are urban and rural areas so politically divided? |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2019/03/05/why-are-urban-rural-areas-so-politically-divided/ |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201030180433/https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2019/03/05/why-are-urban-rural-areas-so-politically-divided/ |archive-date=October 30, 2020 |access-date=May 6, 2024 |newspaper=The Washington Post |issn=0190-8286|quote=In general, the core supporters of right-wing populist political parties across Europe are in more rural areas, where they feel left behind by the globalized economy and alienated from the multiculturalism of European capitals.}}</ref> coupled with entrenchment and increased partisanship within the party since 2010.<ref name="Lowndes 2021 q431">{{cite news | last=Lowndes | first=Joseph | title=Far-right extremism dominates the GOP. It didn't start — and won't end — with Trump | newspaper=Washington Post | date=November 8, 2021 | url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2021/11/08/far-right-extremism-dominates-gop-it-didnt-start-wont-end-with-trump/ | access-date=December 31, 2023 | archive-date=November 23, 2021 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211123072545/https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2021/11/08/far-right-extremism-dominates-gop-it-didnt-start-wont-end-with-trump/ | url-status=live }}</ref> This included the rise of the Tea Party movement, which has also been described as far-right.<ref name="Blum pp. 88–109">{{cite journal | last1=Blum | first1=Rachel M. | last2=Cowburn | first2=Mike | title=How Local Factions Pressure Parties: Activist Groups and Primary Contests in the Tea Party Era | journal=British Journal of Political Science | date=2024 | publisher=Cambridge University Press | volume=54 | issue=1 | pages=88–109 | doi=10.1017/S0007123423000224 | url=https://ideas.repec.org/a/cup/bjposi/v54y2024i1p88-109_5.html | access-date=December 31, 2023 | archive-date=September 11, 2024 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240911120615/https://ideas.repec.org/a/cup/bjposi/v54y2024i1p88-109_5.html | url-status=live }}</ref>

Compared to other Republicans, the populist faction is more likely to oppose legal immigration,<ref name="Baker-2020">{{cite book |last1=Baker |first1=Paula |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=547UDwAAQBAJ |title=The Oxford Handbook of American Political History |last2=Critchlow |first2=Donald T. |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2020 |isbn=978-0190628697 |page=387 |quote="Contemporary debate is fueled on one side by immigration restrictionists, led by President Donald Trump and other elected republicans, whose rhetorical and policy assaults on undocumented Latin American immigrants, Muslim refugees, and family-based immigration energized their conservative base." |via=Google Books |access-date=April 23, 2021 |archive-date=December 15, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231215023724/https://books.google.com/books?id=547UDwAAQBAJ |url-status=live }}</ref> free trade,<ref name="Populism and Trade">{{Cite book |last=Jones |first=Kent |title=Populism and Trade: The Challenge to the Global Trading System |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2021 |isbn=978-0190086350 |chapter=Populism, Trade, and Trump's Path to Victory}}</ref> neoconservatism,<ref>{{Cite magazine |last1=Smith |first1=Jordan Michael |last2=Logis |first2=Rich |last3=Logis |first3=Rich |last4=Shephard |first4=Alex |last5=Shephard |first5=Alex |last6=Kipnis |first6=Laura |last7=Kipnis |first7=Laura |last8=Haas |first8=Lidija |last9=Haas |first9=Lidija |date=October 17, 2022 |title=The Neocons Are Losing. Why Aren't We Happy? |magazine=The New Republic |url=https://newrepublic.com/article/168045/neoconservative-isolationism-republican-party |access-date=May 5, 2023 |issn=0028-6583 |archive-date=May 5, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230505163722/https://newrepublic.com/article/168045/neoconservative-isolationism-republican-party |url-status=live }}</ref> and environmental protection laws.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Arias-Maldonado |first=Manuel |date=January 2020 |title=Sustainability in the Anthropocene: Between Extinction and Populism |journal=Sustainability |language=en |volume=12 |issue=6 |pages=2538 |doi=10.3390/su12062538 |issn=2071-1050 |doi-access=free|bibcode=2020Sust...12.2538A }}</ref> It has been described as featuring anti-intellectualism and overtly racial appeals.<ref name="Winberg 2017">{{Cite journal |last=Winberg |first=Oscar |date=2017 |title=Insult Politics: Donald Trump, Right-Wing Populism, and Incendiary Language |url=https://journals.openedition.org/ejas/12132 |journal=European Journal of American Studies |volume=12 |issue=2 |access-date=February 2, 2025 |pages=1–16 |issn=1991-9336 |doi=10.4000/ejas.12132 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241231182356/https://journals.openedition.org/ejas/12132 |archive-date=December 31, 2024 |quote-pages=5-6|quote=With the presidency of George W. Bush, coinciding with the ascendance of the conservative media establishment and ending with the mass protests of the Tea Party, the long tradition of right-wing populism was a firmly institutionalized part of the conservative movement and, by extension, the Republican Party. Trump's rise should be understood as part of the long tradition of right-wing populism and the ultimate triumph of the Tea Party movement; a right-wing populist eruption within the Republican Party fueled by both a conservative media establishment and anti-intellectual and, at times, overtly racial appeals.}}</ref>

In international relations, populists typically support American aid to Israel but not to Ukraine,<ref name="Falk 2023 t804">{{cite web | last=Falk | first=Thomas O | title=Why are US Republicans pushing for aid to Israel but not Ukraine? | website=Al Jazeera | date=November 8, 2023 | url=https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/11/8/why-are-us-republicans-pushing-for-aid-to-israel-but-not-ukraine | access-date=December 31, 2023 | archive-date=December 31, 2023 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231231160206/https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/11/8/why-are-us-republicans-pushing-for-aid-to-israel-but-not-ukraine | url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Riccardi">{{Cite news |last=Riccardi |first=Nicholas |date=February 19, 2024 |title=Stalled US aid for Ukraine underscores GOP's shift away from confronting Russia |url=https://thehill.com/homenews/house/4492514-gop-strained-by-trump-influenced-shift-from-reagan-on-russia/ |access-date=February 28, 2024 |agency=Associated Press |archive-date=February 28, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240228121816/https://thehill.com/homenews/house/4492514-gop-strained-by-trump-influenced-shift-from-reagan-on-russia/ |url-status=live }}</ref> though since 2025, a growing element is critical of aid to Israel as well.<ref>{{cite news|work=Politico|title=What I Learned Discussing Israel with Tucker Carlson, Steve Bannon and Marjorie Taylor Greene|date=August 12, 2025|url=https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2025/12/08/the-conservatives-pushing-maga-to-break-with-israel-00635363}}</ref> They are generally supportive of improving relations with Russia,{{refn|name="Lillis, Ball, & Jonathan"| *{{Cite news |last=Lillis |first=Mike |date=February 28, 2024 |title=GOP strained by Trump-influenced shift from Reagan on Russia |url=https://thehill.com/homenews/house/4492514-gop-strained-by-trump-influenced-shift-from-reagan-on-russia/ |access-date=February 28, 2024 |work=The Hill |quote=Experts say a variety of factors have led to the GOP's more lenient approach to Moscow, some of which preceded Trump's arrival on the political scene ... Trump's popularity has only encouraged other Republicans to adopt a soft-gloves approach to Russia. |archive-date=February 28, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240228121816/https://thehill.com/homenews/house/4492514-gop-strained-by-trump-influenced-shift-from-reagan-on-russia/ |url-status=live }} *{{Cite news |last=Ball |first=Molly |date=February 23, 2024 |title=How Trump Turned Conservatives Against Helping Ukraine |url=https://www.wsj.com/politics/elections/how-trump-turned-conservatives-against-helping-ukraine-d9f75b3b |access-date=February 28, 2024 |work=The Wall Street Journal}} *{{Cite web |last=Jonathan |first=Chait |date=February 23, 2024 |title=Russian Dolls Trump has finally remade Republicans into Putin's playthings. |url=https://nymag.com/intelligencer/article/donald-trump-republicans-vladimir-putin-puppets.html |access-date=February 28, 2024 |work=Intelligencer |quote=But during his time in office and after, Trump managed to create, from the grassroots up, a Republican constituency for Russia-friendly policy ... Conservatives vying to be the Trumpiest of them all have realized that supporting Russia translates in the Republican mind as a proxy for supporting Trump. Hence the politicians most willing to defend his offenses against democratic norms — Marjorie Taylor Greene, Jim Jordan, Tommy Tuberville, Mike Lee, J. D. Vance — hold the most anti-Ukraine or pro-Russia views. Conversely, the least-Trumpy Republicans, such as Mitch McConnell and Mitt Romney, have the most hawkish views on Russia. The rapid growth of Trump's once-unique pro-Russia stance is a gravitational function of his personality cult. |archive-date=February 29, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240229043453/https://nymag.com/intelligencer/article/donald-trump-republicans-vladimir-putin-puppets.html |url-status=live }}}}<ref name="Jimison">{{Cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/19/us/politics/trump-ukraine-russia-republicans.html|title=As Trump Turns Toward Russia and Against Ukraine, Republicans Are Mum|date=February 19, 2025|website=The New York Times|quote=Congressional Republicans have mostly tempered their criticism or deferred to the president as he topples what were once their party's core foreign policy principles.|first1=Robert|last1=Jimison}}</ref> and favor an isolationist "America First" foreign policy agenda.<ref name="Lange"/><ref name="New York Times"/><ref name="Baker"/><ref name="Cohn2023">{{Cite news |last=Cohn |first=Nate |date=August 17, 2023 |title=The 6 Kinds of Republican Voters |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2023/08/17/upshot/six-kinds-of-republican-voters.html |access-date=October 9, 2023 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=October 12, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231012095530/https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2023/08/17/upshot/six-kinds-of-republican-voters.html |url-status=live }}</ref> This faction has been described as closer to that of Vladimir Putin's Russia and Recep Tayyip Erdogan's Turkey than Western Europe and the Anglosphere in terms of positions on international cooperation, support for an autocratic leadership style, and trust in institutions.<ref name="Maga mindset"/> This faction takes nationalist and irredentist views towards other countries in North America, advocating for American territorial expansion to include Canada, Greenland and the Panama Canal, the renaming of the Gulf of Mexico, and potential military action on Mexican soil.{{refn| *{{cite news|work=CNN|title=Trump is teasing US expansion into Panama, Greenland and Canada|date=December 23, 2024|quote=His pitch to seize the Panama Canal – which he described as a "vital national asset" though it's been decades since America controlled it – reflected a similarly nationalist agenda that Trump often describes as "America First."|url=https://edition.cnn.com/2024/12/23/politics/trump-us-expansion-panama-canada-greenland/index.html}} *{{Cite news|work=The Hill|title=Lawmaker lauds Trump's expansion plan: Panama, Greenland, Canada 'should be honored'|date=January 8, 2025|url=https://thehill.com/policy/international/5075347-lawmaker-lauds-trumps-expansion-plan-panama-greenland-canada-should-be-honored/}} *{{cite news|work=AP|date=January 8, 2025|title=Trump refuses to rule out use of military force to take control of Greenland and the Panama Canal|url=https://apnews.com/article/trump-biden-offshore-drilling-gulf-of-america-fa66f8d072eb39c00a8128a8941ede75}} *{{cite news|work=The Intercept|title=AS REPUBLICANS THIRST FOR WAR WITH MEXICO, DEMOCRATS PUSH TO MAKE THEM VOTE ON IT|date=August 31, 2023|url=https://theintercept.com/2023/08/31/republicans-mexico-war/|quote=The response to the war powers resolution from the office of Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla. — who has led recent efforts to reduce the U.S. military's foreign entanglements — highlights populist Republicans' growing pains in their emerging anti-war coalition with progressive Democrats.}}}}

The party's far-right faction includes members of the Freedom Caucus.{{refn| *{{cite web | last=Chatelain | first=Ryan | title=Freedom Caucus issues demands for raising debt limit | website=Spectrum News NY1 | date=March 10, 2023 | url=https://ny1.com/nyc/all-boroughs/politics/2023/03/10/freedom-caucus-issues-demands-for-raising-debt-limit | access-date=December 31, 2023}} *{{cite web | title=Far-right Republicans drafted a short-term funding bill with GOP centrists. It's now at risk of collapse. | website=NBC4 Washington | date=September 19, 2023 | url=https://www.nbcwashington.com/news/politics/far-right-republicans-drafted-a-short-term-funding-bill-with-gop-centrists-its-now-at-risk-of-collapse/3426059/ | access-date=December 31, 2023}} *{{cite web | last=Hulse | first=Carl | title=In Mike Johnson, Far-Right Republicans Find a Speaker They Can Embrace | website=The New York Times | date=October 25, 2023 | url=https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/25/us/politics/mike-johnson-republican-house-speaker.html | access-date=December 31, 2023}} *{{cite web | last1=Mascaro | first1=Lisa | last2=Freking | first2=Kevin | last3=Amiri | first3=Farnoush | title=Republicans pick Jim Jordan as nominee for House speaker, putting job within the Trump ally's reach | website=AP News | date=October 13, 2023 | url=https://apnews.com/article/house-republicans-scalise-jordan-mccarthy-trump-ced017e71de967a7e327cba7e502926a | access-date=December 31, 2023}}}} They generally reject compromise within the party and with the Democrats,<ref name="Collinson 2023 n804">{{cite web | last=Collinson | first=Stephen | title=McCarthy became the latest victim of Trump's extreme GOP revolution | website=CNN | date=October 4, 2023 | url=https://edition.cnn.com/2023/10/04/politics/mccarthy-victim-trump-gop-revolution/index.html | access-date=December 31, 2023 | archive-date=December 31, 2023 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231231160206/https://edition.cnn.com/2023/10/04/politics/mccarthy-victim-trump-gop-revolution/index.html | url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Rocha 2023 k444">{{cite web | last=Rocha | first=Alander | title=Mike Rogers says of 'far-right wing' of GOP: 'You can't get rid of them' | website=AL | date=September 7, 2023 | url=https://www.al.com/news/2023/09/mike-rogers-says-far-right-wing-of-gop-act-like-my-kids-you-cant-get-rid-of-them.html | access-date=December 31, 2023}}</ref> and are willing to oust fellow Republican office holders they deem to be too moderate.<ref name="Macpherson 2021 r371">{{cite web | last=Macpherson | first=James | title=Far right tugs at North Dakota Republican Party | website=AP News | date=July 24, 2021 | url=https://apnews.com/article/government-and-politics-north-dakota-8fce64375abe042324cf26b4c82d57bf | access-date=December 31, 2023}}</ref><ref name="Times-Herald.com 2023 x358">{{cite web | title=Fringe activists threaten Georgia GOP's political future | website=The Times Herald | date=May 15, 2023 | url=https://www.times-herald.com/opinion/fringe-activists-threaten-georgia-gop-s-political-future/article_b3fd5a4a-f33f-11ed-901d-7fbbbf28e09e.html | access-date=December 31, 2023}}</ref> According to sociologist Joe Feagin, political polarization by racially extremist Republicans as well as their increased attention from conservative media has perpetuated the near extinction of moderate Republicans and created legislative paralysis at numerous government levels in the last few decades.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Feagin |first=Joe R. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tPGyEAAAQBAJ&pg=PT5 |title=White Minority Nation: Past, Present and Future |date=April 25, 2023 |publisher=Taylor & Francis |isbn=978-1-000-86223-2 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=March 17, 2022 |title=Where Does American Democracy Go From Here? - The New York Times |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2022/03/17/magazine/democracy.html |access-date=November 27, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220317090219/https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2022/03/17/magazine/democracy.html |archive-date=March 17, 2022 |last1=Homans |first1=Charles }}</ref>

==== Conservatives ==== {{Main|Conservatism in the United States}}

{{see also|Cultural conservatism|Fiscal conservatism|Movement conservatism|Neoconservatism|Social conservatism}} [[File:Conservative Gallup 8-10.svg|thumb|Percent of self-identified conservatives by state as of 2018, according to a Gallup poll:<ref name="Jones 2019">{{Cite web|last=Jones|first=Jeffrey M.|date=February 22, 2019|title=Conservatives Greatly Outnumber Liberals in 19 U.S. States|url=https://news.gallup.com/poll/247016/conservatives-greatly-outnumber-liberals-states.aspx|url-status=live|access-date=December 27, 2021|website=Gallup|language=en|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190222171445/https://news.gallup.com/poll/247016/conservatives-greatly-outnumber-liberals-states.aspx |archive-date=February 22, 2019 }}</ref> {{legend|#b70000;|45% and above}} {{legend|#e02727;|40–44%}} {{legend|#ed6262;|35–39%}} {{legend|#ed9191;|30–34%}} {{legend|#ffb8b8;|25–29%}} {{legend|#ffe3e3;|24% and under}} ]] Ronald Reagan's presidential election in 1980 established Reagan-style American conservatism as the dominant ideological faction of the Republican Party until the election of Donald Trump in 2016.{{efn|name="Establishment"|Attributed to multiple sources.<ref name="Arhin-2023"/><ref name="Smith-2021"/><ref name="Biebricher-2023"/><ref name="Ward 08-26-22"/><ref name="Punchbowl Old GOP"/><ref name = "Kight Feb142024">{{Cite news |last=Kight |first=Stef W. |date=February 13, 2023 |title=GOP's old guard on verge of extinction as Trump allies circle Senate |url=https://www.axios.com/2024/02/14/mcconnell-trump-republican-party-2024-election |access-date=February 14, 2024 |work=Axios |language=en-US |archive-date=February 15, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240215041255/https://www.axios.com/2024/02/14/mcconnell-trump-republican-party-2024-election |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="wsj.com">{{Cite web|url=https://www.wsj.com/politics/policy/trump-hasnt-changed-but-the-gop-has-14ba7c49?mod=mhp|date=July 19, 2024|first1=Molly|last1=Ball|title=Trump Hasn't Changed, but the GOP Has|website=The Wall Street Journal|access-date=July 20, 2024|archive-date=August 11, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240811135451/https://www.wsj.com/politics/policy/trump-hasnt-changed-but-the-gop-has-14ba7c49?mod=mhp|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Gerstle2022">{{cite book |last=Gerstle |first=Gary |author-link=Gary Gerstle |date=2022 |title=The Rise and Fall of the Neoliberal Order: America and the World in the Free Market Era |url=https://global.oup.com/academic/product/the-rise-and-fall-of-the-neoliberal-order-9780197519646?cc=us&lang=en& |publisher=Oxford University Press |quote=The most sweeping account of how neoliberalism came to dominate American politics for nearly a half century before crashing against the forces of Trumpism on the right and a new progressivism on the left. |isbn=978-0197519646 |access-date=August 1, 2024 |archive-date=June 26, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220626220259/https://global.oup.com/academic/product/the-rise-and-fall-of-the-neoliberal-order-9780197519646?cc=us&lang=en& |url-status=live }}</ref>}} Traditional conservatives combine support for free-market economic policies with social conservatism and a hawkish approach to foreign policy.<ref name="Devine-2014">{{#invoke:cite|web|last=Devine |first=Donald |date=April 4, 2014 |title=Reagan's Philosophical Fusionism |url=https://www.theamericanconservative.com/reagans-philosophical-fusionism/ |access-date=January 18, 2023 |website=The American Conservative |language=en-US |archive-date=April 4, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230404162912/https://www.theamericanconservative.com/reagans-philosophical-fusionism/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Other parts of the conservative movement are composed of fiscal conservatives and deficit hawks.<ref>{{cite book|last=Coates|first=David|year=2012|title=The Oxford Companion to American Politics|volume=2|page=393|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-976431-0}}</ref>

Conventional conservatism has been in decline across the Western world, not just the United States.<ref name="Cliffe 2023" /> In the European Union's multi-party system, right-wing populist parties and European conservative parties both received support from about a quarter of voters in the early 2020s, the highest share for right-wing populist parties since the end of World War II.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.economist.com/graphic-detail/2025/02/28/hard-right-parties-are-now-europes-most-popular|title=Hard-right parties are now Europe's most popular|newspaper=The Economist|quote=But over the past 15 years hard-right parties have made substantial gains across the region. Drawing on the work of political scientists, our analysis shows that they now make up Europe's most popular family of political parties by vote share, beating out the conservative and social-democratic blocs for the first time in modern European history.|date=February 28, 2025|access-date=March 21, 2025}}</ref>

==== Christian right ==== {{Main|Christian right|Christian nationalism in the United States|Social conservatism in the United States}}

{{see also|Bible Belt|United States anti-abortion movement|2020s anti-LGBT movement in the United States}} [[File:Speaker Mike Johnson Official Portrait (cropped)(b).jpg|thumb|House Speaker Mike Johnson (2023–present)]]

Since the rise of the Christian right in the 1970s, the Republican Party has drawn significant support from evangelicals,<ref name=":8" /> Mormons,<ref>{{Cite web|date=April 27, 2015|title=Five things you should know about Mormon politics|url=https://religionnews.com/2015/04/27/five-things-know-mormon-politics/|access-date=July 16, 2020|website=Religion News Service|language=en-US|archive-date=July 16, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200716204657/https://religionnews.com/2015/04/27/five-things-know-mormon-politics/|url-status=live}}</ref> and traditionalist Catholics''.''<ref name="Williams-2022">{{Cite web |last=Williams |first=Daniel K. |date=May 9, 2022 |title=This Really Is a Different Pro-Life Movement |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2022/05/south-abortion-pro-life-protestants-catholics/629779/ |access-date=February 2, 2023 |website=The Atlantic |language=en |quote=This was not merely a geographic shift, trading one region for another, but a more fundamental transformation of the anti-abortion movement's political ideology. In 1973 many of the most vocal opponents of abortion were northern Democrats who believed in an expanded social-welfare state and who wanted to reduce abortion rates through prenatal insurance and federally funded day care. In 2022, most anti-abortion politicians are conservative Republicans who are skeptical of such measures. What happened was a seismic religious and political shift in opposition to abortion that has not occurred in any other Western country. |archive-date=May 10, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220510043840/https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2022/05/south-abortion-pro-life-protestants-catholics/629779/ |url-status=live }}</ref> The Christian right faction is characterized by strong support of socially conservative policies.{{refn|* {{cite book |last1=McDaniel |first1=Eric L. |last2=Nooruddin |first2=Irfan |last3=Shortle |first3=Allyson F. |title=The Everyday Crusade |chapter=Preface |date=2022 |pages=xiii-xvi |doi=10.1017/9781009029445.001 |isbn=978-1-009-02944-5 |quote-page=xiii |quote=White Christian Nationalists are today the base of the Republican Party and those who attacked the U.S. Capitol are drawn from their ranks. }} * {{Cite web |date=February 7, 2024 |title=First of Its Kind Survey Maps Support for Christian Nationalism Across All 50 States |url=https://www.prri.org/press-release/first-of-its-kind-survey-maps-support-for-christian-nationalism-across-all-50-states/ |access-date=June 15, 2024 |publisher=Public Religion Research Institute |language=en |archive-date=June 16, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240616030445/https://www.prri.org/press-release/first-of-its-kind-survey-maps-support-for-christian-nationalism-across-all-50-states/ |url-status=live |quote=At the national level, Christian nationalism is strongly linked to Republican Party affiliation, white evangelical Protestant affiliation, and higher church attendance.}} * {{cite book |last1=Whitehead |first1=Andrew L. |last2=Perry |first2=Samuel L. |title=Taking America Back for God |date=2020 |doi=10.1093/oso/9780190057886.001.0001 |isbn=978-0-19-005788-6 }}{{page needed|date=January 2026}} * {{Cite web |date=February 8, 2023 |title=A Christian Nation? Understanding the Threat of Christian Nationalism to American Democracy and Culture |url=https://www.prri.org/research/a-christian-nation-understanding-the-threat-of-christian-nationalism-to-american-democracy-and-culture/ |access-date=June 16, 2024 |publisher=Public Religion Research Institute |language=en |archive-date=June 15, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240615070952/https://www.prri.org/research/a-christian-nation-understanding-the-threat-of-christian-nationalism-to-american-democracy-and-culture/ |url-status=live |quote=Partisanship is closely linked to Christian nationalist views. Most Republicans qualify as either Christian nationalism sympathizers (33%) or adherents (21%), while at least three-quarters of both independents (46% skeptics and 29% rejecters) and Democrats (36% skeptics and 47% rejecters) lean toward rejecting Christian nationalism. Republicans (21%) are about four times as likely as Democrats (5%) or independents (6%) to be adherents of Christian nationalism.}} * {{cite journal |last1=Baker |first1=Joseph O. |last2=Perry |first2=Samuel L. |last3=Whitehead |first3=Andrew L. |date=August 6, 2020 |title=Crusading for Moral Authority: Christian Nationalism and Opposition to Science |journal=Sociological Forum |volume=35 |issue=3 |pages=587–607 |doi=10.1111/socf.12619 |quote=Christian nationalism has become a powerful predictor of supporting conservative policies and political candidates. This is in large part due to the Republican Party platform becoming synonymous with "restoring" the sacred values, moral superiority, unity, pride, and prosperity of America's mythic past.|hdl=1805/26816 |hdl-access=free }} * {{cite journal |last1=Whitehead |first1=Andrew L. |last2=Perry |first2=Samuel L. |last3=Baker |first3=Joseph O. |date=January 25, 2018 |title=Make America Christian Again: Christian Nationalism and Voting for Donald Trump in the 2016 Presidential Election |journal=Sociology of Religion |volume=79 |issue=2 |pages=147–171 |jstor=48556986 |doi=10.1093/socrel/srx070 |quote=The current study establishes that, independent of these influences, voting for Trump was, at least for many Americans, a symbolic defense of the United States' perceived Christian heritage. Data from a national probability sample of Americans surveyed soon after the 2016 election shows that greater adherence to Christian nationalist ideology was a robust predictor of voting for Trump...}} * {{cite news |last=Lauter |first=David |date=February 17, 2024 |title=Will Republicans become a Christian nationalist party? Can they win if they do? |url=https://www.latimes.com/politics/newsletter/2023-02-17/will-republicans-become-a-christian-nationalist-party-essential-politics |url-status=live |work=Los Angeles Times |location=Los Angeles, California |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240405092338/https://www.latimes.com/politics/newsletter/2023-02-17/will-republicans-become-a-christian-nationalist-party-essential-politics |archive-date=April 5, 2024 |access-date=June 16, 2024 |quote=The strength of Christian nationalist sentiment can be clearly seen in a wide range of issues that Republican elected officials have stressed, including efforts to curtail the rights and visibility of transgender people, but also some less obvious topics, such as immigration.}} * {{cite news |last1=Whitehead |first1=Andrew L. |last2=Perry |first2=Samuel L. |date=February 17, 2024 |title=Is Christian nationalism growing or declining? Both |id={{ProQuest|2728318819}} |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/10/25/republicans-christian-nationalism-midterms/ |url-status=live |newspaper=The Washington Post |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240616182922/https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/10/25/republicans-christian-nationalism-midterms/ |archive-date=June 16, 2024 |access-date=June 16, 2024 |quote=According to political scientists Stella Rouse and Shibley Telhami, most Republicans support declaring the United States a Christian nation. And Christian nationalists are running for office at all levels of government, from local school boards to presumptive presidential candidates. Though the numbers of those who claim Christian nationalist beliefs may decline, Christian nationalism's influence in public life only continues to grow.}} * {{cite web |last=Perry |first=Samuel |date=August 5, 2022 |title=After Trump, Christian nationalist ideas are going mainstream – despite a history of violence |url=https://theconversation.com/after-trump-christian-nationalist-ideas-are-going-mainstream-despite-a-history-of-violence-188055 |url-status=live |work=The Conversation |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240601132553/https://theconversation.com/after-trump-christian-nationalist-ideas-are-going-mainstream-despite-a-history-of-violence-188055 |archive-date=June 1, 2024 |access-date=June 16, 2024 |quote=The presence of Christian nationalist ideas in recent political campaigns is concerning, given its ties to violence and white supremacy. Trump and his advisers helped to mainstream such rhetoric with events like his photo op with a Bible in Lafayette Square in Washington following the violent dispersal of protesters, and making a show of pastors laying hands on him. But that legacy continues beyond his administration.}} * {{cite news |last=Cummings |first=Mike |date=March 15, 2022 |title=Yale sociologist Phil Gorski on the threat of white Christian nationalism |url=https://news.yale.edu/2022/03/15/yale-sociologist-phil-gorski-threat-white-christian-nationalism |url-status=live |work=Yale News |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240612195953/https://news.yale.edu/2022/03/15/yale-sociologist-phil-gorski-threat-white-christian-nationalism |archive-date=June 12, 2024 |access-date=June 16, 2024 |quote=White Christian nationalism is a dangerous threat because it's incredibly well-organized and powerful. There's absolutely nothing like it on the left.}} * {{cite news |last=Smith |first=Peter |date=February 17, 2024 |title=Many believe the founders wanted a Christian America. Some want the government to declare one now |url=https://apnews.com/article/american-founders-christian-nation-conservative-beliefs-4ea388e8d80c54016a6a4460cbef9b82 |url-status=live |work=The Associated Press |location=New York |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240219033711/https://apnews.com/article/american-founders-christian-nation-conservative-beliefs-4ea388e8d80c54016a6a4460cbef9b82 |archive-date=February 19, 2024 |access-date=February 22, 2024}} * {{cite web |last1=Rouse |first1=Stella |last2=Telhami |first2=Shibley |title=Most Republicans Support Declaring the United States a Christian Nation |url=https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2022/09/21/most-republicans-support-declaring-the-united-states-a-christian-nation-00057736 |website=Politico |access-date=February 22, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220927001816/https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2022/09/21/most-republicans-support-declaring-the-united-states-a-christian-nation-00057736 |archive-date=September 27, 2022 |date=September 21, 2022 |url-status=live|quote=Christian nationalism, a belief that the United States was founded as a white, Christian nation and that there is no separation between church and state, is gaining steam on the right. Prominent Republican politicians have made the themes critical to their message to voters in the run up to the 2022 midterm elections.}} * {{Cite web |last=Contreras |first=Russell |date=February 18, 2026 |title=Where Christian nationalism is most dominant in the U.S. |url=https://www.axios.com/2026/02/18/republicans-christian-nationalism-trump |access-date=February 18, 2026 |website=Axios |language=en |quote=56% of all Republicans are Christian nationalism "adherents" or "sympathizers," the survey said. ... The report found that many of those who support Christian nationalism also support far-right conservative views around immigration, pluralism, and gender roles}}}} Holding to right-wing interpretations of Christianity, they have varying beliefs on how it should influence law and public policy.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Andersen |first1=Margaret L. |last2=Taylor |first2=Howard Francis |title=Sociology: Understanding a Diverse Society |date=2006 |publisher=Thomson/Wadsworth |isbn=978-0-534-61716-5 }}{{page needed|date=January 2026}}</ref> Compared to other Republicans, the Christian right faction is more likely to oppose LGBT rights, marijuana legalization, and support significantly restricting the legality of abortion.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Smith |first1=Robert B. |title=Mediations of Social Life in the 21st Century |chapter=Social Conservatism, Distractors, and Authoritarianism: Axiological Versus Instrumental Rationality |date=2014 |pages=95–133 |doi=10.1108/S0278-120420140000032005 |isbn=978-1-78441-223-4 }}</ref>

The Christian right is strongest in the Bible Belt, which covers most of the Southern United States.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Brunn |first1=Stanley D. |last2=Webster |first2=Gerald R. |last3=Archer |first3=J. Clark |title=The Bible Belt in a Changing South: Shrinking, Relocating, and Multiple Buckles |journal=Southeastern Geographer |date=2011 |volume=51 |issue=4 |pages=513–549 |id={{Gale|A280558258}} {{Project MUSE|464683}} {{ProQuest|1010367954}} |doi=10.1353/sgo.2011.0040 |jstor=26228980 }}</ref> Mike Pence, Donald Trump's vice president from 2017 to 2021, was a member of the Christian right.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/21/us/politics/mike-pence-religion.html|title=Mike Pence's Journey: Catholic Democrat to Evangelical Republican|last1=Mahler|first1=Jonathan|date=July 20, 2016|work=The New York Times|access-date=March 22, 2017|last2=Johnson|first2=Dirk |id={{ProQuest|1805520866}} |archive-date=November 14, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161114134505/http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/21/us/politics/mike-pence-religion.html|url-status=live}}</ref> In October 2023, a member of the faction, Louisiana representative Mike Johnson, was elected the 56th Speaker of the United States House of Representatives.<ref>{{Cite news |last1=Karni |first1=Annie |last2=Graham |first2=Ruth |last3=Eder |first3=Steve |id={{ProQuest|2882597068}} |title=For Mike Johnson, Religion Is at the Forefront of Politics and Policy |work=The New York Times |date=October 28, 2023 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/27/us/politics/mike-johnson-speaker-religion.html }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=October 27, 2023 |title=Christian conservatives cheer one of their own as Mike Johnson assumes Congress' most powerful seat |url=https://apnews.com/article/house-speaker-mike-johnson-christian-right-louisiana-9407f1e4b4c588f27f9510dd47c94fe8 |access-date=February 8, 2024 |website=AP News |language=en |archive-date=February 24, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240224023531/https://apnews.com/article/house-speaker-mike-johnson-christian-right-louisiana-9407f1e4b4c588f27f9510dd47c94fe8 |url-status=live }}</ref>

==== Libertarians ==== {{main|Libertarian Republican|Right-libertarianism}} {{See also|Libertarian conservatism|Libertarianism in the United States|Republican Liberty Caucus|Tea Party movement}} [[File:Ron Paul 0723.jpg|right|thumb|168x168px|Former Rep. Ron Paul of Texas, who set off a libertarian revival while running for president in 2008 and 2012.]]

The Republican Party has a libertarian faction.<ref name="Wilbur-2012">{{cite book|last=Wilbur |first=Miller |date=2012 |title=The Social History of Crime and Punishment in America |volume=3 |chapter=Libertarianism|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tYME6Z35nyAC |location=Thousand Oaks, California |publisher=SAGE Publications |pages=1006{{ndash}}1007 |isbn=978-1-4129-8876-6 |quote=While right-libertarianism has been equated with libertarianism in general in the United States, left-libertarianism has become a more predominant aspect of politics in western European democracies over the past three decades. ... Since the 1950s, libertarianism in the United States has been associated almost exclusively with right-libertarianism ... As such, right-libertarianism in the United States remains a fruitful discourse with which to articulate conservative claims, even as it lacks political efficacy as a separate ideology. However, even without its own movement, libertarian sensibility informs numerous social movements in the United States, including the U.S. patriot movement, the gun-rights movement, and the incipient Tea Party movement.}}</ref><ref name="Cohn2023"/> This faction of the party is most popular in the Midwestern and Western United States.<ref name="Cohn2023" /> Libertarianism emerged from fusionism in the 1950s and 60s.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Dionne Jr. |first=E.J. |title=Why Americans Hate Politics |publisher=Simon & Schuster |year=1991 |location=New York |page=161}}</ref> Barry Goldwater had a substantial impact on the conservative-libertarian movement of the 1960s.<ref>{{Citation |last=Poole |first=Robert |title=In memoriam: Barry Goldwater |date=August–September 1998 |newspaper=Reason |type=Obituary |url=http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1568/is_n4_v30/ai_20954419 |archive-url=http://arquivo.pt/wayback/20090628123204/http%3A//findarticles%2Ecom/p/articles/mi_m1568/is_n4_v30/ai_20954419/ |archive-date=June 28, 2009}}</ref> 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.<ref name="Libertarians for Life">{{cite web |first=Doris |last=Gordon |title=Abortion and Rights: Applying Libertarian Principles Correctly |url=http://www.l4l.org/library/abor-rts.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160526031557/http://l4l.org/library/abor-rts.html |archive-date=May 26, 2016 |access-date=March 8, 2023 |publisher=Libertarians for Life}} Also see: {{cite book |last1=McElroy |first1=Wendy |author-link1=Wendy McElroy |title=Liberty for Women |date=2002 |publisher=Ivan R. Dee |isbn=978-1566634359 |location=Chicago |page=156 |oclc=260069067 |quote=Libertarians for Life declare that abortion is not a right but a 'wrong under justice.'}}</ref> Prominent libertarian conservatives within the Republican Party include Rand Paul,<ref name="courier-journal.com">{{Cite web |title=Who are Mike Lee and Rand Paul, the senators slamming the White House's Iran briefing? |url=https://www.courier-journal.com/story/news/politics/2020/01/09/who-mike-lee-and-rand-paul-senators-slamming-white-houses-iran-briefing/4420109002/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231215023724/https://www.courier-journal.com/story/news/politics/2020/01/09/who-mike-lee-and-rand-paul-senators-slamming-white-houses-iran-briefing/4420109002/ |archive-date=December 15, 2023 |access-date=May 26, 2023 |website=The Courier-Journal |language=en-US}}</ref><ref name="hannitycpac">{{cite news |date=March 18, 2013 |title=Sen. Rand Paul talks CPAC straw poll victory, looks ahead to 2016 |url=http://www.foxnews.com/on-air/hannity/2013/03/19/sen-rand-paul-talks-cpac-straw-poll-victory-looks-ahead-2016 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130401150703/http://www.foxnews.com/on-air/hannity/2013/03/19/sen-rand-paul-talks-cpac-straw-poll-victory-looks-ahead-2016 |archive-date=April 1, 2013 |publisher=Hannity with Sean Hannity (Fox News Network)}}</ref> Thomas Massie,<ref name="tea party">{{cite news |last1=Miller |first1=Joshua |date=December 22, 2012 |title=Scientist, Farmer Brings Tea Party Sensibility to House |url=https://www.rollcall.com/2012/12/22/scientist-farmer-brings-tea-party-sensibility-to-house/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200901054304/https://www.rollcall.com/2012/12/22/scientist-farmer-brings-tea-party-sensibility-to-house/ |archive-date=September 1, 2020 |access-date=September 1, 2020 |work=Roll Call}}</ref> and Mike Lee.<ref name="courier-journal.com" /><ref>{{Cite web |last=Glueck |first=Katie |date=July 31, 2013 |title=Paul, Cruz and Lee in rare form |url=https://www.politico.com/story/2013/07/rand-paul-ted-cruz-mike-lee-095033 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230526180557/https://www.politico.com/story/2013/07/rand-paul-ted-cruz-mike-lee-095033 |archive-date=May 26, 2023 |access-date=May 26, 2023 |website=Politico |language=en}}</ref>

==== Moderates ==== {{Main|Centrism|Center-right politics}}

{{see also|Republican Governance Group|Moderate conservatism|Problem Solvers Caucus}} Moderates in the Republican Party are an ideologically centrist and center-right group that predominantly come from the Northeastern United States,<ref name="Kashinsky-2023">{{Cite web|url=https://www.politico.com/news/2023/07/19/moderate-republican-governor-trump-00107248|title=Sununu's exit spells the end of a whole breed of Republican governor|date=July 19, 2023|website=POLITICO|last=Kashinsky|first=Lisa|access-date=November 8, 2023|archive-date=November 8, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231108131447/https://www.politico.com/news/2023/07/19/moderate-republican-governor-trump-00107248|url-status=live}}</ref> and are typically located in swing states or blue states. Moderate Republicans are typically highly educated, affluent, fiscally conservative, socially moderate or liberal and often supported the "Never Trump" movement.<ref name="Cohn2023" /><ref name="Kashinsky-2023"/> Moderate Republicans differ in that some are for affirmative action,<ref>{{cite news|newspaper=The Washington Post|title=Losing Its Preference: Affirmative Action Fades as Issue|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/special/affirm/stories/aa091896.htm|year=1996|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170223165410/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/special/affirm/stories/aa091896.htm|archive-date=February 23, 2017}}</ref> LGBT rights and same-sex marriage, legal access to abortion, gun control laws, environmental regulation and action on climate change, fewer restrictions on immigration and a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/05/06/liberal.republicans/|title=Analysis: An autopsy of liberal Republicans|first=Alan|last=Silverleib|website=cnn.com|language=en|date=May 6, 2009|access-date=October 14, 2018|archive-date=June 25, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180625021607/http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/05/06/liberal.republicans/|url-status=live}}</ref> In the 21st century, a significant amount of former Republican moderates have switched to the Democratic Party,<ref>{{cite web |last1=Tatum |first1=Sophie |title=3 Kansas legislators switch from Republican to Democrat |url=https://www.cnn.com/2018/12/19/politics/kansas-legislature-republican-democrat/index.html |website=CNN |date=December 20, 2018 |access-date=January 8, 2021 |archive-date=October 30, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201030091356/https://www.cnn.com/2018/12/19/politics/kansas-legislature-republican-democrat/index.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Weiner |first1=Rachel |title=Charlie Crist defends party switch |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2012/12/10/charlie-crist-defends-party-switch/ |newspaper=The Washington Post |access-date=January 8, 2021 |archive-date=February 25, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210225143218/https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2012/12/10/charlie-crist-defends-party-switch/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Davis |first1=Susan |title=Meltdown On Main Street: Inside The Breakdown Of The GOP's Moderate Wing |url=https://www.npr.org/2019/08/23/753404051/meltdown-on-main-street-inside-the-breakdown-of-the-gops-moderate-wing |access-date=June 17, 2022 |work=NPR |date=August 23, 2019 |language=en |archive-date=June 17, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220617124126/https://www.npr.org/2019/08/23/753404051/meltdown-on-main-street-inside-the-breakdown-of-the-gops-moderate-wing |url-status=live }}</ref> and the faction is viewed as in decline.{{refn| *{{cite news |date=December 7, 2006 |title=The Decline of GOP Moderates |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/2006/12/07/the-decline-of-gop-moderates/f38f0257850acbf1271c31bd9f5a656d/ |access-date=February 3, 2025 |newspaper=Washington Post}} *{{cite web |last=Harris |first=Paul |date=October 25, 2008 |title=Republicans fear long exile in the wilderness |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2008/oct/26/uselections2008-republicans |access-date=February 3, 2025 |website=The Guardian}} *{{cite news |last=Horowitz |first=Jason |date=January 18, 2012 |title=Mitt Romney and the fall of Republican moderates |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/mitt-romney-and-the-fall-of-republican-moderates/2012/01/18/gIQAQ2BC9P_story.html |access-date=February 3, 2025 |newspaper=Washington Post}} *{{cite web |last=Drutman |first=Lee |date=August 24, 2020 |title=Why There Are So Few Moderate Republicans Left |url=https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/why-there-are-so-few-moderate-republicans-left/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200824152408/https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/why-there-are-so-few-moderate-republicans-left/ |url-status=dead |archive-date=August 24, 2020 |access-date=February 3, 2025 |website=FiveThirtyEight}} *{{cite web |last=Berman |first=Russell |date=January 27, 2023 |title='We Used to Be Called Moderate. We Are Not Moderate.' |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2023/01/moderate-centrist-republicans-pragmatic-conservatives/672856/ |access-date=February 3, 2025 |website=The Atlantic}} *{{cite web |last=Skolnik |first=Jon |date=December 3, 2021 |title=Moderate Republicans are quitting as the GOP's big tent narrows |url=https://www.salon.com/2021/12/03/moderate-are-quitting-as-the-gops-big-tent-narrows/ |access-date=February 3, 2025 |website=Salon}}}}

Notable Republicans include Senators Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Susan Collins of Maine,{{refn| *{{cite web|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2018/10/collins-murkowski-key-votes-kavanaugh-confirmation/572407/|title=Two Moderate Senators, Two Very Different Paths|first=Elaina|last=Plott|date=October 6, 2018|website=The Atlantic|access-date=February 23, 2019}} *{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/05/opinion/collins-murkowski-change-parties.html|title=Opinion – Senators Collins and Murkowski, It's Time to Leave the G.O.P.|first=Susan|last=Faludi|work=The New York Times|date=July 5, 2018|access-date=February 23, 2019|via=NYTimes.com|archive-date=February 21, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190221112139/https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/05/opinion/collins-murkowski-change-parties.html|url-status=live}} *{{cite web|url=https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/408193-kavanaughs-fate-rests-with-sen-collins/|title=Kavanaugh's fate rests with Sen. Collins|first=Linda|last=Petre|date=September 25, 2018|website=TheHill|access-date=February 23, 2019|archive-date=February 21, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190221112348/https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/408193-kavanaughs-fate-rests-with-sen-collins|url-status=live}} *{{cite web|url=https://www.rollcall.com/news/politics/sen-lisa-murkowski-face-reprisal-alaska-gop|title=Sen. Lisa Murkowski Could Face Reprisal from Alaska GOP|first1=Griffin|last1=Connolly|date=October 9, 2018|access-date=February 23, 2019|website=rollcall.com|archive-date=October 11, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181011013657/https://www.rollcall.com/news/politics/sen-lisa-murkowski-face-reprisal-alaska-gop|url-status=dead}}}} Nevada governor Joe Lombardo, Vermont governor Phil Scott,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2018/11/republican-governors-new-england-defy-blue-wave/574726/|title=The Last Liberal Republicans Hang On|first=Parker|last=Richards|date=November 3, 2018|website=The Atlantic|access-date=February 23, 2019|archive-date=November 9, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181109112034/https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2018/11/republican-governors-new-england-defy-blue-wave/574726/|url-status=live}}</ref> New Hampshire governor Kelly Ayotte, and former Maryland governor Larry Hogan.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.politico.com/news/2024/09/29/larry-hogan-trump-maryland-00181572|title=Larry Hogan confirms he won't vote for Trump, despite the former president's endorsement|date=September 29, 2024|website=Politico|first1=Greta|last1=Reich|access-date=September 29, 2024}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.wusa9.com/article/news/gov-larry-hogan-positions-himself-as-moderate-on-the-national-stage-at-second-inauguration/65-ccd71689-8f8a-4663-af27-07014cb3c929|title=Gov. Larry Hogan positions himself as moderate on the national stage at second inauguration|website=WUSA|date=January 16, 2019|access-date=February 23, 2019|archive-date=February 21, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190221112322/https://www.wusa9.com/article/news/gov-larry-hogan-positions-himself-as-moderate-on-the-national-stage-at-second-inauguration/65-ccd71689-8f8a-4663-af27-07014cb3c929|url-status=live}}</ref>

== Political positions == {{Main|Political positions of the Republican Party}}

{{American nationalism}} The Republican Party is a neo-nationalist and right-wing populist party;{{efn|name=populism|Scholars broadly agree that the modern GOP is a nationalist party.<ref name=":2"/> There is an ongoing academic debate on type, and they have variously described the party as civic, cultural, or ethnic nationalist,{{efn|One example is Steven Levitsky.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Levitsky |first=Steven |author-link=Steven Levitsky |date=2021 |title=Republicans Would Rather End Democracy Than Turn Away From Trump, Says Harvard Professor |url=https://www.salon.com/2021/10/13/would-rather-end-democracy-than-turn-away-from-trump-says-harvard-professor |website=Salon |quote=I think ideologically it (the GOP) has evolved into something fairly similar to European far-right parties. It's primarily an ethno-nationalist nativist party. It's essentially preserving the identity of white Christian America, and that is fairly similar to what we describe as far-right parties in Europe.}}</ref>}} or taking aspects from them.{{efn|Political scientist Cas Mudde discusses this debate in his 2019 book ''The Far-Right Today''.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Mudde |first=Cas |author-link=Cas Mudde |title=The Far-Right Today |publisher=Polity Press |year=2019 |isbn=978-1-5095-3683-2 |location=Cambridge |language=en-GB}}</ref>}} In 2026, the V-Dem Institute reported a consensus in political science that the party is "far-right" and its nationalism is "anti-pluralist".<ref>{{Cite web |date=March 17, 2026|title=DEMOCRACY REPORT 2026: Unraveling The Democratic Era?|url=https://v-dem.net/documents/75/V-Dem_Institute_Democracy_Report_2026_lowres.pdf|access-date=March 22, 2026|website=V-Dem Institute|quote=One notable shift is the transformation of the Republican Party to endorsing a far-right, nationalist, and anti-pluralist agenda. Nationalist, anti-liberal, far-right parties and leaders have largely driven the “third wave of autocratization.” Yet the USA stands out as the only case where such movement seized control over one party in a rigid two-party system.}}</ref>}} until 2017, it was generally described as upholding American conservatism, with conservatives now only making up a minority of the party.{{efn|name=conservatism|Political scientists had generally seen the party as upholding American conservatism before 2017; it is now considered a minority view in the party.<ref name=":10">{{Cite web |last=Rovira Kaltwasser |first=Cristóbal |author-link=Cristóbal Rovira Kaltwasser |last2=Roberts |first2=Kenneth |author-link2=Kenneth Roberts |title=Is the United States Still a Democracy? |url=https://ecpr.eu/Events/Event/PaperDetails/89290 |access-date=2026-04-27 |quote=A key argument developed in this contribution is that the central problem lies less with the figure of Trump himself than with the broader transformation from a mainstream conservative party into a far-right one.|website=European Consortium for Political Research}}</ref><ref name="Ball 2024"/><ref name="v075"/><ref name="campani"/><ref name="Biebricher-2023"/><ref name="Arhin-2023"/><ref name="Punchbowl Old GOP"/><ref name="washingtonpost.com"/><ref name="New Fusionism" /><ref name="Cohn 12252024"/><ref name="Price of Power"/><ref name="Cliffe 2023"/><ref name="forgot" /><ref name="now" /><ref name="different" /><ref>{{Cite web|last=Amira|first=Karyn|date=2023-10-03|title=Reagan wouldn’t recognize Trump-style ‘conservatism’ – a look at how the GOP has changed|url=https://theconversation.com/reagan-wouldnt-recognize-trump-style-conservatism-a-look-at-how-the-gop-has-changed-213971|access-date=2026-05-10|website=The Conversation|language=en-US}}</ref>}} Comparative politics studies by the V-Dem Institute,<ref name=":6">{{Cite web |last1=Lührmann |first1=Anna |last2=Medzihorsky |first2=Juraj |last3=Hindle |first3=Garry |last4=Lindberg |first4=Staffan I. |date=October 2020 |title=New Global Data on Political Parties: V-Party |url=https://www.v-dem.net/documents/8/vparty_briefing.pdf |series=Briefing Paper No. 9 |publisher=V-Dem Institute |access-date=November 13, 2024 |archive-date=November 14, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241114171742/https://www.v-dem.net/documents/8/vparty_briefing.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> Polity Data Series,<ref name=":5">{{Cite web |date=October 2025|title=index|url=https://www.systemicpeace.org/|access-date=2025-11-07|website=Polity data series|quote=NOTE: The USA dropped below the "democracy threshold" (+6) on the POLITY scale in 2020 and was considered an anocracy (+5) at the end of the year 2020; the USA score for 2021 returned to democracy (+8). Beginning on 1 July 2024, due to the US Supreme Court ruling granting the US Presidency broad, legal immunity, the USA is noted by the Polity Project as experiencing a regime transition through, at least, 20 January 2025. As of the latter date, the USA is coded EXREC=8, "Competitive Elections"; EXCONST=1 "Unlimited Executive Authority"; and POLCOMP=6 "Factional/Restricted Competition." Polity scores: DEMOC=4; AUTOC=4; POLITY=0. The USA is no longer considered a democracy and lies at the cusp of autocracy; it has experienced a Presidential Coup and an Adverse Regime Change event (8-point drop in its POLITY score).}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite web |date=January 20, 2025 |title=Polity V Regime Narrative: United States (2025) |url=https://www.systemicpeace.org/polity/P5UnitedStates2025.pdf |access-date=April 3, 2026 |website=Polity Data Series |pages=12-15}}</ref> Global Party Survey,<ref>{{Cite web |title=An International Far-Right Alliance? A Comparative Analysis of the Linkages Between the Republican Party and European Far-Right Parties |url=https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4739346 |access-date=April 26, 2026 |quote=Norris's findings conveyed that the Republican Party is as far-right ideologically as many prominent European far-right parties. The Republican Party was measured to be more conservative in comparison to various mainstream European parties. More specifically, the Republican Party was valued to be as economically conservative as the Swiss People's Party and as socially conservative as the German Alternative for Germany (AfD).}}</ref> Protect Democracy,<ref>{{Cite web |date=2024 |title=The Authoritarian Playbook |url=https://www.protectdemocracy.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/The-Authoritarian-Playbook.pdf |access-date=April 26, 2026 |website=Protect Democracy |quote=As globalization and looser borders force many nations to grapple with questions about national identity; immigrants and refugees have been the targets of far-right populist parties across many backsliding democracy - including the United States}}</ref> ''The Washington Post'',<ref name=":7">{{Cite news |last=Tharoor |first=Ishaan |date=2021-10-12 |title=The GOP alliance with Europe’s far-right deepens |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2021/10/12/republican-alliance-europe-far-right/ |access-date=2026-04-26 |work=The Washington Post |language=en-US |issn=0190-8286 |quote=The Republican Party of the United States is, in global terms, a far-right party.}}</ref> and the Manifesto Project Database<ref>{{Cite news |last=Chinoy |first=Sahil |date=2019-06-26 |title=What Happened to America’s Political Center of Gravity? |url=https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/06/26/opinion/sunday/republican-platform-far-right.html,%20https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/06/26/opinion/sunday/republican-platform-far-right.html |access-date=2026-04-26 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331|quote=The Republican Party leans much further right than most traditional conservative parties in Western Europe and Canada, according to an analysis of their election manifestos. It is more extreme than Britain's Independence Party and France's National Rally (formerly the National Front), which some consider far-right populist parties. The Democratic Party, in contrast, is positioned closer to mainstream liberal parties.}}</ref> classify the party as "far-right" in an international context, as well as a majority of political scientists.{{efn|In 2026, the V-DEM Institute stated that there was a broad academic consensus that the GOP is located on the far-right of the international political spectrum.<ref name=":2">{{Cite web |date=March 17, 2026|title=DEMOCRACY REPORT 2026: Unraveling The Democratic Era?|url=https://v-dem.net/documents/75/V-Dem_Institute_Democracy_Report_2026_lowres.pdf|access-date=March 22, 2026|website=V-Dem Institute|quote=One notable shift is the transformation of the Republican Party to endorsing a far-right, nationalist, and anti-pluralist agenda. Nationalist, anti-liberal, far-right parties and leaders have largely driven the “third wave of autocratization.” Yet the USA stands out as the only case where such movement seized control over one party in a rigid two-party system.}}</ref> Political scientists and historians who hold to this stance, outside of comparative politics studies, include Cas Mudde,<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Mudde |first=Cas |author-link=Cas Mudde |date=2022 |title=The Far-Right Threat in the United States: A European Perspective |url=https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/00027162211070060 |journal=The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science}}</ref> Pippa Norris,<ref name=":9">{{Cite journal |last=Colom |first=Guillem |date=2024 |title=An International Far-Right Alliance? A Comparative Analysis of the Linkages Between the Republican Party and European Far-Right Parties |url=https://www.ssrn.com/abstract=4739346 |journal=SSRN Electronic Journal |language=en |doi=10.2139/ssrn.4739346 |issn=1556-5068}}</ref> Lee Drutman,<ref>{{Cite web |last=Drutman |first=Lee |author-link=Lee Drutman |date=2021 |title=Reform American Democracy |url=https://time.com/american-democracy-marginalize-far-right |access-date=April 27, 2026 |website=Time Magazine}}</ref> Steven Levitsky,<ref>{{Cite web |last=Levitsky |first=Steven |author-link=Steven Levitsky |date=October 13, 2021 |title=GOP Would Rather End Democracy Than Turn Away From Trump, Says Harvard Professor |url=https://www.salon.com/2021/10/13/would-rather-end-democeacy-than-turn-away-from-trump-says-harvard-professor |access-date=April 27, 2026 |website=Salon}}</ref> Roger Griffin,<ref>{{Cite web |last=Griffin |first=Roger |author-link=Roger Griffin |date=2025 |title=Is Donald Trump A Fascist? |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LVnNvLpa4&t=879s |access-date=2026-04-27 |website=Oxford Union}}</ref> Robert Paxton,<ref>{{Cite news |last=Zerofsky |first=Elisabeth |date=2024-10-23 |title=Is It Fascism? A Leading Historian Changes His Mind. |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2024/10/23/magazine/robert-paxton-facism.html |access-date=2026-04-27 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> Brian Klaas,<ref name=":3">{{Cite web |last=Klaas |first=Brian |author-link=Brian Klaas |date=September 9, 2025 |title=Is The United States Still A Democracy? |url=https://blogs.lse.ad.uk/europpblog/2025/09/19/brian-klaas-is-the-united-states-still-a-democracy-competitive-authoritarian-system |access-date=April 9, 2026 |website=The London School of Economics and Political Science |quote=Political scientists continue to debate this topic, but few would classify the United States as a robust democracy. It is either a democracy in crisis that is barely clinging onto the label, or one that has tipped over the edge into competitive authoritarianism - and I believe it's the latter.}}</ref> Cristóbal Rovira Kaltwasser,<ref name=":10">{{Cite web |last=Rovira Kaltwasser |first=Cristóbal |author-link=Cristóbal Rovira Kaltwasser |last2=Roberts |first2=Kenneth |author-link2=Kenneth Roberts |title=Is the United States Still a Democracy? |url=https://ecpr.eu/Events/Event/PaperDetails/89290 |access-date=2026-04-27 |quote=A key argument developed in this contribution is that the central problem lies less with the figure of Trump himself than with the broader transformation from a mainstream conservative party into a far-right one.|website=European Consortium for Political Research}}</ref> Kenneth Roberts,<ref name=":10" /> and Staffan I. Lindberg.<ref name=":2" />}} Freedom House, which is generally respected in the political science field but has also received criticism for dependence on federal government funding, described "the Republicans on the right and the Democrats on the left" in its 2026 report for the United States.<ref>{{Cite web |title=United States: Freedom in the World 2026 Country Report |url=https://freedomhouse.org/country/united-states/freedom-world/2026 |access-date=2026-04-26 |website=Freedom House |language=en |quote=The intensely competitive US political environment is dominated by two major parties: the Republicans on the right and the Democrats on the left.}}</ref>

By the early 2020s, the Republican Party distanced itself from its traditional international conservative allies and aligned itself with the global far-right,<ref name=":7" /><ref name=":11" /> supporting Alternative for Germany, Fidesz, and the National Rally.<ref name=":9" />

=== Embrace of Trumpism and far-right ideology === {{see also|Trumpism|Radical right (United States)}}

The election of Trump in 2016 saw the Republican Party shift to embrace and bring far-right, fringe, and extreme ideas and organizations into the mainstream.{{refn|*{{cite news |last=Baker |first=Peter |author-link=Peter Baker (journalist) |date=December 1, 2022 |title=Trump Embraces Extremism as He Seeks to Reclaim Office |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/01/us/politics/trump-extremism-candidacy.html |url-access=subscription |access-date=January 20, 2025 |quote=Analysts and strategists see Mr. Trump's pivot toward the far right as a tactic to re-create political momentum [...] Mr. Trump has long flirted with the fringes of American society as no other modern president has, openly appealing to prejudice based on race, religion, national origin and sexual orientation, among others [...] Mr. Trump's expanding embrace of extremism has left Republicans once again struggling to figure out how to distance themselves from him.}} *{{cite news |last=Oreskes |first=Benjamin |date=May 23, 2024 |title=Trump and GOP repeatedly echo Nazi and far-right ideology as they aim to retake White House |url=https://www.latimes.com/politics/story/2024-05-23/trump-gop-nazi-presidential-election-politics |access-date=July 27, 2025 |work=Los Angeles Times}} *{{cite news |last=Bierman |first=Noah |date=August 22, 2016 |title=Donald Trump helps bring far-right media's edgier elements into the mainstream |work=Los Angeles Times |url=https://www.latimes.com/politics/la-na-pol-trump-media-20160820-snap-story.html |access-date=October 7, 2021}} *{{cite news |last1=Swenson |first1=Ali |last2=Kunzelman |first2=Michael |date=November 18, 2023 |title=Fears of political violence are growing as the 2024 campaign heats up and conspiracy theories evolve |work=AP News |url=https://apnews.com/article/depape-paul-pelosi-qanon-conspiracy-theories-violence-390ad310fa34b0edb925d88540a7ddcd |access-date=January 20, 2025 |quote=Trump has amplified social media accounts that promote QAnon, which grew from the far-right fringes of the internet to become a fixture of mainstream Republican politics [...] In his 2024 campaign, Trump has ramped up his combative rhetoric with talk of retribution against his enemies. He recently joked about the hammer attack on Paul Pelosi and suggested that retired Gen. Mark Milley, a former Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman, should be executed for treason.}} *{{Cite news |last=Heer |first=Jeet |date=2023-07-31 |title=The GOP’s Nazi Problem Has Deep Roots |url=https://www.thenation.com/article/politics/gop-popular-front-white-nationalism/ |access-date=2026-05-09 |work=The Nation |language=en-US |issn=0027-8378|quote=His [Trump's] extensive record [...] includes his numerous sly uses of alt-right memes, his promotion of extremists like Steve Bannon and Sebastian Gorka, and his infamous “very fine people” response to the 2017 white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Va.}} *{{Cite news |last=Lowndes |first=Joseph |date=2021-11-08 |title=Far-right extremism dominates the GOP. It didn’t start — and won’t end — with Trump. |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2021/11/08/far-right-extremism-dominates-gop-it-didnt-start-wont-end-with-trump/ |access-date=2026-05-09 |work=The Washington Post |language=en-US |issn=0190-8286 |quote=But far-right extremism did not work its way to the heart of the Republican Party until the nomination and 2016 election of Trump. Neither single election cycles nor individual presidencies determine the trajectories of political parties. But through racial demonization, the treatment of political opponents as enemies and an embrace of executive authoritarianism, Trump achieved two critical things at once: He moved far-right radicals toward the Republican Party and the Republican voter base toward greater radicalization.}}}} His election shifted traditional Republican beliefs and ideology into a new leadership style and political agenda referred to as Trumpism.<ref name="Ball 2024"/><ref name="v075"/><ref name="i277"/>

Trump explicitly and routinely disparages racial, religious, and ethnic minorities,<ref>{{cite journal |last=Stephens-Dougan |first=LaFluer |date=May 2021 |title=The Persistence of Racial Cues and Appeals in American Elections |journal=Annual Review of Political Science |volume=24 |issue= |pages=301–320 |issn=1094-2939 |doi=10.1146/annurev-polisci-082619-015522 |doi-access=free| quote-page=302|quote=Trump, however, managed to achieve electoral success in 2016 despite routinely using racial appeals that openly and categorically disparaged racial, religious, and ethnic minorities, or what the racial priming literature refers to as explicit racial appeals. ... Throughout his campaign and subsequent presidency, Trump continued to traffic in similar explicit racial appeals}}</ref> and scholars consistently find that racial animus regarding blacks, immigrants, and Muslims are the best predictors of support for Trump.<ref name="Berman">{{Cite journal |last=Berman |first=Sheri |date=May 2021 |title=The Causes of Populism in the West |journal=Annual Review of Political Science |volume=24 |issue= |pages=71–88 |issn=1094-2939 |doi=10.1146/annurev-polisci-041719-102503 |doi-access=free|quote-page=76|quote=In the United States, scholars consistently find that "racial animus," or attitudes regarding "blacks, immigrants, Muslims" are the best predictors of support for President Trump}}</ref> By 2025, congressional Republicans have increasingly used overtly bigoted language and offensive tropes against the racial and religious identity of their political opponents with little to no pushback from GOP leadership.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Karni|first=Annie|date=June 26, 2025|title=Right-Wing Republicans in Congress Attack Mamdani With Islamophobic Comments|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/26/us/politics/zohran-mamdani-congress-racism.html|url-access=subscription|access-date=September 7, 2025|quote=The responses to Mr. Mamdani's electoral triumph were the latest examples of how far-right Republicans in Congress have become overt in their use of bigoted language and ethnically offensive tropes, in both casual comments and official statements. (..) But the kind of language that Mr. Ogles used on social media and the questions he raised in his letter these days have become commonplace among some Republicans. And they almost always go without any real condemnation from G.O.P. leaders.}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|last=Capelletti|first=Joey|date=March 14, 2026|title=Anti-Muslim rhetoric rises among Republicans with little pushback from GOP leadership|work=AP News|url=https://apnews.com/article/republican-attacks-muslim-mamdani-iran-congress-tuberville-d01345fb01e610214431a48b222e6294}}</ref> In 2026, elected Republicans have increasingly used blatantly anti-Muslim rhetoric which was described by commentators as mirroring a prior increase in such rhetoric by the GOP following the 9/11 attacks in 2001.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Lillis|first=Mike|date=March 17, 2026|title=Rise in anti-Muslim rhetoric by GOP sparks uproar on Capitol Hill |work=The Hill|url=https://thehill.com/homenews/house/5786828-anti-muslim-rhetoric-gop/|quote=The difference now is that the GOP lawmakers have doubled down, and their leaders have refused to condemn the anti-Muslim remarks from within their ranks.}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|last=Solender|first=Andrew|date=March 13, 2026|title=Tensions erupt in Congress over anti-Muslim posts|work=Axios|url=https://www.axios.com/2026/03/13/muslim-shooting-fine-tuberville-posts-republicans}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|last=Knowles|first=Hannah|date=March 19, 2026|title=Republicans are ramping up attacks on Muslims — and getting rewarded|work=The Washington Post|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2026/03/19/gop-muslims-islamophobia-tuberville-trump/}}</ref>

The second presidency of Trump saw him nominate several White House officials{{Who|date=May 2026}} with ties to antisemitic extremists.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Dreisbach|first=Tom|date=May 14, 2025|title=Multiple Trump White House officials have ties to antisemitic extremists|work=NPR News|url=https://www.npr.org/2025/05/14/nx-s1-5387299/trump-white-house-antisemitism|access-date=October 20, 2025}}</ref> His administration promoted social media content promoting remigration<ref name=":12" /> and containing antisemitic slurs,<ref>{{Cite news|last1=Novak|first1=Matt|date=October 15, 2025|title=Border Patrol Posts Instagram Propaganda Video Featuring Antisemitic Slurs |work=Gizmodo|url=https://gizmodo.com/border-patrol-posts-instagram-propaganda-video-featuring-antisemitic-slurs-2000672645 |access-date=October 16, 2025}}</ref> and was criticized as promoting white nationalism and Nazism.<ref name="SPLC 2025"/><ref>{{Cite news|last=Williams|first=Michael|date=August 13, 2025|title=On social media, the Department of Homeland Security appeals to nostalgia — with motifs of White identity|work=CNN|url=https://www.cnn.com/2025/08/13/politics/homeland-security-department-social-media|access-date=September 6, 2025}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Nichols |first=Tom |date=2026-02-23 |title=The Republican Party Has a Nazi Problem |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/2026/04/republican-party-nazi-problem/686055/ |access-date=2026-05-09 |website=The Atlantic |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Avlon |first=John |date=2026-03-13 |title=The Republican Party's Nazi Problem Is Getting Worse. It Should Care |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/political-commentary/republican-party-nazi-problem-1235530169/ |access-date=2026-05-09 |website=Rolling Stone |language=en-US}}</ref> Other social media posts from multiple government agencies have variously alluded to neo-Nazi and white supremacist literature and promoted ethnic cleansing and QAnon conspiracies.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Evan|first=Gorelick|date=January 27, 2026|title=Administration Social Media Posts Echo White Supremacist Messaging|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/27/us/politics/white-supremacy-trump-administration-social-media.html|url-access=subscription|access-date=April 11, 2026}}</ref> The Southern Poverty Law Center found that some "images and language appear to come directly from antisemitic and neo-Nazi publications and a white Christian nationalist website".<ref name="SPLC 2025">{{Cite news|last1=Kieffer|first1=Caleb|last2=Cravens|first2=R.G.|date=August 28, 2025|title=Homeland Security deploys white nationalist, anti-immigrant graphics to recruit|work=Southern Poverty Law Center|url=https://www.splcenter.org/resources/hatewatch/dhs-white-nationalist-anti-immigrant-social-media/|access-date=September 6, 2025}}</ref>

In October 2025, ''Politico'' revealed leaked group chats among high-ranking leaders of the "Young Republicans" that included language praising Adolf Hitler and promoting Nazism, encouraging the rape and killing of political opponents, extensive use of antisemitic and racial slurs, and favorable opinions on slavery.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2025-10-14 |title='I love Hitler': Leaked messages expose Young Republicans' racist chat |url=https://www.politico.com/news/2025/10/14/private-chat-among-young-gop-club-members-00592146 |access-date=2025-10-15 |website=POLITICO |language=en}}</ref> The messages drew bipartisan condemnation, and another incident involving the display of an American flag with a swastika in Republican Congressman David Taylor's office a day later spurred significant political commentary about the future of the GOP and condemnation about the prominence of Nazi ideology within the Republican Party.{{refn| *{{Cite news |last1=Kim |first1=Catherine |last2=McHugh |first2=Calder |date=October 16, 2025 |title=The Young Republicans' Leaked Chat Is a Sign of Where We Could Be Headed |url=https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2025/10/16/young-republicans-group-chat-online-culture-00611491 |access-date=October 16, 2025 |work=Politico }} *{{Cite news |last=Dunbar |first=Marina |date=2025-10-15 |title=US Capitol police investigating flag with swastika in Republican representative's office – report |url=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/oct/15/capitol-us-flag-swastika-republican-dave-taylor |access-date=2025-10-16 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}} *{{Cite web |last=Stieb |first=Matt |date=2025-10-15 |title=Republicans Have a Real Nazi Thing Going On |url=https://nymag.com/intelligencer/article/republicans-nazi-problems-rep-taylor-staffer-cubicle-swastika.html |access-date=2025-10-16 |website=Intelligencer |language=en}} *{{cite news |last1=Heer |first1=Jeet |title=JD Vance Thinks That Tomorrow Belongs to Hitler-Loving Young Republicans |url=https://www.thenation.com/article/politics/jd-vance-young-republicans-nazis/ |work=The Nation |access-date=October 18, 2025 |date=October 17, 2025}} *{{cite magazine |last1=Chait |first1=Jonathan |title=Vance's Telling Defense of a Racist Group Chat |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2025/10/jd-vance-republican-group-chat/684580/ |magazine=The Atlantic |access-date=October 18, 2025 |date=October 16, 2025 |archive-date=October 17, 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20251017152108/https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2025/10/jd-vance-republican-group-chat/684580/ |url-status=live}}}} The same month, ''Politico'' posted more leaked messages from Republican Office of Special Council nominee Paul Ingrassia where he stated he had "a Nazi streak", that he wanted white men in positions of leadership, used ethnic slurs for Black people and Italians, and proposed making Kwanzaa and all celebrations of Black culture illegal.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Lippman |first=Daniel |date=2025-10-20 |title=Trump nominee says he has a 'Nazi streak,' bashes MLK Jr. Day, according to texts |url=https://www.politico.com/news/2025/10/20/paul-ingrassia-racist-text-messages-nazi-00613608 |access-date=2025-10-20 |work=Politico}}</ref>

Also starting in October 2025, ''Axios'', ''Politico'', ''The Economist'', ''The Wall Street Journal'', and ''The New York Times'' described the party as undergoing a "rift" among a growing cohort of anti-Jewish and antisemitic voices within the party and debate over how expansive the party's coalition should be.<ref name="Economist 12232025">{{Cite news |date=December 23, 2025 |title=MAGA is eating itself |url=https://www.economist.com/united-states/2025/12/23/maga-is-eating-itself |access-date=January 26, 2026 |newspaper=The Economist|quote=But they also reveal a broader fight within the Republican Party. As the right begins to look past Mr Trump and debate the party's future, they are brawling over how big the conservative movement's tent should be. ... The vice-president seemed to suggest that the conservative movement could include the likes of Ms Owens and Mr Fuentes. He declined to criticise racism and antisemitism among the movement's rising stars.}}</ref>{{refn| *{{Cite news |last=Beeferman |first=Jason |date=December 3, 2025 |title=Young Republicans chapter plans to host far-right German leader after 'I love Hitler' chat |url=https://www.politico.com/news/2025/12/03/young-republicans-chapter-plans-to-host-far-right-german-leader-after-i-love-hitler-chat-00671540 |access-date=January 26, 2026 |work=Politico|quote=The event is taking place amid a broader rift among Republicans over whether anti-Jewish voices have a place in their party and as an anti-Israel fervor among Democrats has sparked a wave of primary challenges in New York.}} *{{Cite news |last=Benson |first=Samuel |date=November 2, 2025 |title=GOP leaders denounce antisemitism in their ranks but shift blame to Democrats |url=https://www.politico.com/news/2025/11/02/gop-leaders-denounce-antisemitism-but-say-real-problem-is-on-the-left-00632857 |access-date=January 26, 2026 |work=Politico|quote=Republican Jews acknowledged antisemitism is cropping up in their movement during a conference this weekend, but were quick to blame left-leaning Democrats for fanning the flames.}} *{{Cite news |last1=Zitner|first1=Aaron|last2=Collins|first2=Eliza|date=December 22, 2025 |title=After Charlie Kirk's Death, MAGA Battles Over Free Speech |url=https://www.wsj.com/politics/maga-turning-point-usa-americafest-b4d16632 |access-date=January 26, 2026 |work=The Wall Street Journal|quote=Now, three months after Kirk was shot and killed at one of those events, his commitment to open debate is at the center of a bitter fight within the MAGA movement over the rise of antisemitic ideas and conspiracy theories.}} *{{Cite news |last=Axelrod |first=Tal |date=November 2, 2025 |title=MAGA's war within: Right-wing purity tests |url=https://www.axios.com/2025/11/02/maga-war-within-trump-antisemitism |access-date=January 26, 2026 |work=Axios|quote=President Trump's MAGA movement is increasingly at war with itself. The central issue: a purity test over MAGA inclusion. Why it matters: The MAGA fight, ignited by ideological differences over Israel, pulls on a lot of -isms — nativism, antisemitism, racism, sexism and Trumpism.}}}} In January 2026, Trump publicly came out against those with antisemitic views in the party, which ''The New York Times'' and ''The Economist'' described as being contrasted with J.D. Vance's prior refusal to condemn the incidents and statement that the party did not need "purity tests".<ref name="Economist 12232025"/><ref>{{Cite news|last=Karni|first=Annie|date=January 11, 2026|title='I Think We Don't Like Them': Trump Says MAGA Has No Room for Antisemites|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/11/us/politics/trump-maga-republicans-antisemitism.html|url-access=subscription|access-date=January 26, 2026|quote=After years in which Mr. Trump has variously embraced and tolerated far-right figures and groups, the Republican Party is mired in a debate about how expansive its coalition should be and whether it should include figures like Nick Fuentes, a Holocaust denier and avowed antisemite. Mr. Trump's comments stand in contrast to Vice President JD Vance, who said last month that the party did not need "purity tests."}}</ref>

Beginning in the early 2020s, several Republican politicians have been promoting the Great Replacement conspiracy theory.{{refn| *{{Cite news |last=Blake |first=Aaron |date=2021-09-27 |title=How Republicans learned to stop worrying and embrace ‘replacement theory’ — by name |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/09/27/how-republicans-learned-stop-worrying-embrace-replacement-theory-by-name/ |access-date=2026-05-09 |work=The Washington Post |language=en-US |issn=0190-8286}} *{{Cite news |last=Legum |first=Judd |date=2022-05-17 |title=Republicans have invoked the ‘great replacement’ theory over and over |url=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/may/17/republicans-have-invoked-the-great-replacement-theory-over-and-over-and-over |access-date=2026-05-09 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}} *{{Cite news |last=Joffe-Block |first=Jude |date=2024-09-13 |title=How Trump is relying on a racist conspiracy theory to question election results |url=https://www.npr.org/2024/09/13/g-s1-22583/trump-great-replacement-conspiracy-theory |access-date=2026-05-09 |work=NPR |language=en |quote=He was also echoing the latest iteration of a once-fringe racist conspiracy theory that has now become mainstream in the Republican Party. The conspiracy — known as the "great replacement" — claims there is a plan to bring nonwhite immigrants into the United States and other Western countries to replace white voters to achieve a political agenda.}} *{{Cite web |last=Beauchamp |first=Zack |date=2025-12-02 |title=The dark reality behind Trump’s new anti-immigrant policies |url=https://www.vox.com/politics/470967/trump-immigration-ban-third-world-alt-right |access-date=2026-05-09 |website=Vox |language=en-US |quote=And the concept of a "great replacement" of Americans by migrants, once the province of tiki-torch marchers at Charlottesville, is now widely proclaimed by the Republican Party's leading figures – from Trump on down.}} *{{Cite news |last=Confessore |first=Nicholas |last2=Yourish |first2=Karen |date=2022-05-16 |title=A Fringe Conspiracy Theory, Fostered Online, Is Refashioned by the G.O.P. |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/15/us/replacement-theory-shooting-tucker-carlson.html |access-date=2026-05-09 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}} *{{Cite web |last=Serwer |first=Adam |date=2022-05-18 |title=Conservatives Are Defending a Sanitized Version of ‘The Great Replacement’ |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2022/05/buffalo-shooting-republican-great-replacement/629903/ |access-date=2026-05-09 |website=The Atlantic |language=en |quote=Their reaction to the Buffalo shooting shows that the racist theory has now entered the Republican mainstream.}} *{{Cite web |date=2022-05-17 |title=Our View: ‘Great replacement’ lie runs deep in Republican politics |url=https://www.pressherald.com/2022/05/17/our-view-great-replacement-lie-runs-deep-in-republican-politics/ |access-date=2026-05-09 |website=The Portland Press Herald |language=en-US |quote=Once again, the political agenda was “the great replacement” conspiracy theory, an idea born in the fringes of white supremacist movements that is becoming mainstream in Republican politics.}} *{{Cite news |last=Goldmacher |first=Shane |last2=Broadwater |first2=Luke |date=2022-05-17 |title=Republicans Play on Fears of ‘Great Replacement’ in Bid for Base Voters |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/16/us/politics/republicans-great-replacement.html |access-date=2026-05-09 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}}}

=== Economic policies === Enacting high tariffs on foreign imports is a core component of Donald Trump's fiscal agenda. Tariffs are taxes on foreign imports, mainly paid by domestic businesses, given that consumers generally do not import foreign goods directly.<ref name="Buckle Up"/> By raising tariffs to their highest levels since the Gilded Age, Trump enacted one of the largest tax increases by any Republican president.<ref name="Trump Is Raising Them">{{Cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/05/business/economy/republicans-tax-cuts-tariffs-trump.html|title=Republicans Like to Cut Taxes. With Tariffs, Trump Is Raising Them.|quote=President Trump's tariffs are scrambling the Republican plan for the economy, long centered on tax cuts and growth.|date=April 5, 2025|access-date=April 5, 2025|website=The New York Times|first1=Andrew|last1=Duehren}}</ref> The Constitution's Import-Export Clause requires that only the federal government be allowed to collect tariff revenue from imports.<ref name="Gilded Age vision">{{#invoke:cite|web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/01/us/politics/trump-tariffs-goal.html|title=To Trump, Tariffs Are Not a Means but an End|quote=Many presidents use tariffs to force negotiations. But for President Trump, they are the point, a source of revenue as he pursues a Gilded Age vision.|date=February 1, 2025|access-date=February 1, 2025|first1=David E.|last1=Sanger|website=The New York Times|archive-date=February 2, 2025|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250202082024/https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/01/us/politics/trump-tariffs-goal.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

Traditionally, Republicans believe that free markets and individual achievement are the primary factors behind economic prosperity.<ref>{{Cite journal|title=The grand old party – a party of values?|first1=Patrick|last1=Mair|first2=Thomas|last2=Rusch|first3=Kurt|last3=Hornik|date=November 27, 2014|journal=SpringerPlus|volume=3|article-number=697|doi=10.1186/2193-1801-3-697 |doi-access=free |pmid=25512889|pmc=4256162}}</ref> Reduction in income taxes for those with higher incomes<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://apnews.com/article/tax-cuts-jobs-act-trump-treasury-agenda-f4031196e0d69d0a1630e3b06b6d3cd7|title=Trump tax cuts, if made permanent, stand to benefit highest income earners, Treasury analysis shows|website=Associated Press News |date=January 10, 2025 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://itep.org/a-distributional-analysis-of-donald-trumps-tax-plan-2024/|title=A Distributional Analysis of Donald Trump's Tax Plan |website=Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy |date=October 7, 2024 }}</ref> is a core component of Republicans' fiscal agenda.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.russellsage.org/news/how-tax-cuts-became-central-republican-party|title=How Tax Cuts Became Central to the Republican Party|website=www.russellsage.org}}</ref> As of 2025, Trump and the Republican Party largely abandoned traditional Republican orthodoxy about protecting and promoting the free market,{{refn| *{{Cite news|last=Aspan|first=Maria|date=August 14, 2025|title=Trump is tightening the screws on corporate America — and CEOs are staying mum|work=NPR|url=https://www.npr.org/2025/08/14/nx-s1-5501591/trump-corporate-america-capitalism|access-date=August 24, 2025|quote=By demanding a cut of a private company's sales, in exchange for the right to do business, Trump is defying the traditionally Republican gospel of free-market capitalism.}} *{{Cite news|last1=Morrow|first1=Allison|last2=Mattingly|first2=Phil|date=August 20, 2025|title=Corporate America is silent as Trump abandons free-market principles|work=CNN|url=https://www.cnn.com/2025/08/20/business/companies-trump-free-market|access-date=August 24, 2025}} *{{Cite news|last=Wile|first=Rob|date=August 22, 2025|title=U.S. takes 10% stake in Intel as Trump flexes more power over big business|work=NBC News|url=https://www.nbcnews.com/business/business-news/intel-agrees-us-stake-in-company-how-much-what-to-know-rcna226667|access-date=August 24, 2025|quote=Trump continues to bulldoze through long-held norms regarding government and business, departing from the free-market ethos that has long prevailed in both major U.S. political parties.}} *{{Cite news|last1=Sutton|first1=Sam|last2=Guida|first2=Victoria|date=August 22, 2025|title=Trump is turning the government into an investment firm|work=Politico|url=https://www.politico.com/newsletters/morning-money-capital-risk/2025/08/22/trump-is-turning-the-government-into-an-investment-firm-00519364|access-date=August 24, 2025|quote=From tariff carveouts to pro bono legal work from white-shoe law firms, Trump is exerting power over U.S. businesses in ways that go beyond even Sen. Bernie Sanders's (I-Vt.) aspirations. His ability to inject his agenda into private enterprises and dealmaking has shaken the guardrails that protect businesses from sudden political shifts and defied the free-market orthodoxy that was a hallmark of Republican economic policymaking.}}}} instead favoring state capitalism by taking direct government equity stakes in major US corporations, an approach that has been characterized by critics in favor of free market economics as socialist.{{refn| *{{Cite news|last=Graham|first=David A.|date=August 25, 2025|title=Trump's Right-Wing Socialism|work=The Atlantic|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/newsletters/archive/2025/08/trump-big-government-socialism/684003/|url-access=subscription|access-date=September 6, 2025}} *{{Cite news|last=Bennett|first=John T.|date=September 5, 2025|title='This is socialism': Trump's private sector intervention causes heartburn on right|work=Roll Call|url=https://rollcall.com/2025/09/05/trump-intel-socialism-republicans-economy/|access-date=September 7, 2025}} *{{Cite news|last1=Johnson|first1=Keith|last2=Lu|first2=Chritina|date=July 16, 2025|title=Trump Embraces State Capitalism|work=Foreign Policy|url=https://foreignpolicy.com/2025/07/16/trump-economy-industry-state-capitalism-steel-rare-earth-investment/|url-access=subscription|access-date=August 24, 2025}} *{{Cite news|date=August 13, 2025|title=Trump wants to command bosses like Xi does. He is failing|newspaper=The Economist|url=https://www.economist.com/business/2025/08/13/trump-wants-to-command-bosses-like-xi-does-he-is-failing|url-access=subscription|access-date=August 24, 2025|quote=Thankfully, Mr Trump only dabbles in state capitalism. Even so, his approach is damaging.}} *{{Cite news|last=Morrow|first=Allison|date=August 13, 2025|title=Trump is tightening his grip on the economy, taking a page from China|work=CNN|url=https://www.cnn.com/2025/08/13/business/trump-economy-capitalism-nightcap|access-date=August 24, 2025|quote=Trump's realignment of American business also bears similarities to China's model of "state capitalism" — a mix between socialism and classic free-market capitalism in which the state is involved in, but doesn't directly own, private businesses.}} *{{Cite news|last=Ip|first=Greg|date=August 11, 2025|title=The U.S. Marches Toward State Capitalism With American Characteristics|work=The Wall Street Journal|url=https://www.wsj.com/economy/the-u-s-marches-toward-state-capitalism-with-american-characteristics-f75cafa8?gaa_at=eafs&gaa_n=ASWzDAhdzJ3xV7G723iLQyWckFC6lAOGNUgwmtOFb-AuGkUgpPCakJ4kN2xk&gaa_ts=68ab7dc0&gaa_sig=iNS2pp1LbXxEywrxaBCNfQYCH8XESHvl88721zhP-QgoJnExzg1f3fSoNn6jhTVSLBIwVcDp0rDdxEt22sZ73A%3D%3D|url-access=subscription|access-date=August 24, 2025}}}} The Trump administration has also deviated from the GOP's conventional free market approach by ordering Nvidia and AMD to pay the federal government a portion of chip sales to China.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2025-08-11 |title=Nvidia and AMD to pay 15% of China chip sales to US government |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cvgvvnx8y19o |access-date=2026-03-19 |website=www.bbc.com |language=en-GB}}</ref>

====Taxes and trade==== {{As of |2025}} the Republican Party supports near-universal tariffs, but that has not always been the case. For example, during the last half of the 20th century, Republicans were strong proponents of free trade. However 68% of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents approve of the increasing tariffs while the Democrats overwhelmingly disapprove of it at 89%.<ref>{{Cite web |first1=Jocelyn |last1=Kiley |first2=Gabriel |last2=Borelli |first3=Joseph |last3=Copeland |first4=Shanay |last4=Gracia |date=2025-08-14 |title=How Americans view the Trump administration's tariff policies and the GOP's budget and tax bill |url=https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2025/08/14/how-americans-view-the-trump-administrations-tariff-policies-and-the-gops-budget-and-tax-bill/ |access-date=2025-09-30 |website=Pew Research Center |language=en-US}}</ref> The current Republican president, Donald Trump, has been a staunch proponent of enacting tariffs as a means of generating tax revenue and has been described as a mercantilist.<ref name="Helleiner 2021"/><ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2025/01/31/tariff-trump-trade-war/ |title=Trump sketches unprecedented plan for sweeping tariffs |date=January 31, 2025 |access-date=February 1, 2025 |newspaper=The Washington Post |first1=David J. |last1=Lynch |first2=Mary Beth |last2=Sheridan |first3=Amanda |last3=Coletta}}</ref> In 2025, Trump raised American tariff rates to the highest in the world, at the highest level since the Smoot–Hawley Tariff Act of 1930.<ref name="global trade war">{{Cite news |url=https://www.ft.com/content/fe5f7469-6f04-40e6-bc59-0d4e004e1cd3 |title=Donald Trump escalates global trade war with sweeping tariff blitz |date=April 2, 2025 |access-date=April 2, 2025 |work=Financial Times}}</ref> Donald Trump opposes globalization, and his economic policies have been described as attempting to unravel the multilateral global economic order, including the power of the World Trade Organization (WTO).<ref name="Trump's aggressive push">{{Cite web|url=https://www.ft.com/content/ed994477-a23a-4f48-9019-917b5dc51041|title=Trump's aggressive push to roll back globalisation|first1=Sam|last1=Fleming|first2=Delphine|last2=Strauss|access-date=April 4, 2025|date=April 4, 2025|website=Financial Times|quote=The US president wants to unwind decades of economic integration. The risk of a 1930s-style global trade war is causing markets to panic.}}</ref> Trump has expressed his admiration for Republican president William McKinley's tariff policies. McKinley was the author of the Tariff Act of 1890, and both Trump and McKinley nicknamed themselves as a "Tariff Man".<ref name="President McKinley">{{Cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2025/01/27/trump-mckinley-tariffs-history/ |title=Why Trump admires President McKinley, the original 'tariff man' |date=January 27, 2025 |access-date=February 1, 2025 |first1=Andrew |last1=Jeong |newspaper=The Washington Post}}</ref><ref name="Buckle Up">{{Cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/17/us/politics/trump-tariffs-auto-industry-corporate-executives.html |title=Trump's Unwelcome News to Auto Chiefs: Buckle Up for What's to Come |quote=President Trump's approach to tariffs has unsettled many corporate leaders who believed he would use the levies as a negotiating tool. As it turns out, he sees them as an end in themselves. |date=March 17, 2025 |first1=Jonathan |last1=Swan |first2=Maggie |last2=Haberman |first3=Ana |last3=Swanson |work=The New York Times}}</ref> According to an April 2025 Economist/YouGov poll, "Republican voters overwhelmingly support Trump's tariffs, while Democratic voters generally do not."<ref name="favor Trump tariffs">{{Cite web|url=https://www.axios.com/2025/03/06/trump-tariffs-poll-republicans-china-mexico-canada|title=Republicans favor Trump tariffs despite anticipated price hikes: poll|first1=Avery|last1=Lotz|website=Axios|date=March 6, 2025|access-date=March 10, 2025}}</ref>

At its inception, the Republican Party supported protective tariffs. Abraham Lincoln enacted tariffs during the Civil War.<ref name="Coy F. Cross II 2012 45">{{cite book |first=Coy F. |last=Cross II |title=Justin Smith Morrill: Father of the Land-Grant Colleges |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5NYBqv3E7IMC&pg=PT45 |year=2012 |publisher=MSU Press |page=45 |isbn=9780870139055}}</ref><ref name="Platform">[http://www.cprr.org/Museum/Ephemera/Republican_Platform_1860.html ''Republican Party National Platform, 1860''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230813035120/http://cprr.org/Museum/Ephemera/Republican_Platform_1860.html |date=August 13, 2023 }} Reported from the Platform Committee by Judge Jessup of Pennsylvania and adopted unanimously by the Republican National Convention held at Chicago on May 17, 1860. Broadside printing by ''The Chicago Press & Tribune'', May 1860</ref> The great battle over the high Payne–Aldrich Tariff Act in 1910 caused a split in the party.<ref>Stanley D. Solvick, "William Howard Taft and the Payne-Aldrich Tariff." ''Mississippi Valley Historical Review'' 50.3 (1963): 424–442 [https://www.jstor.org/stable/1902605 online] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210307035528/https://www.jstor.org/stable/1902605 |date=March 7, 2021 }}</ref> The 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.<ref name="Bailey">{{cite journal|last=Bailey|first=Michael A.|author2=Goldstein, Weingast |title=The Institutional Roots of American Trade Policy|journal=World Politics|date=April 1997|volume=49|issue=3|pages=309–38|doi=10.1353/wp.1997.0007|s2cid=154711958 }}</ref> 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.<ref name=barton>John H. Barton, Judith L. Goldstein, Timothy E. Josling, and Richard H. Steinberg, ''The Evolution of the Trade Regime: Politics, Law, and Economics of the GATT and the WTO'' (2008)</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=McClenahan |first1=William |title=The Growth of Voluntary Export Restraints and American Foreign Economic Policy, 1956–1969 |journal=Business and Economic History |date=1991 |volume=20 |pages=180–190 |jstor=23702815}}</ref> During the Reagan and George H. W. Bush administrations, Republicans abandoned protectionist policies<ref name="Karagiannis">{{cite book |editor1-first=Nikolaos |editor1-last=Karagiannis |editor2-first=Zagros |editor2-last=Madjd-Sadjadi |editor3-first=Swapan |editor3-last=Sen |url=https://www.routledge.com/The-US-Economy-and-Neoliberalism-Alternative-Strategies-and-Policies/Karagiannis-Madjd-Sadjadi-Sen/p/book/9780415645058 |title=The US Economy and Neoliberalism: Alternative Strategies and Policies |publisher=Routledge |date=2013 |isbn=978-1138904910 |page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=aYKfai1RlPYC&pg=PA58 58] |access-date=August 14, 2023 |archive-date=August 13, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210813193859/https://www.routledge.com/The-US-Economy-and-Neoliberalism-Alternative-Strategies-and-Policies/Karagiannis-Madjd-Sadjadi-Sen/p/book/9780415645058 |url-status=live}}</ref> 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–United States 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.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zP4wDcT3PeQC&pg=PA358|title=Encyclopedia of U.S. Campaigns, Elections, and Electoral Behavior|first=Kenneth F.|last=Warren|publisher=Sage Publications|year=2008|page=358|isbn=978-1412954891|access-date=August 14, 2023|archive-date=December 15, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231215023725/https://books.google.com/books?id=zP4wDcT3PeQC&pg=PA358#v=onepage&q&f=false|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DxJZxwyMHHYC&pg=PT151|title=Unions in America|first=Gary|last=Chaison|publisher=Sage|year=2005|page=151|isbn=978-1452239477|access-date=August 14, 2023|archive-date=December 15, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231215024942/https://books.google.com/books?id=DxJZxwyMHHYC&pg=PT151#v=onepage&q&f=false|url-status=live}}</ref>

The 2016 presidential election marked a return to supporting protectionism, beginning with Donald Trump's first presidency.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Swedberg |first=Richard|date=2018|title=Folk economics and its role in Trump's presidential campaign: an exploratory study|journal=Theory and Society|volume=47|pages=1–36|doi=10.1007/s11186-018-9308-8|s2cid=149378537}}</ref><ref name="Swanson">{{cite news |last=Swanson |first=Ana |date=July 5, 2018 |title=Trump's Trade War With China Is Officially Underway |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/05/business/china-us-trade-war-trump-tariffs.html |work=The New York Times |access-date=May 26, 2019 }}</ref> In 2017, only 36% of Republicans agreed that free trade agreements are good for the United States, compared to 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%.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2017/04/25/support-for-free-trade-agreements-rebounds-modestly-but-wide-partisan-differences-remain/|title=Support for free trade agreements rebounds modestly, but wide partisan differences remain|website=Pew Research|date=April 25, 2017 |access-date=August 14, 2023|archive-date=April 11, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230411201429/https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2017/04/25/support-for-free-trade-agreements-rebounds-modestly-but-wide-partisan-differences-remain/|url-status=live}}</ref>

Income tax cuts have been at the core of Republican economic policy since 1980.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2019-01-18/republicans-fell-in-love-with-tax-cuts-thanks-to-reagan|website=www.bloomberg.com|title=Why Republicans Fell in Love With Tax Cuts|last=Fox|first=Justin|date=January 18, 2019}}</ref> At the national level and state level, Republicans tend to pursue policies of tax cuts and deregulation.<ref name="Grumbach-2021">{{Citation |last1=Grumbach |first1=Jacob M. |title=The Political Economies of Red States |date=2021 |work=The American Political Economy: Politics, Markets, and Power |pages=209–244 |editor-last=Hertel-Fernandez |editor-first=Alexander |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1316516362 |last2=Hacker |first2=Jacob S. |last3=Pierson |first3=Paul |editor2-last=Hacker |editor2-first=Jacob S. |editor3-last=Thelen |editor3-first=Kathleen |editor4-last=Pierson |editor4-first=Paul |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/american-political-economy/political-economies-of-red-states/BEE22FE6AAB57A14FF10F807E02116BB |access-date=November 10, 2021 |archive-date=November 23, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211123114921/https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/abs/american-political-economy/political-economies-of-red-states/BEE22FE6AAB57A14FF10F807E02116BB |url-status=live}}</ref> Modern Republicans advocate the theory of supply-side economics, which holds that lower tax rates increase economic growth.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.economist.com/briefing/2011/09/24/diving-into-the-rich-pool|newspaper=The Economist|title=Diving into the rich pool|date=September 24, 2011|access-date=January 13, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120112210317/http://www.economist.com/node/21530093|archive-date=January 12, 2012|url-status=live}}</ref> 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.<ref name="How the IRS Was Gutted">{{cite web|url=https://www.propublica.org/article/how-the-irs-was-gutted|title=How the IRS Was Gutted|last=Paul Kiel|first=Jesse Eisinger|date=December 11, 2018|website=ProPublica|access-date=December 11, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181211132205/https://www.propublica.org/article/how-the-irs-was-gutted|archive-date=December 11, 2018|url-status=live}}</ref>

The modern Republican Party's economic policy positions tend to align with business interests and the affluent.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Grossmann|first1=Matt|last2=Mahmood|first2=Zuhaib|last3=Isaac|first3=William|date=2021|title=Political Parties, Interest Groups, and Unequal Class Influence in American Policy |journal=The Journal of Politics|volume=83|issue=4|pages=1706–1720|doi=10.1086/711900 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Bartels|first=Larry M.|url=https://muse.jhu.edu/book/64558|title=Unequal Democracy: The Political Economy of the New Gilded Age|edition=2nd|date=2016|publisher=Princeton University Press|isbn=978-1400883363|access-date=January 13, 2022|archive-date=November 5, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211105222439/https://muse.jhu.edu/book/64558|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Rhodes|first1=Jesse H.|last2=Schaffner|first2=Brian F.|date=2017|title=Testing Models of Unequal Representation: Democratic Populists and Republican Oligarchs? |journal=Quarterly Journal of Political Science|volume=12|issue=2|pages=185–204|doi=10.1561/100.00016077 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Lax|first1=Jeffrey R.|last2=Phillips|first2=Justin H.|last3=Zelizer|first3=Adam|date=2019|title=The Party or the Purse? Unequal Representation in the US Senate |journal=American Political Science Review|language=en|volume=113|issue=4|pages=917–940|doi=10.1017/S0003055419000315 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last1=Hacker|first1=Jacob S.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Kqu6DwAAQBAJ|title=Let them Eat Tweets: How the Right Rules in an Age of Extreme Inequality|last2=Pierson|first2=Paul|date=2020|publisher=Liveright Publishing|isbn=978-1631496851|language=en}}</ref>

Republicans have traditionally advocated in favor of fiscal conservatism.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Milkis|first1=Sidney M.|last2=King|first2=Desmond|last3=Jacobs|first3=Nicholas F.|date=2019|title=Building a Conservative State: Partisan Polarization and the Redeployment of Administrative Power|journal=Perspectives on Politics|volume=17|issue=2|pages=453–469|doi=10.1017/S1537592718003511|issn=1537-5927|doi-access=free}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|date=November 12, 2014|title=The Rise in Per Capita Federal Spending|url=https://www.mercatus.org/publications/government-spending/rise-capita-federal-spending|access-date=August 30, 2020|website=Mercatus Center|archive-date=December 14, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211214020934/https://www.mercatus.org/publications/government-spending/rise-capita-federal-spending|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Atske |first=Sara |date=April 11, 2019 |title=Little Public Support for Reductions in Federal Spending |url=https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2019/04/11/little-public-support-for-reductions-in-federal-spending/ |access-date=December 25, 2024 |website=Pew Research Center |language=en-US}}</ref> By the 2020s, Republicans have largely abandoned fiscal conservatism as an ideological cornerstone.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Rappeport|first=Alan|date=June 19, 2025|title=Record Debt Limit Increase Would Break Republican Precedent|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/19/business/national-debt-limit-republicans.html|url-access=subscription|access-date=June 20, 2025|quote=This year, the party of fiscal conservatism is poised to discard that philosophy as Republicans prepare to press ahead with domestic policy legislation that combines nearly $4 trillion in tax cuts with a $5 trillion increase to the debt limit. An increase of that magnitude would be a record and underscore the ideological flexibility that many Republicans are willing to embrace when they are in power.}}</ref>

====Labor unions and the minimum wage==== The Republican Party is generally opposed to labor unions.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/gop-debate-republican-trump-union-strikes-b2475831.html|title=What the GOP candidates have said about strikes and unions|date=January 9, 2024|website=The Independent}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/oct/25/republicans-working-class-voter-unions-worker-protections-organize|title=Republicans want working-class voters — without actually supporting workers|first=Steven|last=Greenhouse|date=October 25, 2022|newspaper=The Guardian}}</ref> 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.{{efn|Right-to-work laws ban union security agreements, which require 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.<ref>{{cite web|title=Employer/Union Rights and Obligations|url=https://www.nlrb.gov/rights-we-protect/employerunion-rights-and-obligations|publisher=National Labor Relations Board|access-date=July 7, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170711175358/https://www.nlrb.gov/rights-we-protect/employerunion-rights-and-obligations|archive-date=July 11, 2017|url-status=live}}</ref>}} Most Republicans also oppose increases in the minimum wage.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Kapur |first1=Sahil |title=GOP Sen. Josh Hawley introduces bill to raise federal minimum wage to $15 per hour |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/gop-sen-josh-hawley-introduces-bill-raise-federal-minimum-wage-15-hour-rcna212095 |website=NBC NEWS |publisher=NBCUniversal Media, LLC |access-date=4 December 2025 |date=10 June 2025}}</ref>

==== Environmental policies ==== {{Main|Political positions of the Republican Party#Environmental policies}}

{{multiple image | align = right | direction = vertical | total_width = 250 | image1 = 2009- Pew survey - is climate change a major threat, by political party.svg | caption1 = 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.<ref name=PewClimateChange_20230418>● {{cite web |title=54% of Americans view climate change as a major threat, but the partisan divide has grown |url=https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2023/04/18/for-earth-day-key-facts-about-americans-views-of-climate-change-and-renewable-energy/sr_2023-04-18_climate_5/ |publisher=Pew Research Center |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230422182323/https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2023/04/18/for-earth-day-key-facts-about-americans-views-of-climate-change-and-renewable-energy/sr_2023-04-18_climate_5/ |archive-date=April 22, 2023 |date=April 18, 2023 |url-status=live }} ● Broader discussion by {{cite web |last1=Tyson |first1=Alec |last2=Funk |first2=Cary |last3=Kennedy |first3=Brian |title=What the data says about Americans' views of climate change |url=https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2023/04/18/for-earth-day-key-facts-about-americans-views-of-climate-change-and-renewable-energy/ |publisher=Pew Research Center |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230512193458/https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2023/04/18/for-earth-day-key-facts-about-americans-views-of-climate-change-and-renewable-energy/ |archive-date=May 12, 2023 |date=April 18, 2023 |url-status=live}}</ref> | image3 = 20220301 Opinions by political party - Climate change causation - Action for carbon neutral 2050 - Pew Research.svg | caption3 = Opinion about human causation of climate change increased substantially with education among Democrats, but not among Republicans.<ref name=Pew_20220301/> Conversely, opinions favoring becoming carbon neutral declined substantially with age among Republicans, but not among Democrats.<ref name=Pew_20220301>{{cite web |last1=Tyson |first1=Alec |last2=Funk |first2=Cary |last3=Kennedy |first3=Brian |title=Americans Largely Favor U.S. Taking Steps To Become Carbon Neutral by 2050 / Appendix (Detailed charts and tables) |url=https://www.pewresearch.org/science/2022/03/01/carbon-neutral-2050-appendix/ |website=Pew Research |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220418220503/https://www.pewresearch.org/science/2022/03/01/carbon-neutral-2050-appendix/ |archive-date=April 18, 2022 |date=March 1, 2022 |url-status=live}}</ref> }}

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.<ref name=Filler>{{cite web|author=Filler, Daniel|title=Theodore Roosevelt: Conservation as the Guardian of Democracy|url=http://pantheon.cis.yale.edu/~thomast/essays/filler/filler.html|access-date=November 9, 2007|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030802175908/http://pantheon.cis.yale.edu/~thomast/essays/filler/filler.html|archive-date=August 2, 2003}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Ewert|first=Sara Dant|date=July 3, 2003|title=Environmental Politics in the Nixon Era|url=https://muse.jhu.edu/article/44406|journal=Journal of Policy History|volume=15|issue=3|pages=345–348|issn=1528-4190|doi=10.1353/jph.2003.0019|s2cid=153711962|access-date=June 3, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170809131601/https://muse.jhu.edu/article/44406|archive-date=August 9, 2017|url-status=dead|url-access=subscription}}</ref> However, this position has changed since the 1980s and the administration of President Ronald Reagan, who labeled environmental regulations a burden on the economy.<ref name="Dunlap 2010">{{cite journal |last1=Dunlap |first1=Riley E. |last2=McCright |first2=Araon M. |title=A Widening Gap: Republican and Democratic Views on Climate Change |journal=Environment: Science and Policy for Sustainable Development |date=2008 |volume=50 |issue=5 |pages=26–35 |doi=10.3200/ENVT.50.5.26-35 |bibcode=2008ESPSD..50e..26D }}</ref> Since then, Republicans have increasingly taken positions against environmental regulation,<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Bergquist |first1=Parrish |last2=Warshaw |first2=Christopher |title=Handbook of U.S. Environmental Policy |chapter=Elections and parties in environmental politics |date=2020 |doi=10.4337/9781788972840.00017 |isbn=978-1-78897-284-0 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Fredrickson |first1=Leif |last2=Sellers |first2=Christopher |last3=Dillon |first3=Lindsey |last4=Ohayon |first4=Jennifer Liss |last5=Shapiro |first5=Nicholas |last6=Sullivan |first6=Marianne |last7=Bocking |first7=Stephen |last8=Brown |first8=Phil |last9=de la Rosa |first9=Vanessa |last10=Harrison |first10=Jill |last11=Johns |first11=Sara |last12=Kulik |first12=Katherine |last13=Lave |first13=Rebecca |last14=Murphy |first14=Michelle |last15=Piper |first15=Liza |last16=Richter |first16=Lauren |last17=Wylie |first17=Sara |title=History of US Presidential Assaults on Modern Environmental Health Protection |journal=American Journal of Public Health |date=2018 |volume=108 |issue=S2 |pages=S95–S103 |doi=10.2105/AJPH.2018.304396 |pmid=29698097 |pmc=5922215 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Coley |first1=Jonathan S. |last2=Hess |first2=David J. |title=Green energy laws and Republican legislators in the United States |journal=Energy Policy |date=2012 |volume=48 |pages=576–583 |doi=10.1016/j.enpol.2012.05.062 |bibcode=2012EnPol..48..576C }}</ref> with many Republicans rejecting the scientific consensus on climate change.<ref name="Dunlap 2010" /><ref>{{cite book|url=http://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=978-0674979970|title=The Republican Reversal: Conservatives and the Environment from Nixon to Trump|last1=Turner|first1=James Morton|last2=Isenberg|first2=Andrew C.|date=2018|publisher=Harvard University Press|isbn=978-0674979970 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190108151027/http://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=978-0674979970|archive-date=January 8, 2019|url-status=live}}{{page needed|date=January 2026}}</ref><ref name=Ringquist>{{cite journal |last1=Ringquist |first1=Evan J. |last2=Neshkova |first2=Milena I. |last3=Aamidor |first3=Joseph |title=Campaign Promises, Democratic Governance, and Environmental Policy in the U.S. Congress |journal=Policy Studies Journal |date=2013 |volume=41 |issue=2 |pages=365–387 |doi=10.1111/psj.12021 }}</ref><ref name="Shipan Environmental Policy">{{cite journal |last1=Shipan |first1=Charles R. |last2=Lowry |first2=William R. |title=Environmental Policy and Party Divergence in Congress |journal=Political Research Quarterly |date=2001 |volume=54 |issue=2 |pages=245–263 |doi=10.1177/106591290105400201 |bibcode=2001PolRQ..54..245S }}</ref> Republican voters are divided over the human causes of climate change and global warming.<ref>{{cite web |date=November 1, 2013 |title=GOP Deeply Divided Over Climate Change |url=http://www.people-press.org/2013/11/01/gop-deeply-divided-over-climate-change/ |access-date=December 11, 2014 |website=Pew Research Center |publisher=}}</ref> Since 2008,<ref name="Davenport2017">{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/03/us/politics/republican-leaders-climate-change.html |title=How G.O.P. Leaders Came to View Climate Change as Fake Science |last1=Davenport |first1=Coral |last2=Lipton |first2=Eric |author-link2=Eric Lipton |date=June 3, 2017 |work=The New York Times |access-date=September 22, 2017 |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331 |quote=The Republican Party's fast journey from debating how to combat human-caused climate change to arguing that it does not exist is a story of big political money, Democratic hubris in the Obama years and a partisan chasm that grew over nine years like a crack in the Antarctic shelf, favoring extreme positions and uncompromising rhetoric over cooperation and conciliation.|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170914183020/https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/03/us/politics/republican-leaders-climate-change.html|archive-date=September 14, 2017|url-status=live}}</ref> many members of the Republican Party have been criticized for being anti-environmentalist<ref>{{cite book|last1=Shabecoff|first1=Philip|title=Earth Rising: American Environmentalism in the 21st Century|date=2000|publisher=Island Press|isbn=978-1-59726-335-1|page=[https://archive.org/details/earthrisingameri00phil/page/125 125]|url=https://archive.org/details/earthrisingameri00phil|url-access=registration|quote=republican party anti-environmental.|access-date=November 9, 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Hayes|first1=Samuel P.|title=A History of Environmental Politics Since 1945|date=2000|publisher=University of Pittsburgh Press|isbn=978-0-8229-7224-2|page=119|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jG5IwgEFSYQC&q=republican+party+anti-environmentalist&pg=PA119|access-date=November 9, 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Sellers |first1=Christopher |date=June 7, 2017 |title=How Republicans came to embrace anti-environmentalism |url=https://www.vox.com/2017/4/22/15377964/republicans-environmentalism |access-date=November 9, 2017 |website=Vox}}</ref> and promoting climate change denial<ref name="Dunlap 2010"/><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Båtstrand |first1=Sondre |title=More than Markets: A Comparative Study of Nine Conservative Parties on Climate Change |journal=Politics & Policy |date=2015 |volume=43 |issue=4 |pages=538–561 |doi=10.1111/polp.12122 |quote=The U.S. Republican Party is an anomaly in denying anthropogenic climate change.}}</ref><ref name="chait">{{cite news |title=Why Are Republicans the Only Climate-Science-Denying Party in the World? |author-link=Jonathan Chait |first=Jonathan |last=Chait |date=September 27, 2015 |access-date=September 20, 2017 |url=https://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2015/09/whys-gop-only-science-denying-party-on-earth.html |magazine=New York |quote=Of all the major conservative parties in the democratic world, the Republican Party stands alone in its denial of the legitimacy of climate science. Indeed, the Republican Party stands alone in its conviction that no national or international response to climate change is needed. To the extent that the party is divided on the issue, the gap separates candidates who openly dismiss climate science as a hoax, and those who, shying away from the political risks of blatant ignorance, instead couch their stance in the alleged impossibility of international action.}}</ref> in opposition to the general scientific consensus, making them unique even among other worldwide conservative parties.<ref name="chait" />

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,<ref name="Landmark Law">{{cite news|title=Schwarzenegger takes center stage on warming|url=https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna15029070|access-date=July 3, 2014|agency=MSNBC News|publisher=NBC News|date=September 27, 2006|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140714173432/http://www.nbcnews.com/id/15029070/ns/us_news-environment/t/schwarzenegger-takes-center-stage-warming/#.U7U0QbFEJJw|archive-date=July 14, 2014|url-status=live}}</ref> with the court ruling against the Bush administration in 2007.<ref>[{{SCOTUS URL Slip|06|05-1120}} Text of Opinion]</ref> Bush also publicly opposed ratification of the Kyoto Protocols<ref name="Dunlap 2010" /><ref name=BushGW>{{cite web|author=Bush, George W.|title=Text of a Letter from the President|date=March 13, 2001|url=https://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2001/03/20010314.html|access-date=November 9, 2007|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090722073329/http://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2001/03/20010314.html|archive-date=July 22, 2009 }}</ref> which sought to limit greenhouse gas emissions and thereby combat climate change; his position was heavily criticized by climate scientists.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Schrope |first1=Mark |title=Criticism mounts as Bush backs out of Kyoto accord |journal=Nature |date=2001 |volume=410 |issue=6829 |page=616 |doi=10.1038/35070738 |pmid=11287908 |bibcode=2001Natur.410..616S }}</ref>

The Republican Party rejects cap-and-trade policy to limit carbon emissions.<ref>{{cite web|title=Our GOP: The Party of Opportunity|url=http://www.gop.com/our-party/|access-date=December 11, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140821152805/http://www.gop.com/our-party/|archive-date=August 21, 2014|url-status=dead}}</ref> 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.<ref name="Dunlap 2010" /> Some Republican candidates have supported the development of alternative fuels 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.<ref>{{cite news|title=On Our Radar: Republicans Urge Opening of Arctic Refuge to Drilling|author=John Collins Rudolf|date=December 6, 2010|url=http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/12/06/on-our-radar-republicans-urge-opening-of-arctic-refuge-to-drilling/?_php=true&_type=blogs&_r=0|newspaper=The New York Times|access-date=December 11, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140714181831/http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/12/06/on-our-radar-republicans-urge-opening-of-arctic-refuge-to-drilling/?_php=true&_type=blogs&_r=0|archive-date=July 14, 2014|url-status=dead}}</ref>

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.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Davenport|first1=Coral|title=Republicans Vow to Fight E.P.A. and Approve Keystone Pipeline|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/11/us/politics/republicans-vow-to-fight-epa-and-approve-keystone-pipeline.html|access-date=January 25, 2016|work=The New York Times|date=November 10, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160113013421/http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/11/us/politics/republicans-vow-to-fight-epa-and-approve-keystone-pipeline.html|archive-date=January 13, 2016|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last1=Levy|first1=Gabrielle|title=Obama Vetoes Keystone XL, Republicans Vow to Continue Fight|url=https://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2015/02/24/obama-vetoes-keystone-xl-republicans-vow-to-continue-fight|access-date=January 25, 2016|work=U.S. News & World Report|date=February 24, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160201202834/http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2015/02/24/obama-vetoes-keystone-xl-republicans-vow-to-continue-fight|archive-date=February 1, 2016|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Keystone XL pipeline: Why is it so disputed?|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-30103078|access-date=January 25, 2016|work=BBC News|date=November 6, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160209145216/http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-30103078|archive-date=February 9, 2016|url-status=live}}</ref>

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.<ref name=msnbc20140512>{{cite news|work=Hardball With Chris Matthews|date=May 12, 2014|publisher=MSNBC|last=Matthews|first=Chris|author-link=Chris Matthews|quote=According to a survey by the Center for American Progress' Action Fund, more than 55 percent of congressional Republicans are climate change deniers. And it gets worse from there. They found that 77 percent of Republicans on the House Science Committee say they don't believe it in either. And that number balloons to an astounding 90 percent for all the party's leadership in Congress.|title=Hardball With Chris Matthews for May 12, 2014|agency=NBC news}}</ref><ref name=charlestongazette20141222>{{cite news|title=Earth Talk: Still in denial about climate change|newspaper=The Charleston Gazette|location=Charleston, West Virginia|date=December 22, 2014|page=10|quote=... a recent survey by the non-profit Center for American Progress found that some 58 percent of Republicans in the U.S. Congress still "refuse to accept climate change. Meanwhile, still others acknowledge the existence of global warming but cling to the scientifically debunked notion that the cause is natural forces, not greenhouse gas pollution by humans.}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{cite news|title=Jerry Brown says 'virtually no Republican' in Washington accepts climate change science|first=Julie|last=Kliegman|date=May 18, 2014|access-date=September 18, 2017|publisher=PolitiFact|work=Tampa Bay Times|url=http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2014/may/18/jerry-brown/jerry-brown-says-virtually-no-republican-believes-/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170813152353/http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2014/may/18/jerry-brown/jerry-brown-says-virtually-no-republican-believes-/|archive-date=August 13, 2017|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Meet the Republicans in Congress who don't believe climate change is real|first=Tom|last=McCarthy|date=November 17, 2014|newspaper=The Guardian|url=https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/nov/17/climate-change-denial-scepticism-republicans-congress|access-date=September 18, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170919234320/https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/nov/17/climate-change-denial-scepticism-republicans-congress|archive-date=September 19, 2017|url-status=live}}</ref>

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''.<ref name=Davenport2017/> 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.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/230316-senate-votes-98-1-that-climate-change-is-real/|title=Senate votes that climate change is real|first=Dustin|last=Weaver|date=January 21, 2015|website=The Hill|access-date=March 26, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190327090248/https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/230316-senate-votes-98-1-that-climate-change-is-real|archive-date=March 27, 2019|url-status=live}}</ref> By 2025, the GOP during the second Trump administration moved to abandon all efforts to regulate greenhouse gases by reversing the endangerment finding, and Trump criticized global warming as a "hoax" and a "con job".<ref>{{Cite news|last1=Friedman|first1=Lisa|last2=Joselow|first2=Maxine|date=February 9, 2026|title=Trump Allies Near 'Total Victory' in Wiping Out U.S. Climate Regulation|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/09/climate/endangerment-finding.html|url-access=subscription|access-date=February 10, 2026}}</ref> The Energy Department also released a report promoting climate change denial and refuting the scientific consensus on climate change after several climate skeptics were given government jobs.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Joselow |first1=Maxine |last2=Plumer |first2=Brad |date=July 31, 2025 |title=Energy Dept. Attacks Climate Science in Contentious Report |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/31/climate/trump-climate-skeptics-science-report.html |work=The New York Times}}</ref>

==== Health care ==== The party opposes a single-payer health care system,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/health-care-under-attack-why-gop-making-single-payer-dirty-n907686|title=Beyond Obamacare: Democrats have plans, GOP is out to destroy them|date=September 11, 2018|website=NBC News}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2012/06/30/the-republican-turn-against-universal-health-insurance/|title=The Republican Turn Against Universal Health Insurance|newspaper=Washington Post |last=Klein |first=Ezra |date=June 30, 2012}}</ref> describing it as socialized medicine. It also opposes the Affordable Care Act<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Oberlander|first=Jonathan|date=March 1, 2020|title=The Ten Years' War: Politics, Partisanship, And The ACA |journal=Health Affairs|volume=39|issue=3|pages=471–478|doi=10.1377/hlthaff.2019.01444|pmid=32119603 }}</ref> and expansions of Medicaid.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Hertel-Fernandez|first1=Alexander|last2=Skocpol|first2=Theda|last3=Lynch|first3=Daniel|date=April 2016|title=Business Associations, Conservative Networks, and the Ongoing Republican War over Medicaid Expansion |journal=Journal of Health Politics, Policy and Law|volume=41|issue=2|pages=239–286|doi=10.1215/03616878-3476141|pmid=26732316 }}</ref> 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.<ref name="Hacker-2010">{{Cite journal|last=Hacker|first=Jacob S.|date=2010|title=The Road to Somewhere: Why Health Reform Happened: Or Why Political Scientists Who Write about Public Policy Shouldn't Assume They Know How to Shape It |journal=Perspectives on Politics|language=en|volume=8|issue=3|pages=861–876|doi=10.1017/S1537592710002021 }}</ref>

Both Republicans and Democrats made various proposals to establish federally funded aged health insurance prior to the bipartisan effort to establish Medicare and Medicaid in 1965.<ref>{{Citation|title=The Politics of Medicare, 1957–1965|date=2015 |work=Ensuring America's Health: The Public Creation of the Corporate Health Care System|pages=194–232|editor-last=Chapin|editor-first=Christy Ford|publisher=Cambridge University Press|doi=10.1017/CBO9781107045347.008|isbn=978-1107044883 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title= Peter DeFazio says "Medicare passed with virtually no Republican support"|url=https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2011/apr/15/peter-defazio/peter-defazio-says-medicare-passed-virtually-no-re/|url-status=live|access-date=November 10, 2021|website=Politifact|language=en-US|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220419164555/https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2011/apr/15/peter-defazio/peter-defazio-says-medicare-passed-virtually-no-re/|archive-date=April 19, 2022|date=April 15, 2011|last1=Jacobson|first1=Louis|last2=Kennedy|first2=Patrick}}</ref><ref name="Zeitz-2017">{{Cite web|last=Zeitz|first=Joshua|title=How the GOP Turned Against Medicaid|url=https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2017/06/27/medicaid-obamacare-repeal-gop-215314/|access-date=November 10, 2021|website=Politico|date=June 27, 2017|language=en|archive-date=February 13, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210213030743/https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2017/06/27/medicaid-obamacare-repeal-gop-215314/|url-status=live}}</ref> No Republican member of Congress voted for the Affordable Care Act in 2009, and after it passed, the party made frequent attempts to repeal it.<ref name="Hacker-2010" /><ref>{{Cite book|last=Cohn|first=Jonathan|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ddLtDwAAQBAJ|title=The Ten Year War: Obamacare and the Unfinished Crusade for Universal Coverage|year=2021|publisher=St. Martin's Publishing Group|isbn=978-1250270948|language=en}}</ref> At the state level, the party has tended to adopt a position against Medicaid expansion.<ref name="Grumbach-2021" /><ref name="Zeitz-2017" />

Republicans typically believe individuals should take responsibility for their own circumstances and that the private sector is more effective in helping the poor through charity than the government is through welfare programs, and argue that social assistance programs cause government dependency.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Konczal|first=Mike|date=March 24, 2014|title=The Conservative Myth of a Social Safety Net Built on Charity|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2014/03/the-conservative-myth-of-a-social-safety-net-built-on-charity/284552/|url-status=live|access-date=December 30, 2021|website=The Atlantic|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220503030317/https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2014/03/the-conservative-myth-of-a-social-safety-net-built-on-charity/284552/|archive-date=May 3, 2022}}</ref> As of November 2022, all 11 states that had not expanded Medicaid had Republican-controlled state legislatures.<ref name=KaiserMedicaid>{{cite web |title=Status of State Medicaid Expansion Decisions: Interactive Map |url=https://www.kff.org/medicaid/issue-brief/status-of-state-medicaid-expansion-decisions-interactive-map |publisher=Kaiser Family Foundation |date=November 9, 2022 |access-date=February 26, 2023 |archive-date=June 24, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220624102415/https://www.kff.org/medicaid/issue-brief/status-of-state-medicaid-expansion-decisions-interactive-map/ |url-status=live}} Scroll down for state by state info.</ref>

By 2020, Republican officials had increasingly adopted anti-vaccine activism and policy.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Tahir |first=Darius |date=September 30, 2024 |title=Trump leads, and his party follows, on vaccine skepticism |work=CNN |url=https://www.cnn.com/2024/09/30/health/trump-vaccine-skepticism-partner-kff-health-news/index.html |access-date=December 19, 2024 |archive-date=December 1, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241201092214/https://www.cnn.com/2024/09/30/health/trump-vaccine-skepticism-partner-kff-health-news/index.html |url-status=live}}</ref>

=== Foreign policy === {{See also|History of foreign policy and national defense in the Republican Party}}

The Republican Party has a persistent history of skepticism or opposition to multilateralism in American foreign policy.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Fordham |first1=Benjamin O. |last2=Flynn |first2=Michael |date=2022 |title=Everything Old Is New Again: The Persistence of Republican Opposition to Multilateralism in American Foreign Policy |journal=Studies in American Political Development |volume=37 |pages=56–73 |doi=10.1017/S0898588X22000165 }}</ref> Its members have frequently advocated for restricting foreign aid to assert the interests of the United States.<ref>{{cite news|first=Erik|last=Wasson|date=July 18, 2013|url=https://thehill.com/policy/finance/156647-house-gop-unveils-spending-bill-with-5-8b-cut-to-foreign-aid/|title=House GOP unveils spending bill with $5.8B cut to foreign aid|newspaper=The Hill|access-date=December 11, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141215001056/http://thehill.com/policy/finance/311939-house-gop-unveils-huge-cuts-to-state-foreign-aid|archive-date=December 15, 2014|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|first=David|last=Rogers|date=February 1, 2011|title=GOP seeks to slash foreign aid|newspaper=Politico|url=https://www.politico.com/story/2011/02/gop-seeks-to-slash-foreign-aid-048551|access-date=December 11, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150222120346/http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0111/48551.html|archive-date=February 22, 2015|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|first=Mario|last=Trujillo|date=July 1, 2014|title=Republicans propose halting foreign aid until border surge stops|newspaper=The Hill|url=https://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/211058-gop-rep-cut-off-central-american-aid-until-border-is-fixed/|access-date=December 11, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141215001041/http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/211058-gop-rep-cut-off-central-american-aid-until-border-is-fixed|archive-date=December 15, 2014|url-status=live}}</ref>

==== Israel ==== [[File:President Donald J. Trump Welcomes Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to the White House (cropped b).jpg|thumb|President Trump with close international ally, and the current Prime Minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu]]

During the 1940s, many Republicans, particularly Senator Robert A. Taft, advocated for recognition of Israel,<ref>{{cite news|work=New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1945/03/22/archives/taft-seeks-action-on-jewish-state-senator-stresses-vital-need-for.html|title=TAFT SEEKS ACTION ON JEWISH STATE; Senator Stresses Vital Need for the Immediate Political Recognition of Palestine|quote=The vital need for immediate political recognition of a Jewish national home and a Jewish State in Palestine by the great powers was stressed by Senator Robert A. Taft of Ohio|date=March 22, 1945}}</ref> leading to support for Israel being integrated into the 1948 Republican Party platform.<ref>{{cite news|work=Jewish Telegraphic Agency|url=https://www.jta.org/archive/republicans-adopt-strong-israel-platform-taft-supporters-upset-vandenberg-policy|date=June 23, 1948|title=Republicans Adopt Strong Israel Platform; Taft Supporters Upset Vandenberg Policy}}</ref> Nevertheless, some Republicans at the time opposed the cause of an independent Jewish state due to the influence of conservatives of the Old Right.<ref name="Cavari-2020">{{Cite book |last1=Cavari |first1=Amnon |title=American Public Opinion Toward Israel: From Consensus to Divide |last2=Freedman |first2=Guy |publisher=Taylor & Francis |year=2020 |pages=145}}</ref> The rise of neoconservatism saw the Republican Party become further pro-Israel by the 1990s and 2000s,<ref>{{Cite web |last=Beauchamp |first=Zack |date=November 11, 2015 |title=How Republicans fell in love with Israel |url=https://www.vox.com/2015/11/11/9708018/republicans-israel |access-date=November 9, 2023 |website=Vox |language=en |archive-date=November 9, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231109060429/https://www.vox.com/2015/11/11/9708018/republicans-israel |url-status=live}}</ref> although notable anti-Israel sentiment persisted through paleoconservative figures such as Pat Buchanan.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Ponnuru |first=Ramesh |date=May 15, 2018 |title=The GOP and the Israeli Exception |url=https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/pat-buchanan-republican-infuence-israel-exception/ |access-date=November 9, 2023 |website=National Review |language=en-US |archive-date=November 9, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231109085835/https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/pat-buchanan-republican-infuence-israel-exception/ |url-status=live}}</ref> As president, Donald Trump generally supported Israel during most of his term, but became increasingly critical of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu towards the end of it.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Collinson |first=Stephen |date=October 13, 2023 |title=Trump's turn against Israel |url=https://www.cnn.com/cnn/2023/10/13/politics/donald-trump-israel-netanyahu-diplomacy/index.html |access-date=November 9, 2023 |website=CNN}}</ref> According to ''i24NEWS'', the 2020s have seen declining support for Israel among nationalist Republicans, led by individuals such as Tucker Carlson.<ref name="Cavari-2020" /><ref>{{Cite web |last=Naftali |first=India |date=February 6, 2024 |title=Hey Israel, don't be so sure about your support among Republicans |url=https://www.i24news.tv/en/news/international/americas/1706700133-hey-israel-don-t-be-so-sure-about-your-support-among-republicans |access-date=February 9, 2024 |website=I24news |language=en}}</ref> Nevertheless, the 2024 Republican Party platform reaffirmed the party would "stand with Israel" and called for the deportation of "pro-Hamas radicals", while expressing a desire for peace in the Middle East.<ref>{{cite news |work=Times of Israel |title=GOP platform pledges to stand with Israel, deport 'pro-Hamas radicals' from US |date=July 9, 2024 |url=https://www.timesofisrael.com/gop-platform-pledges-to-stand-with-israel-deport-pro-hamas-radicals-from-us/}}</ref> Although the Republican Party has often positioned itself as an opponent of antisemitism and denounced Democrats as insufficiently supportive of Israel,<ref>{{cite news |last1=Barbara |first1=Sprunt |title=GOP lawmakers plan to keep focus on antisemitism to divide Democrats |url=https://www.npr.org/2024/05/24/g-s1-930/republican-campus-antisemitism |access-date=February 24, 2025 |work=NPR |date=May 29, 2024}}</ref> many members of the Christian right support Israel primarily due to theological beliefs about the centrality of Israel to the Second Coming of Jesus Christ and the conversion or damnation of Jews and other non-Christians.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Alnaqib |first1=Saafya |title=American Evangelicals' Unique Support for Israel |url=https://globalaffairs.org/commentary-and-analysis/blogs/american-evangelicals-unique-support-israel |website=Chicago Council on Global Affairs |date=September 30, 2024 |access-date=February 24, 2025}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Posner |first1=Sarah |title=The dispiriting truth about why many evangelical Christians support Israel |url=https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnbc-opinion/truth-many-evangelical-christians-support-israel-rcna121481 |work=CNN |date=October 22, 2023 |access-date=February 24, 2025}}</ref>

==== Taiwan ==== In the party's 2016 platform,<ref name="amazonaws1">{{cite web|url=https://prod-static-ngop-pbl.s3.amazonaws.com/media/documents/DRAFT_12_FINAL[1]-ben_1468872234.pdf|title=Republican Platform 2016|access-date=July 20, 2016|archive-date=July 19, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160719212623/https://prod-static-ngop-pbl.s3.amazonaws.com/media/documents/DRAFT_12_FINAL%5B1%5D-ben_1468872234.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref> its stance on 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".

Mention of Taiwan was omitted from the party's 2024 platform.<ref>{{cite news|work=TNL|title=Republican Party Platform Omits Taiwan Mention|date=July 10, 2024|url=https://international.thenewslens.com/article/187073}}</ref>

====War on terror==== {{Main|War on terror}}

Since the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, neoconservatives in the party have supported 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.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.weeklystandard.com/cruz-america-does-not-need-torture-to-protect-ourselves/article/2000049|title=Cruz: 'America Does Not Need Torture to Protect Ourselves'|date=December 3, 2015|access-date=December 27, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160101195440/http://www.weeklystandard.com/cruz-america-does-not-need-torture-to-protect-ourselves/article/2000049|archive-date=January 1, 2016|url-status=dead}}</ref> In the 2020s, Trumpist Republicans such as Matt Gaetz supported reducing American military presence abroad and ending intervention in countries such as Somalia.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Nick |first1=Turse |title=REP. MATT GAETZ, PROGRESSIVES JOINTLY CALL FOR U.S. MILITARY TO LEAVE SOMALIA |date=April 27, 2023 |url=https://theintercept.com/2023/04/27/reactionaries-and-progressives-jointly-call-for-u-s-military-to-leave-somalia/ |publisher=The Intercept |access-date=April 27, 2023}}</ref>

====Europe, Russia and Ukraine==== {{see also|United States and the Russian invasion of Ukraine}} The 2016 Republican platform eliminated references to giving weapons to Ukraine in its fight with Russia and rebel forces; the removal of this language reportedly resulted from intervention from staffers to presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump.<ref>{{cite news |first=Tracy |last=Wilkinson |title=In a shift, Republican platform doesn't call for arming Ukraine against Russia, spurring outrage |url=https://www.latimes.com/world/la-na-pol-ukraine-gop-20160720-snap-story.html |work=Los Angeles Times |date=July 21, 2016 |access-date=July 25, 2016 }}</ref> However, the Trump administration approved a new sale of anti-tank weapons to Ukraine in 2017.<ref>{{cite web |title=Trump admin approves new sale of anti-tank weapons to Ukraine |url=https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/trump-admin-approves-sale-anti-tank-weapons-ukraine/story?id=65989898#:~:text=The%20Trump%20administration%20first%20approved,Javelins%20to%20Ukraine%20in%202017.&text=Catch%20up%20on%20the%20developing,source%20familiar%20with%20the%20plan. |publisher=ABC News |access-date=October 1, 2019 |quote=The Trump administration first approved the sale of Javelins to Ukraine in December 2017 – a step that former President Barack Obama never took and that Trump allies have pointed to as a sign of Trump's toughness on Russia.}}</ref> Republicans generally question European NATO members' alleged insufficient investment in defense funding, and some are dissatisfied with American aid to Ukraine.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Erik |first1=Piccoli |title=Republicans are no friends of Europe |url=https://www.ispionline.it/en/publication/republicans-are-no-friends-of-europe-162327 |publisher=ISPI |access-date=January 31, 2024}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Trump's threat to NATO allies draws little condemnation from GOP, reflecting his grip on the party |date=February 12, 2024 |url=https://apnews.com/article/trump-nato-presidential-election-congress-republicans-20e902788e8701999ce0424f73d478cc |publisher=AP |access-date=February 12, 2024}}</ref> Some Republican members of the U.S. Congress support foreign aid to Israel but not to Ukraine,<ref name="Falk 2023 t804"/><ref name="Riccardi"/> and have been described by U.S. media as pro-Russian.{{refn|name="Lillis, Ball, & Jonathan"}}<ref name="Lange">{{Cite news |last=Lange |first=Jason |date=January 17, 2024 |title=Trump's rise sparks isolationist worries abroad, but voters unfazed |url=https://www.reuters.com/world/us/trumps-rise-sparks-isolationist-worries-among-us-allies-americans-focus-home-2024-01-17/ |access-date=January 17, 2024 |website=Reuters}}</ref><ref name="New York Times">{{cite news |title=Fears of a NATO Withdrawal Rise as Trump Seeks a Return to Power|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/09/us/politics/trump-2025-nato.html |work=New York Times |date=December 9, 2023|access-date=December 10, 2023|last1=Swan|first1=Jonathan|last2=Savage|first2=Charlie|last3=Haberman|first3=Maggie}}</ref><ref name="Baker">{{cite news |last=Baker|first=Peter|title=Favoring Foes Over Friends, Trump Threatens to Upend International Order|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/11/us/politics/trump-nato.html|work=The New York Times |date=February 11, 2024|access-date=February 21, 2024|issn=1553-8095|language=en|url-access=subscription}}</ref><ref name="Cohn2023"/>

Amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine, several prominent Republicans criticized some colleagues and conservative media outlets for echoing Russian propaganda. Liz Cheney, formerly the third-ranking House Republican, said "a Putin wing of the Republican Party" had emerged. Former vice president Mike Pence said, "There is no room in the Republican Party for apologists for Putin." House Foreign Affairs Committee chairman Michael McCaul asserted that Russian propaganda had "infected a good chunk of my party's base." House Intelligence Committee chairman Mike Turner confirmed McCaul's assessment, asserting that some propaganda coming directly from Russia could be heard on the House floor. Republican senator Thom Tillis characterized the influential conservative commentator Tucker Carlson, who frequently expresses pro-Russia sentiments, as Russia's "useful idiot".<ref>{{cite news |last1=Lotz |first1=Avery |title=House Intelligence Committee chair says Russian propaganda has spread through parts of GOP |url=https://edition.cnn.com/2024/04/07/politics/mike-turner-russia-ukraine-propaganda-gop-cnntv/index.html |publisher=CNN |date=April 7, 2024 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240411080400/https://edition.cnn.com/2024/04/07/politics/mike-turner-russia-ukraine-propaganda-gop-cnntv/index.html |archive-date= April 11, 2024 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Blake |first1=Aaron |title=Republicans begin to target Putin 'apologists' in their midst |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/02/16/republicans-begin-target-putin-apologists-their-midst/ |newspaper=The Washington Post |date=February 16, 2024}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Miranda |first1=Shauneen |title=Turner: Russian propaganda "being uttered on the House floor" |url=https://www.axios.com/2024/04/07/russian-propaganda-republican-party-mike-turner |work=Axios |date=April 7, 2024}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Blake |first1=Aaron |title=Top GOPers' extraordinary comments on their party and Russian propaganda |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/04/06/when-top-republican-says-russian-propaganda-has-infected-gop/ |newspaper=The Washington Post |date=April 8, 2024}}</ref>

In April 2024, a majority of Republican members of the U.S. House of Representatives voted against a military aid package to Ukraine.<ref>{{cite news|work=The Guardian|title=US House approves $61bn in military aid for Ukraine after months of stalling|quote=210 Democrats and 101 Republicans joined to support Ukraine, with 112 Republicans – a majority of the GOP members – voting against|date=April 20, 2024|url=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/apr/20/us-house-approves-61bn-aid-ukraine}}</ref> Both Trump and Senator JD Vance, the 2024 Republican presidential nominee and vice presidential nominee respectively, have been vocal critics of military aid to Ukraine and advocates of a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine.<ref>{{Cite web |first=Andrew |last=Stanton |date=July 15, 2024 |title=JD Vance eyes shift in Republican Party |url=https://www.newsweek.com/jd-vance-eyes-shift-republican-party-1925499 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240716020901/https://www.newsweek.com/jd-vance-eyes-shift-republican-party-1925499 |archive-date=July 16, 2024 |access-date=July 16, 2024 |website=Newsweek}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|work=Politico|url=https://www.politico.eu/article/donald-trump-ukraine-russia-war-threatens-cut-aid-election-2024/|date=June 16, 2024|title=Trump threatens to cut US aid to Ukraine quickly if reelected}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|work=The Guardian|title=Trump's choice of Vance 'terrible news' for Ukraine, Europe experts warn|date=July 17, 2024|url=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/article/2024/jul/17/trump-jd-vance-vp-ukraine}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|work=Reuters|title=Exclusive: Trump handed plan to halt US military aid to Kyiv unless it talks peace with Moscow|date=June 25, 2024|url=https://www.reuters.com/world/us/trump-reviews-plan-halt-us-military-aid-ukraine-unless-it-negotiates-peace-with-2024-06-25/}}</ref> The 2024 Republican Party platform did not mention Russia or Ukraine, but stated the party's objectives to "prevent World War III" and "restore peace to Europe".<ref>{{cite news|work=Kyiv Independent|title=Republican Party committee approves 2024 platform, makes no mention of Ukraine, Russia|date=July 9, 2024|url=https://kyivindependent.com/republican-party-approves-2024-platform-makes-no-mention-of-ukraine-russia/}}</ref>

In February 2025, during the Trump–Zelenskyy meeting, Trump and Vance hostilely berated Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Smith |first=David |date=February 28, 2025 |title=Diplomacy dies on live TV as Trump and Vance gang up to bully Ukraine leader |url=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/feb/28/trump-zelenskyy-shouting-match-oval-office |access-date=February 28, 2025 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}}</ref>

=== Social issues === 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.<ref name="Zelizer 2004 704–5">{{cite book|last=Zelizer|first=Julian E.|title=The American Congress: The Building of Democracy|url=https://archive.org/details/americancongress00juli|url-access=registration|year=2004|publisher=Houghton Mifflin Harcourt|pages=[https://archive.org/details/americancongress00juli/page/704 704]–705|isbn=978-0547345505|access-date=June 17, 2015}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Williams|first=Daniel K.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lqf3KBaqgI8C|title=God's Own Party: The Making of the Christian Right|date=2012|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0199929061|language=en|access-date=November 13, 2021|archive-date=December 15, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231215024742/https://books.google.com/books?id=lqf3KBaqgI8C|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Schnabel|first=Landon Paul|date=2013|title=When Fringe Goes Mainstream: A Sociohistorical Content Analysis of the Christian Coalition's Contract With The American Family and the Republican Party Platform |journal=Politics, Religion & Ideology|volume=14|issue=1|pages=94–113|doi=10.1080/21567689.2012.752361 }}</ref><ref name=":8">{{Cite encyclopedia|last=Lewis|first=Andrew R.|date=2019|title=The Inclusion-Moderation Thesis: The U.S. Republican Party and the Christian Right |encyclopedia=Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Politics|language=en|doi=10.1093/acrefore/9780190228637.013.665 |isbn=978-0190228637 }}</ref> Most conservative Republicans also oppose gun control, affirmative action, and illegal immigration.<ref name="Zelizer 2004 704–5" /><ref>{{cite book|last=Chapman|first=Roger|title=Culture Wars: An Encyclopedia of Issues, Viewpoints, and Voices|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vRY27FkGJAUC|year=2010|publisher=M.E. Sharpe|page=passim|isbn=978-0765622501|access-date=June 17, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150407060657/http://books.google.com/books?id=vRY27FkGJAUC|archive-date=April 7, 2015|url-status=live}}</ref>

==== Abortion and embryonic stem cell research ==== The Republican position on abortion has changed significantly over time.<ref name="Williams-2022" /><ref name="Williams-2015">{{Cite journal |last=Williams |first=Daniel K. |date=June 2015 |title=The Partisan Trajectory of the American Pro-Life Movement: How a Liberal Catholic Campaign Became a Conservative Evangelical Cause |journal=Religions |language=en |volume=6 |issue=2 |pages=451–475 |doi=10.3390/rel6020451 |issn=2077-1444|doi-access=free }}</ref> 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.<ref name="Williams-2015" />

During this period, Republicans generally favored legalized abortion more than Democrats,<ref name="Halpern-2018">{{Cite news |last=Halpern |first=Sue |date=November 8, 2018 |title=How Republicans Became Anti-Choice |language=en |work=The New York Review of Books |url=https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2018/11/08/how-republicans-became-anti-choice/ |access-date=February 4, 2023 |issn=0028-7504 |archive-date=February 4, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230204085532/https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2018/11/08/how-republicans-became-anti-choice/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Williams |first=Daniel K. |date=2011 |title=The GOP's Abortion Strategy: Why Pro-Choice Republicans Became Pro-Life in the 1970s |journal=Journal of Policy History |language=en |volume=23 |issue=4 |pages=513–539 |doi=10.1017/S0898030611000285 }}</ref> although significant heterogeneity could be found within both parties.<ref name="Taylor-2018">{{Cite web |last=Taylor |first=Justin |date=May 9, 2018 |title=How the Christian Right Became Prolife on Abortion and Transformed the Culture Wars |url=https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/evangelical-history/christian-right-discovered-abortion-rights-transformed-culture-wars/ |access-date=February 4, 2023 |website=The Gospel Coalition |language=en-US |archive-date=February 4, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230204085533/https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/evangelical-history/christian-right-discovered-abortion-rights-transformed-culture-wars/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Leading Republican political figures, including Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan, and George H. W. Bush, took pro-choice positions until the early 1980s.<ref name="Halpern-2018" /> 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<ref>{{Cite web |last=Bruni |first=Frank |date=January 23, 2000 |title=Bush Says He Supports the Party's Strong Anti-Abortion Stand |url=https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/library/politics/camp/012300wh-gop-bush-platform.html |access-date=February 4, 2023 |website=The New York Times |archive-date=February 4, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230204085527/https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/library/politics/camp/012300wh-gop-bush-platform.html |url-status=live }}</ref> 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.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Smith |first=David |date=May 5, 2022 |title=Trump the hero for anti-abortion movement after bending supreme court his way |language=en-GB |work=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/may/05/trump-abortion-supreme-court |access-date=February 4, 2023 |issn=0261-3077 |archive-date=February 4, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230204085526/https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/may/05/trump-abortion-supreme-court |url-status=live }}</ref>

Summarizing the rapid shift in the Republican and Democratic positions on abortion, Sue Halpern writes:<ref name="Williams-2022" />

<blockquote>...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... </blockquote>

Since the 1980s, opposition to abortion has become strongest in the party among traditionalist Catholics and conservative Protestant evangelicals.<ref name="Williams-2022" /><ref name="Taylor-2018" /><ref name="Abdelfatah-2022">{{Cite web |last=Abdelfatah |first=Rund |date=June 22, 2022 |title=Evangelicals didn't always play such a big role in the fight to limit abortion access |url=https://www.npr.org/2022/06/22/1106863232/evangelicals-didnt-always-play-such-a-big-role-in-the-fight-to-limit-abortion-ac |access-date=February 24, 2023 |website=National Public Radio |archive-date=February 24, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230224184105/https://www.npr.org/2022/06/22/1106863232/evangelicals-didnt-always-play-such-a-big-role-in-the-fight-to-limit-abortion-ac |url-status=live }}</ref> Initially, evangelicals were relatively indifferent to the cause of abortion and overwhelmingly viewed it as a concern that was sectarian and Catholic.<ref name="Abdelfatah-2022" /> Historian Randall Balmer notes that Billy Graham's ''Christianity Today'' published in 1968 a statement by theologian Bruce Waltke that:<ref>{{Cite news |last=Waltke |first=Bruce K. |author-link=Bruce Waltke |date=November 8, 1968 |title=The Old Testament and Birth Control |url=https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/1968/november-8/old-testament-and-birth-control.html |access-date=February 24, 2023 |website=Christianity Today |language=en |archive-date=February 24, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230224190800/https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/1968/november-8/old-testament-and-birth-control.html |url-status=live }}</ref> "God does not regard the fetus as a soul, no matter how far gestation has progressed." Typical of the time, ''Christianity Today'' "refused to characterize abortion as sinful" and cited "individual health, family welfare, and social responsibility" as "justifications for ending a pregnancy."<ref name="Balmer-2022">{{Cite web |last=Balmer |first=Randall |author-link=Randall Balmer |date=May 10, 2022 |title=The Religious Right and the Abortion Myth |url=https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2022/05/10/abortion-history-right-white-evangelical-1970s-00031480 |access-date=February 24, 2023 |website=Politico |language=en |archive-date=February 24, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230224190749/https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2022/05/10/abortion-history-right-white-evangelical-1970s-00031480 |url-status=live }}</ref> 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 Christianity being inherently tied to opposition to abortion is a relatively new occurrence.<ref name="Balmer-2022" /><ref>{{Cite web |last=Allen |first=Bob |date=November 6, 2012 |title=Evangelicals and abortion: chicken or egg? |url=https://baptistnews.com/article/evangelicals-and-abortion-chicken-or-egg/ |access-date=February 24, 2023 |website=Baptist News Global |language=en-US |archive-date=February 24, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230224191638/https://baptistnews.com/article/evangelicals-and-abortion-chicken-or-egg/ |url-status=live }}</ref> After the late 1970s, he writes, opinion against abortion among evangelicals rapidly shifted in favor of its prohibition.<ref name="Abdelfatah-2022" />

Today, opinion polls show that Republican voters are heavily divided on the legality of abortion,<ref name="Doherty-2023">{{Cite web |last=Doherty |first=Carroll |title=How Republicans view their party and key issues facing the country as the 118th Congress begins |url=https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2023/01/19/how-republicans-view-their-party-and-key-issues-facing-the-country-as-the-118th-congress-begins/ |access-date=January 21, 2023 |website=Pew Research Center |date=January 19, 2023 |language=en-US |quote=There are fissures in the GOP coalition. The same typology study found fissures in the GOP coalition, including over economic fairness, tax policy, and in views of abortion and same-sex marriage. |archive-date=January 21, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230121121637/https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2023/01/19/how-republicans-view-their-party-and-key-issues-facing-the-country-as-the-118th-congress-begins/ |url-status=live }}</ref> although the 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.<ref name="platform">{{cite web|first1=Alan|last1=Fram|first2=Philip|last2=Elliot|url=https://finance.yahoo.com/news/gop-oks-platform-barring-abortions-gay-marriage-204947742.html|title=GOP OKs platform barring abortions, gay marriage|website=Finance.yahoo.com|date=August 29, 2012|access-date=December 27, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170226133220/https://finance.yahoo.com/news/gop-oks-platform-barring-abortions-gay-marriage-204947742.html|archive-date=February 26, 2017|url-status=live}}</ref> There were not highly polarized differences between the Democratic Party and the Republican Party before 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.<ref name="The Great Divide: Religious and Cultural Conflict in American Party Politics2">{{Cite book|url=https://cup.columbia.edu/book/the-great-divide/9780231120593|title=The Great Divide: Religious and Cultural Conflict in American Party Politics|last=Layman|first=Geoffrey|author1-link=Geoffrey Layman|date=2001|publisher=Columbia University Press|isbn=978-0231120586|pages=115, 119–120|access-date=July 15, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150625083214/http://cup.columbia.edu/book/the-great-divide/9780231120593|archive-date=June 25, 2015|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name="How race and religion have polarized American voters">{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/monkey-cage/wp/2014/01/20/how-race-and-religion-have-polarized-american-voters/|title=How race and religion have polarized American voters|newspaper=The Washington Post|access-date=July 15, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180716002726/https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/monkey-cage/wp/2014/01/20/how-race-and-religion-have-polarized-american-voters/|archive-date=July 16, 2018|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|title=Party hacks and true believers: The effect of party affiliation on political preferences|date=2019|journal=Journal of Comparative Economics|volume=47|issue=3|pages=504–524|doi=10.1016/j.jce.2019.03.004|last1=Gould|first1=Eric D.|last2=Klor|first2=Esteban F.|s2cid=241140587}}</ref> As a result, Evangelicals gravitated towards the Republican Party.<ref name="The Great Divide: Religious and Cultural Conflict in American Party Politics2" /><ref name="How race and religion have polarized American voters" /> Most Republicans oppose government funding for abortion providers, notably Planned Parenthood.<ref name="ontheissues">{{cite web|title=Bobby Jindal on the Issues|publisher=Ontheissues.org|url=http://www.ontheissues.org/House/Bobby_Jindal.htm|access-date=May 16, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120613001947/http://ontheissues.org/House/Bobby_Jindal.htm|archive-date=June 13, 2012|url-status=dead}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2018/06/pro-choice-republicans-in-congress-are-nearly-extinct.html|title=The Near-Extinction of Pro-Choice Republicans in Congress|last=Kilgore|first=Ed|work=New York Intelligencer|access-date=October 10, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180920132858/http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2018/06/pro-choice-republicans-in-congress-are-nearly-extinct.html|archive-date=September 20, 2018|url-status=live}}</ref>

The Republican Party has pursued policies at the national and state levels to restrict embryonic stem cell research beyond the original lines because it involves the destruction of human embryos.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Levine|first1=A. D.|last2=Lacy|first2=T. A.|last3=Hearn|first3=J. C.|date=February 18, 2013|title=The origins of human embryonic stem cell research policies in the US states |journal=Science and Public Policy|volume=40|issue=4|pages=544–558|doi=10.1093/scipol/sct005 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Blendon|first1=Robert J.|last2=Kim|first2=Minah Kang|last3=Benson|first3=John M.|date=November 17, 2011|title=The Public, Political Parties, and Stem-Cell Research |journal=New England Journal of Medicine|volume=365|issue=20|pages=1853–1856|doi=10.1056/NEJMp1110340 |pmid=22087677 }}</ref>

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.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Leonhardt |first=David |date=April 6, 2023 |title=The Power and Limits of Abortion Politics |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/06/world/wisconsin-chicago-elections-abortion.html |access-date=April 7, 2023 |issn=0362-4331 |quote=After the Supreme Court overturned Roe last June and allowed states to ban abortion, more than a dozen quickly imposed tight restrictions. Today, abortion is largely illegal in most of red America, even though polls suggest many voters in these states support at least some access. |archive-date=April 6, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230406104207/https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/06/world/wisconsin-chicago-elections-abortion.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Politico Abortion">{{Cite web |last=Siders |first=David |date=April 6, 2023 |title=No Wisconsin wake-up call: Republicans go full steam ahead on abortion restrictions |url=https://www.politico.com/news/2023/04/06/wisconsin-gop-abortion-restrictions-00090888 |access-date=April 7, 2023 |website=Politico |language=en |archive-date=April 6, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230406203158/https://www.politico.com/news/2023/04/06/wisconsin-gop-abortion-restrictions-00090888 |url-status=live }}</ref>

==== Affirmative action ==== {{See also|Affirmative action in the United States}} Republicans generally oppose affirmative action, often describing it as a "quota system" and believing that it is not meritocratic and is counter-productive socially, with critics arguing that it promotes ''reverse discrimination''. According to a 2023 ABC poll, a majority of Americans (52%) and 75% of Republicans supported the Supreme Court's decision in Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard prohibiting race as a factor in college admissions, compared to only 26% of Democrats.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/americans-approve-supreme-court-decision-restricting-race-college/story?id=100580375|title=Most Americans approve of Supreme Court decision restricting use of race in college admissions|access-date=March 15, 2024|website=ABC News}}</ref>

The 2012 Republican national 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."<ref>See [https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/2012-republican-party-platform Republican 2012 Platform]</ref><ref name=affirmativeaction>{{cite news|url=http://www.cnn.com/2003/ALLPOLITICS/01/15/bush.affirmativeaction/|work=CNN|title=Bush criticizes university 'quota system'|date=January 15, 2003|access-date=May 22, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100604190524/http://www.cnn.com/2003/ALLPOLITICS/01/15/bush.affirmativeaction/|archive-date=June 4, 2010|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name= Eilperin>{{cite news|last=Eilperin|first=Juliet|title=Watts Walks a Tightrope on Affirmative Action|newspaper=The Washington Post|date=May 12, 1998|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/special/affirm/stories/aa051298.htm|access-date=January 22, 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100524122643/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/special/affirm/stories/aa051298.htm|archive-date=May 24, 2010|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|author=Republican National Committee|author-link=Republican National Committee|date=July 30, 2015|title=Republican Views On Affirmative Action|url=https://www.republicanviews.org/republican-views-on-affirmative-action/|url-status=live|newspaper=|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220419164555/https://www.republicanviews.org/republican-views-on-affirmative-action/|archive-date=April 19, 2022}}</ref>

==== Gun policy ==== Both major parties in the United States support policies on gun ownership, in comparsion to a large majority of the world, which give broad legality to the possession of private firearms.<ref>{{Cite web |last= |first= |last2= |date=2022 |title=The differences between Canada and the U.S. remain significant |url=https://policyoptions.irpp.org/2022/12/the-differences-between-canada-and-the-u-s-remain-significant/ |access-date=2026-05-12 |website=Policy Options |language=en-US}}</ref> The modern Republican Party is now often seen as more favorable to laissez-faire gun laws.<ref name=":0" /> The National Rifle Association of America, a special interest group in support of gun ownership, has consistently aligned itself with the Republican Party.<ref>{{cite web |first1=Daniel |last1=Nass |title=A Democrat with an 'A' Grade from the NRA? There's One Left. |url=https://www.thetrace.org/2020/09/nra-grades-2020-election/ |website=The Trace |access-date=September 11, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200909235156/https://www.thetrace.org/2020/09/nra-grades-2020-election/ |archive-date=September 9, 2020 |language=en-US |date=September 9, 2020 |url-status=live}}</ref> Following gun control measures under the Clinton administration, such as the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994, the Republicans allied with the NRA during the Republican Revolution in 1994.<ref>Siegel, Reva B. "Dead or Alive: Originalism as Popular Constitutionalism in Heller." ''The Second Amendment on Trial: Critical Essays on District of Columbia v. Heller'', edited by Saul Cornell and Nathan Kozuskanich, University of Massachusetts Press, 2013, p. 104.</ref> Since then, the NRA has consistently backed Republican candidates and contributed financial support.<ref name=":0">{{cite news |first1=Maggie |last1=Astor |title=For First Time in at Least 25 Years, No Democrat Has Top Grade From N.R.A. |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/22/us/politics/nra-ratings-grades-democrats.html |access-date=September 11, 2023 |work=The New York Times |date=September 22, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220922165110/https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/22/us/politics/nra-ratings-grades-democrats.html |archive-date=September 22, 2022 |language=en-US |quote=The Democratic break from the National Rifle Association is complete: For the first time in at least 25 years, not a single Democrat running for Congress anywhere in the country received an A in the group's candidate ratings, which were once a powerful influence in U.S. elections.}}</ref>

Scholars note that Republicans and conservatives have historically supported forms of gun control when leftist groups, including Black Power and feminist movements, embrace "guns as tools for resistance and self‐defense against systemic oppression".<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Carlson |first=Jennifer |date=2025-12-08 |title=Guns in Politics |url=https://doi.org/10.1002/9781394300365.ch23 |journal=Contemporary Social Movements |pages=165–170 |doi=10.1002/9781394300365.ch23|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

====Criminal justice==== {{See also|Illegal drug trade in the United States|Legality of cannabis by U.S. jurisdiction|Capital punishment in the United States|Incarceration in the United States}} The Republican Party has generally promoted strict anti-crime policies, such as mandatory minimum sentences and the death penalty.<ref name="Lancaster-2024">{{cite web |title=Republican Party on Crime |url=https://www.ontheissues.org/celeb/Republican_Party_Crime.html |website=On The Issues |access-date=February 24, 2025}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Lancaster |first=Joe |date=July 17, 2024 |title=Republicans Have Completely Abandoned Criminal Justice Reform |url=https://reason.com/2024/07/17/republicans-have-completely-abandoned-criminal-justice-reform/ |access-date=February 24, 2025 |work=Reason}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Political Party Platforms and the Death Penalty |url=https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/policy-issues/policy/public-opinion-polls/political-party-platforms-and-the-death-penalty |access-date=February 25, 2025 |website=Death Penalty Information Center}}</ref> In the 2010s, however, prominent Republicans demonstrated some interest in criminal justice reform designed to combat mass incarceration, with President Trump signing the First Step Act, which expanded good behavior credits for perpetrators of most nonviolent crimes and required the U.S. Attorney General to develop a system to assess the recidivism risk of all federal prisoners.<ref>{{cite web |title=Overview of the First Step Act |url=https://www.bop.gov/inmates/fsa/overview.jsp |website=Federal Bureau of Prisons |access-date=February 24, 2025}}</ref> By 2024, however, the Republican Party and its leaders had largely left behind its prior support for reform of the justice system.<ref name="Lancaster-2024"/> Republican elected officials have historically supported the war on drugs. They generally oppose legalization or decriminalization of drugs such as marijuana.<ref name="Tesler-2022">{{Cite web |last=Tesler |first=Michael |date=April 20, 2022 |title=Why Do GOP Lawmakers Still Oppose Legalizing Weed? |url=https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/why-do-gop-lawmakers-still-oppose-legalizing-weed/ |access-date=August 13, 2022 |website=FiveThirtyEight |language=en-US |archive-date=August 24, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220824002207/https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/why-do-gop-lawmakers-still-oppose-legalizing-weed/ |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.republicanviews.org/republican-views-on-drugs/|title=Republican Views on Drugs {{!}} Republican Views|website=www.republicanviews.org|access-date=May 1, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170502010122/http://www.republicanviews.org/republican-views-on-drugs/|archive-date=May 2, 2017|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|date=2020|title=House votes to decriminalize marijuana as GOP resists national shift|newspaper=The Washington Post|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/powerpost/house-marijuana-republicans-election/2020/12/04/db2b00a8-35b0-11eb-8d38-6aea1adb3839_story.html|access-date=December 18, 2020|archive-date=December 21, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201221145058/https://www.washingtonpost.com/powerpost/house-marijuana-republicans-election/2020/12/04/db2b00a8-35b0-11eb-8d38-6aea1adb3839_story.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

Opposition to the legalization of marijuana has softened significantly over time among Republican voters and politicians.<ref name=":4">{{Cite book|last=Kneeland|first=Timothy W.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8vlUDAAAQBAJ&q=republican+party+opposition+drug+legalization&pg=PA206|title=Today's Social Issues: Democrats and Republicans: Democrats and Republicans|year=2016|publisher=ABC-CLIO|isbn=978-1610698368|page=206|access-date=December 16, 2020|archive-date=December 15, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231215024943/https://books.google.com/books?id=8vlUDAAAQBAJ&q=republican+party+opposition+drug+legalization&pg=PA206|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|first=Greg|last=Newburn|title=Top GOP Presidential Contenders Support Mandatory Minimum Reform|date=July 18, 2014|url=http://famm.org/top-gop-presidential-contenders-support-mandatory-minimum-reform/|publisher=Families Against Mandatory Minimums|access-date=December 11, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141129020752/http://famm.org/top-gop-presidential-contenders-support-mandatory-minimum-reform/|archive-date=November 29, 2014|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Florko |first1=Nicholas |title=The GOP's Tipping Point on Weed |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2024/09/florida-trump-recreational-marijuana/680077/ |access-date=February 26, 2025 |agency=The Atlantic |date=September 30, 2024}}</ref> 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.<ref name="Tesler-2022" /> Some Republican-controlled states have legalized medical and recreational marijuana in recent years.<ref name="NCSL MMJ">{{cite web|date=June 22, 2023|title=State Medical Cannabis Laws|url=https://www.ncsl.org/research/health/state-medical-marijuana-laws.aspx|access-date=April 26, 2024|publisher=National Conference of State Legislatures|archive-date=February 6, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210206034555/https://www.ncsl.org/research/health/state-medical-marijuana-laws.aspx|url-status=dead}}</ref> In September 2024, then-candidate Donald Trump endorsed the legalization of recreational marijuana.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Sullivan |first1=Kate |title=Trump says he will vote to legalize adult recreational marijuana use in Florida |url=https://www.cnn.com/2024/09/09/politics/trump-marijuana-florida/index.html |access-date=February 26, 2025 |agency=CNN |date=September 9, 2024}}</ref>

==== Immigration ==== {{See also|Remigration|Immigration to the United States|Illegal immigration to the United States}} {{Tweet | name = Homeland Security | username = DHSgov | date = November 28, 2025 | text = The stakes have never been higher, and the goal has never been more clear: Remigration now. | ID = 1994445836915253664 | archive-url = | archive-date = }} The Republican Party has taken widely varying views on immigration throughout its history, but has generally and traditionally taken an anti-immigration and nativist stance compared to the opposition.<ref name="Smith-2021"/> In the period between 1850 and 1870, the Republican Party was more opposed to immigration than the Democrats. The GOP's opposition was, in part, caused by its reliance on the support of anti-Catholic and anti-immigrant parties such as the Know-Nothings. In the decades following the Civil War, especially in the 1880s, the Republican Party lessened its stance on immigration, as it represented the manufacturers in the northeast (who wanted additional labor); although during this period, the Democratic Party still came to be seen as the party of both American and foreign labor, and many religious Republicans used anti-Irish and pro-Christian sentiments. Starting in the early 1930s, the parties focused on Mexican emigration, as the Democrats proposed a softer stance on Mexican immigration during the Great Depression and New Deal, rather than Republicans under Herbert Hoover.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.britannica.com/event/United-States-presidential-election-of-1884|title= United States presidential election of 1884|publisher=Britannica}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.history.com/articles/great-depression-repatriation-drives-mexico-deportation|title=The Deportation Campaigns of the Great Depression|date=July 12, 2019 |publisher=Becky Little}}</ref>

The modern GOP opposes the large majority of immigration from non-Western countries, including the Middle East, Africa, and South America.<ref name=":3" /> In 2016, Donald Trump proposed to build a wall along the southern border of the United States. Trump immigration policies during his administration included 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.<ref name="Baker-2020"/><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Hajnal |first1=Zoltan |date=January 4, 2021 |title=Immigration & the Origins of White Backlash |journal=Daedalus |volume=150 |issue=2 |pages=23–39 |doi=10.1162/daed_a_01844 |issn=0011-5266 |doi-access=free}}</ref> The party largely opposes immigration reform.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.wsj.com/politics/policy/senate-border-vote-immigration-policies-trump-19977804?mod=hp_lead_pos1|title=Why Both Parties Have Shifted Right on Immigration—and Still Can't Agree|website=The Wall Street Journal|first1=Michelle|last1=Hackman|first2=Aaron|last2=Zitner|date=February 2, 2024}}</ref> The party's proposed 2024 platform was opposed to immigration, and called for the mass deportation of all illegal immigrants in the United States,<ref name="2024 Platform">{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/08/us/politics/trump-abortion-gop.html|title=Trump Presses G.O.P. for New Platform That Softens Stance on Abortion|first1=Maggie|last1=Haberman|first2=Shane|last2=Goldmacher|first3=Jonathan|last3=Swan|work=The New York Times|date=July 8, 2024|quote=The platform is even more nationalistic, more protectionist and less socially conservative than the 2016 Republican platform that was duplicated in the 2020 election.|access-date=July 9, 2024|archive-date=July 18, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240718061601/https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/08/us/politics/trump-abortion-gop.html|url-status=live}}</ref> which during Trump's second presidency was extended to uimmigrants without permanent legal status.<ref>{{cite news |last1=McCann |first1=Allison |last2=Sun |first2=Albert |last3=Sullivan |first3=Eileen |date=January 24, 2025 |title=Who Are the Millions of Immigrants Trump Wants to Deport? |url=https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2025/01/17/us/immigrants-trump-deportations.html |access-date=February 26, 2025 |work=The New York Times |agency=New York Times}}</ref>

Since the 2024 presidential election, the party's leading figures have shifted towards supporting remigration.<ref name=":4" /> In September, Donald Trump called for "remigration" of illegal immigrants to their home countries and suspending refugee resettlement, also pledging to "do large deportations in Springfield, Ohio", referring to the town's community of legal Haitian immigrants.<ref>{{cite news|work=News18|title=Donald Trump Vows To 'Immediately End Migrant Invasion Of America' On Taking Office, Remigrate Illegal Aliens|date=16 September 2024|url=https://www.news18.com/world/donald-trump-vows-to-immediately-end-migrant-invasion-of-america-on-taking-office-remigrate-illegal-aliens-9051978.html}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|last=Mathias|first=Christopher|date=September 20, 2024|title=Trump's Alarming Use Of A Word With A Deep Fascist History|url=https://www.huffpost.com/entry/trump-remigration-fascist-martin-sellner-europe_n_66ed912be4b07a173e51416d|access-date=September 20, 2024|website=HuffPost|language=en|archive-date=September 20, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240920223809/https://www.huffpost.com/entry/trump-remigration-fascist-martin-sellner-europe_n_66ed912be4b07a173e51416d|url-status=live}}</ref> The usage mainstreamed the term in the country.<ref name=":4" /> In May 2025 the Department of State released a "reorganisation chart" that included the creation of an "Office of Remigration".<ref>{{Cite web |last=Kabas |first=Marisa |author-link=Marisa Kabas |title=State Department set to launch 'Office of Remigration' |url=https://www.thehandbasket.co/p/state-department-office-of-remigration |access-date=2025-05-29 |website=The Handbasket |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |last1=Gilbert |first1=David |title=The Trump Administration Wants to Create an 'Office of Remigration' to Kick Immigrants Out of the Country |url=https://www.wired.com/story/trump-office-remigration-state-department-europe-far-right/ |access-date=30 May 2025 |magazine=Wired |date=29 May 2025}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=State Department Restructuring Memo. Congressional Note 25-032 |url=https://archive.org/details/state-department-restructuring-memo |website=archive.org |date=2025}}</ref> As President, Trump once again endorsed "remigration" in June 2025 as "reversing the invasion" of illegal immigrants into the United States.<ref>{{cite news|work=Times of India|title='America was invaded': Donald Trump pushes for 'remigration'; slams Biden, Newsom|date=June 18, 2025|url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/us/america-was-invaded-donald-trump-pushes-for-remigration-slams-biden-newsom/articleshow/121818383.cms}}</ref> In July 2025 Trump claimed that the One Big Beautiful Bill Act would allow for remigration to be implemented.<ref>{{Cite news|work=Mediaite|title='It's Called REMIGRATION!' Trump Celebrates 'Largest Mass Deportation' in History for 'July 4th Weekend' ICE Post|date=July 5, 2025|url=https://www.mediaite.com/politics/trump/its-called-remigration-trump-celebrates-largest-mass-deportation-in-history-for-july-4th-weekend-ice-post/}}</ref> White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller has been described as an advocate for remigration within the Trump administration.<ref>{{Cite news|work=The Independent|title=Stephen Miller meeting with ICE officials was the spark for LA protests and National Guard call-up: report|date=June 10, 2025|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/stephen-miller-los-angeles-protests-ice-b2767509.html}}</ref> In October 2025, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security gained attention after tweeting "remigrate" from its official X account.<ref>{{cite news|work=Country Herald|title= Nationwide Outrage: DHS Under Fire for "Remigrate" Tweet as Anti-Authoritarian Protests Grow|date=October 14, 2025|url= https://countryherald.com/news/nationwide-outrage-dhs-under-fire-for-remigrate-tweet-as-anti-authoritarian-protests-grow/}}</ref>

The Trump administration has brought Afrikaner South Africans to the United States and other European-ethnic refugees through its refugee program.<ref name="guard-12may2025">{{cite news |last1=Savage|first1=Rachel|last2=Smith|first2=David|title=First group of white South Africans arrive in US after Trump grants refugee status|url=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/may/12/white-south-africans-trump|access-date=12 May 2025|work=The Guardian|date=12 May 2025}}</ref> In May 2025, Ramaphosa made a state visit to meet with President Donald Trump. During the press conference, Trump confronted him with claims of Afrikaner genocide in South Africa, which was denied by Ramaphosa.<ref>{{cite news |title=Watch moment Trump ambushes Ramaphosa with video|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/videos/cdedd1kn3ewo|access-date=21 May 2025|work=BBC News|date=21 May 2025}}</ref>

==== LGBT issues ==== {{main|2020s anti-LGBT movement in the United States|Transgender genocide}}

The Republican Party is broadly opposed to LGBT rights, including same-sex marriage, expression, and transgender rights.<ref name=":02">{{Citation |last=Wyatt-Nichol |first=Heather |title=Political Attacks on the Lgbtqia+ Community |date=2025-11-21 |work=LGBTQIA+ Communities, Pandemics, and Policy Responses |pages=23–41 |url=https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003566687-4 |access-date=2026-05-09 |place=New York |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-003-56668-7|quote=This chapter explores the sociopolitical contestation of power in the fight for LGBTQIA+ rights by examining the rightward shift in the Republican Party and its use of anti-LGBTQIA+ tropes during pandemics, and as a political wedge strategy that contributes to the polarization of Americans.}}</ref> The large majority of its state and county/equivalent chapter platforms oppose same-sex marriage.<ref name=":02" />

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.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Li |first=Anne |date=March 9, 2016 |title='Religious Liberty' Has Replaced 'Gay Marriage' In GOP Talking Points |url=https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/religious-liberty-has-replaced-gay-marriage-in-gop-talking-points/ |access-date=August 13, 2022 |website=FiveThirtyEight |language=en-US |archive-date=August 14, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220814020215/https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/religious-liberty-has-replaced-gay-marriage-in-gop-talking-points/ |url-status=dead }}</ref> 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.<ref name="Lerer-2020">{{Cite news|last1=Lerer|first1=Lisa|last2=Russonello|first2=Giovanni|last3=Paz|first3=Isabella Grullón|date=June 17, 2020|title=On L.G.B.T.Q. Rights, a Gulf Between Trump and Many Republican Voters|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/17/us/politics/lgbtq-supreme-court-trump-republicans.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200617232814/https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/17/us/politics/lgbtq-supreme-court-trump-republicans.html |archive-date=June 17, 2020 |url-access=limited |url-status=live|access-date=June 8, 2021|issn=0362-4331}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/04/politics/campaign/samesex-marriage-issue-key-to-some-gop-races.html|title=Same-Sex Marriage Issue Key to Some G.O.P. Races|last=Dao|first=James|date=November 4, 2004|work=The New York Times|access-date=August 25, 2019|issn=0362-4331|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190812004009/https://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/04/politics/campaign/samesex-marriage-issue-key-to-some-gop-races.html|archive-date=August 12, 2019|url-status=live}}</ref> In both 2004<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.cnn.com/2004/ALLPOLITICS/02/24/elec04.prez.bush.marriage/|title=Bush calls for ban on same-sex marriages|date=February 25, 2004|work=CNN|access-date=February 3, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090515103309/http://www.cnn.com/2004/ALLPOLITICS/02/24/elec04.prez.bush.marriage/|archive-date=May 15, 2009|url-status=live}}</ref> and 2006,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna11442710|title=Bush urges federal marriage amendment|date=June 6, 2006|publisher=NBC News|access-date=February 3, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160408104009/http://www.nbcnews.com/id/11442710/ns/politics/t/bush-urges-federal-marriage-amendment/|archive-date=April 8, 2016|url-status=live}}</ref> President Bush, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, and House Majority Leader John Boehner promoted the Federal Marriage Amendment, a proposed failed constitutional amendment which would legally restrict the definition of marriage to heterosexual couples.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2004/02/24/politics/bush-backs-ban-in-constitution-on-gay-marriage.html|title=Bush Backs Ban in Constitution on Gay Marriage|last=Stout|first=David|date=February 24, 2004|work=The New York Times|access-date=December 17, 2018|issn=0362-4331|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181217202413/https://www.nytimes.com/2004/02/24/politics/bush-backs-ban-in-constitution-on-gay-marriage.html|archive-date=December 17, 2018|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/06/07/AR2006060700830.html|title=Gay Marriage Amendment Fails in Senate|journal=The Washington Post and Times-Herald|last=Murray|first=Shailagh|date=June 8, 2006|access-date=December 17, 2018|issn=0190-8286|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190308131316/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/06/07/AR2006060700830.html|archive-date=March 8, 2019|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.foxnews.com/story/constitutional-amendment-on-marriage-fails|title=Constitutional Amendment on Marriage Fails|date=March 25, 2015|website=Fox News|access-date=December 17, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181217202230/https://www.foxnews.com/story/constitutional-amendment-on-marriage-fails|archive-date=December 17, 2018|url-status=live}}</ref>

As more states legalized same-sex marriage in the 2010s, Republicans increasingly supported allowing each state to decide its own marriage policy.<ref name="A Shifting Landscape">{{cite web|url=http://publicreligion.org/site/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/2014.LGBT_REPORT.pdf|title=A Shifting Landscape|date=February 26, 2014 |website=Public Religion Research Institute |first1=Robert P. |last1=Jones |first2=Daniel |last2=Cox |first3=Juhem |last3=Navarro-Rivera |access-date=December 27, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160417222101/http://publicreligion.org/site/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/2014.LGBT_REPORT.pdf|archive-date=April 17, 2016|url-status=dead}}</ref> As of 2014, most state GOP platforms expressed opposition to same-sex marriage.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.huffpost.com/entry/gop-platform_n_5242421|title=Anti-Gay Stance Still Enshrined In Majority Of State GOP Platforms |first=Amanda |last=Terkel|date=May 5, 2014|website=HuffPost|access-date=August 24, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190824093553/https://www.huffpost.com/entry/gop-platform_n_5242421|archive-date=August 24, 2019|url-status=live}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{Cite magazine|url=https://time.com/4411842/republican-platform-same-sex-marriage-abortion-guns-wall-street/|title=Read the Republican Platform on Same-Sex Marriage, Guns and Wall Street |date=July 18, 2016 |first=Will |last=Drabold |magazine=Time|access-date=August 24, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190804081049/https://time.com/4411842/republican-platform-same-sex-marriage-abortion-guns-wall-street/|archive-date=August 4, 2019|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://gop.com/the-2016-republican-party-platform|title=The 2016 Republican Party Platform|date=July 18, 2016|website=GOP|access-date=February 1, 2020|archive-date=February 11, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210211220913/https://www.gop.com/the-2016-republican-party-platform/|url-status=dead}}</ref> The 2020 platform, which reused the 2016 platform, retained the statements against same-sex marriage.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Orr|first=Gabby|title=Republicans across the spectrum slam RNC's decision to keep 2016 platform|url=https://www.politico.com/news/2020/06/11/republicans-rnc-decision-314172|access-date=June 12, 2020|website=Politico|date=June 11, 2020|archive-date=August 2, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200802160921/https://www.politico.com/news/2020/06/11/republicans-rnc-decision-314172|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=Kilgore|first=Ed|date=June 11, 2020|title=Republicans Will Just Recycle Their 2016 Party Platform|url=https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2020/06/republicans-will-just-recycle-their-2016-party-platform.html|access-date=June 12, 2020|website=New York Intelligencer|archive-date=July 30, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200730000020/https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2020/06/republicans-will-just-recycle-their-2016-party-platform.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|last1=Epstein|first1=Reid J.|last2=Karni|first2=Annie|date=June 11, 2020|title=G.O.P. Platform, Rolled Over From 2016, Condemns the 'Current President'|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/11/us/politics/republican-platform.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200611181235/https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/11/us/politics/republican-platform.html |archive-date=June 11, 2020 |url-access=limited |url-status=live|access-date=June 12, 2020|issn=0362-4331}}</ref> 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.<ref name="Lerer-2020" /><ref>{{cite web|last=de Vogue|first=Ariane|title=Trump: Same-sex marriage is 'settled,' but Roe v Wade can be changed|url=https://www.cnn.com/2016/11/14/politics/trump-gay-marriage-abortion-supreme-court/index.html|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190511223804/https://www.cnn.com/2016/11/14/politics/trump-gay-marriage-abortion-supreme-court/index.html|archive-date=May 11, 2019|access-date=May 11, 2019|website=CNN|date=November 14, 2016}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/06/us/politics/trump-transgender-rights.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191206103013/https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/06/us/politics/trump-transgender-rights.html |archive-date=December 6, 2019 |url-access=limited |url-status=live|title=Trump's Rollback of Transgender Rights Extends Through Entire Government|website=The New York Times|date=December 6, 2019|access-date=June 9, 2020|last1=Fadulu|first1=Lola|last2=Flanagan|first2=Annie}}</ref>

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.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1992/08/20/news/delicate-balance-gay-vote-gay-rights-aids-emerging-divisive-issues-campaign.html|title=A Delicate Balance: The Gay Vote; Gay Rights and AIDS Emerging As Divisive Issues in Campaign|last=Schmalz|first=Jeffrey|date=August 20, 1992|work=The New York Times|access-date=August 24, 2019|issn=0362-4331|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190824093556/https://www.nytimes.com/1992/08/20/news/delicate-balance-gay-vote-gay-rights-aids-emerging-divisive-issues-campaign.html|archive-date=August 24, 2019|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/gop-platform-through-the-years-shows-partys-shift-from-moderate-to-conservative/2012/08/28/09094512-ed70-11e1-b09d-07d971dee30a_story.html|title=GOP platform through the years shows party's shift from moderate to conservative|last=Fisher|first=Marc|date=August 28, 2012|newspaper=The Washington Post|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190824093557/https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/gop-platform-through-the-years-shows-partys-shift-from-moderate-to-conservative/2012/08/28/09094512-ed70-11e1-b09d-07d971dee30a_story.html|archive-date=August 24, 2019|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/politics/2016-election/conventions/party-platform-evolution/|title=What Republicans and Democrats have disagreed on, from 1856 to today|last1=Mellnik|first1=Ted|last2=Alcantara|first2=Chris|date=July 15, 2016|newspaper=The Washington Post|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171114164556/https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/politics/2016-election/conventions/party-platform-evolution/|archive-date=November 14, 2017|url-status=live|last3=Uhrmacher|first3=Kevin}}</ref> The Republican Party opposed the inclusion of sexual preference in anti-discrimination statutes from 1992 to 2004.<ref name="1992 Republican Party platform">{{cite web|url=http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=25847|title=Republican Party Platforms: Republican Party Platform of 1992|website=Presidency.ucsb.edu|date=August 17, 1992|access-date=December 27, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170204134646/http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=25847|archive-date=February 4, 2017|url-status=live}}</ref> 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.<ref name="2012 Republican Party platform">{{cite web|url=http://www.gop.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/2012GOPPlatform.pdf|title=Layout 1|website=Gop.com|access-date=December 27, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140730001737/http://www.gop.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/2012GOPPlatform.pdf|archive-date=July 30, 2014|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="2008 Republican Party platform">{{cite web|url=http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=78545|title=Republican Party Platforms: 2008 Republican Party Platform|website=Presidency.ucsb.edu|access-date=December 27, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170128014700/http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=78545|archive-date=January 28, 2017|url-status=live}}</ref> The 2016 platform was opposed to sex discrimination statutes that included the phrase "sexual orientation".<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://gop.com/|title=Republican Party Platform|website=GOP|access-date=December 29, 2019|archive-date=November 23, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191123022603/https://gop.com/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://prod-cdn-static.gop.com/static/home/data/platform.pdf|title=Republican Platform 2016|date=2016|website=GOP.com|access-date=December 29, 2019|archive-date=May 3, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170503220642/https://prod-cdn-static.gop.com/static/home/data/platform.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref> The same 2016 platform rejected ''Obergefell v. Hodges'', and was also used for the party's 2020 platform.<ref name="Zezima Weigel 2016 d265">{{cite news | last1=Zezima | first1=Katie | last2=Weigel | first2=David | title=While Trump stays out of it, GOP platform tacks to the right on gay rights | newspaper=Washington Post | date=July 13, 2016 | url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/while-trump-stays-out-of-it-gop-platform-tacks-to-the-right-on-gay-rights/2016/07/13/969165ca-490d-11e6-acbc-4d4870a079da_story.html | access-date=January 23, 2024}}</ref> In the early 2020s, numerous Republican-led states proposed or passed laws that have been described as anti-trans by critics,<ref name="n141"/>{{refn| *{{cite web |last=Gabriel |first=Trip |date=July 22, 2022 |title=After Roe, Republicans Sharpen Attacks on Gay and Transgender Rights |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/22/us/politics/after-roe-republicans-sharpen-attacks-on-gay-and-transgender-rights.html |access-date=September 30, 2024 |website=The New York Times}} *{{cite web |last=Funakoshi |first=Minami |date=August 19, 2023 |title=The rise of anti-trans bills in the US |url=https://www.reuters.com/graphics/USA-HEALTHCARE/TRANS-BILLS/zgvorreyapd/ |access-date=September 30, 2024 |website=Reuters}} *{{cite web |last=Clare Foran |first=Shawna Mizelle |date=April 20, 2023 |title=CNN |url=https://edition.cnn.com/2023/04/20/politics/house-transgender-sports-bill/index.html |access-date=September 30, 2024 |website=CNN}} *{{cite web |date=June 2, 2022 |title=1A Remaking America: Why The GOP Has Rallied Behind Anti-Trans Legislation : 1A |url=https://www.npr.org/2022/06/02/1102738161/1a-remaking-america-why-the-gop-has-rallied-behind-anti-trans-legislation |access-date=September 30, 2024 |website=NPR}} *{{cite web |date=December 17, 2023 |title=From drag bans to sports restrictions, 75 anti-LGBTQ bills have become law in 2023 |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/nbc-out/out-politics-and-policy/75-anti-lgbtq-bills-become-law-2023-rcna124250 |access-date=September 30, 2024 |website=NBC News}} *{{cite web |last=Schoenbaum |first=Hannah |date=January 7, 2023 |title=Republican states aim to restrict transgender health care in first bills of 2023 |url=https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/republican-states-aim-to-restrict-transgender-health-care-in-first-bills-of-2023 |access-date=September 30, 2024 |website=PBS News}}}} as well as laws limiting or banning public performances of drag shows, and teaching schoolchildren about LGBT topics.<ref name="n141">{{cite news |last1=Astor |first1=Maggie |title=G.O.P. State Lawmakers Push a Growing Wave of Anti-Transgender Bills |work=The New York Times |date=January 25, 2023 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/25/us/politics/transgender-laws-republicans.html |access-date=June 12, 2023 |archive-date=June 15, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230615112638/https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/25/us/politics/transgender-laws-republicans.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

==== Voting rights ==== {{See also|Voter identification laws in the United States}}

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.<ref>{{Cite web|date=August 22, 2016|title=Four in Five Americans Support Voter ID Laws, Early Voting|url=https://news.gallup.com/poll/194741/four-five-americans-support-voter-laws-early-voting.aspx|access-date=April 7, 2021|website=Gallup.com|archive-date=April 6, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210406165231/https://news.gallup.com/poll/194741/four-five-americans-support-voter-laws-early-voting.aspx|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=Rakich|first=Nathaniel|date=April 2, 2021|title=Americans Oppose Many Voting Restrictions — But Not Voter ID Laws|url=https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/americans-oppose-many-voting-restrictions-but-not-voter-id-laws/|access-date=April 7, 2021|website=FiveThirtyEight|archive-date=April 6, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210406171627/https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/americans-oppose-many-voting-restrictions-but-not-voter-id-laws/|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.pewtrusts.org/en/research-and-analysis/blogs/stateline/2021/02/05/republicans-target-ballot-access-after-record-turnout|publisher=Pew Trusts|work=Stateline|first=Matt|last=Vasilogambros|title=Republicans Target Ballot Access After Record Turnout|date=February 5, 2021|access-date=April 25, 2021|archive-date=April 25, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210425034413/https://www.pewtrusts.org/en/research-and-analysis/blogs/stateline/2021/02/05/republicans-target-ballot-access-after-record-turnout|url-status=live}}</ref>

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,<ref>{{unbulleted list citebundle|{{cite web |author=Bump, Philip |date=October 13, 2014 |title=The disconnect between voter ID laws and voter fraud |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2014/10/13/the-disconnect-between-voter-id-laws-and-voter-fraud/ |access-date=July 26, 2016 |work=The Fix |publisher=The Washington Post}}|{{Cite news |last=Levitt |first=Justin |date=August 6, 2014 |title=A comprehensive investigation of voter impersonation finds 31 credible incidents out of one billion ballots cast |newspaper=The Washington Post |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2014/08/06/a-comprehensive-investigation-of-voter-impersonation-finds-31-credible-incidents-out-of-one-billion-ballots-cast/?arc404=true |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191028232347/https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2014/08/06/a-comprehensive-investigation-of-voter-impersonation-finds-31-credible-incidents-out-of-one-billion-ballots-cast/?arc404=true |archive-date=October 28, 2019}}}}</ref><ref name="Hakim-2018" /><ref name="Linker-2018" /> 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 a partisan purpose.<ref name="Hakim-2018">{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/03/us/politics/voting-suppression-elections.html|title='They Don't Really Want Us to Vote': How Republicans Made it Harder|newspaper=The New York Times |date=November 3, 2018 |access-date=November 4, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181104152125/https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/03/us/politics/voting-suppression-elections.html|archive-date=November 4, 2018|url-status=live|last1=Hakim |first1=Danny |last2=Wines |first2=Michael }}</ref><ref name="Linker-2018">{{cite magazine|url=https://theweek.com/articles/803156/big-conservative-lie-voter-fraud|title=The big conservative lie on 'voter fraud'|date=October 23, 2018|magazine=The Week|access-date=December 27, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181228130912/https://theweek.com/articles/803156/big-conservative-lie-voter-fraud|archive-date=December 28, 2018|url-status=live}}</ref>

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.<ref name="Hakim-2018"/> The 2016 Republican platform advocated proof of citizenship as a prerequisite for registering to vote and photo ID as a prerequisite when voting.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Mali |first=Meghashyam |date=July 19, 2016 |title=GOP platform calls for tough voter ID laws |url=https://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/288302-gop-platform-calls-for-tough-voter-id-laws/ |access-date=April 7, 2021 |website=The Hill |archive-date=April 18, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210418183438/https://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/288302-gop-platform-calls-for-tough-voter-id-laws |url-status=live }}</ref>

After Donald Trump and his Republican allies made false claims of fraud during the 2020 presidential election, Republicans launched a nationwide effort to impose tighter election laws at the state level.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Wines|first=Michael|date=February 27, 2021|title=In Statehouses, Stolen-Election Myth Fuels a G.O.P. Drive to Rewrite Rules|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/27/us/republican-voter-suppression.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20211228/https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/27/us/republican-voter-suppression.html |archive-date=December 28, 2021 |url-access=limited|newspaper=The New York Times}}{{cbignore}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|first=Kelly|last=Mena|title=More than 100 bills that would restrict voting are moving through state legislatures|url=https://www.cnn.com/2021/02/02/politics/voting-rights-state-legislation/index.html|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210203013507/https://www.cnn.com/2021/02/02/politics/voting-rights-state-legislation/index.html|archive-date=February 3, 2021|access-date=February 3, 2021|website=CNN|date=February 2, 2021 }}</ref><ref name="Gardner-2021">{{cite news|last1=Gardner|first1=Amy|date=March 26, 2021|title=After Trump tried to intervene in the 2020 vote, state Republicans are moving to take more control of elections|newspaper=The Washington Post|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/republicans-election-control/2021/03/26/064fffcc-8cb4-11eb-a730-1b4ed9656258_story.html|access-date=April 7, 2021|archive-date=June 14, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220614185326/https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/republicans-election-control/2021/03/26/064fffcc-8cb4-11eb-a730-1b4ed9656258_story.html|url-status=live}}</ref> Such bills are centered around limiting mail-in voting, strengthening voter ID laws, shortening early voting, eliminating automatic and same-day voter registration, curbing the use of ballot drop boxes, and allowing for increased purging of voter rolls.<ref name="Bill-Tracker">{{Cite web |date=February 24, 2021 |title=State Voting Bills Tracker 2021 |url=https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/research-reports/state-voting-bills-tracker-2021 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220611232034/https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/research-reports/state-voting-bills-tracker-2021 |archive-date=June 11, 2022 |website=Brennan Center for Justice}}</ref><ref name="NYT-practices">{{Cite web |last1=Corisaniti |first1=Nick |last2=Epstein |first2=Reid J. |date=March 23, 2021 |title=G.O.P. and Allies Draft 'Best Practices' for Restricting Voting |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/23/us/politics/republican-voter-laws.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220611081640/https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/23/us/politics/republican-voter-laws.html |archive-date=June 11, 2022 |website=The New York Times}}</ref> Republicans in at least eight states have also introduced bills that would give lawmakers greater power over election administration, after they were unsuccessful in their attempts to overturn election results in swing states won by Biden.<ref name="Gardner-2021"/>{{refn| *{{Cite news |last=Corasaniti |first=Nick |date=March 24, 2021 |title=Republicans Aim to Seize More Power Over How Elections Are Run |website=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/24/us/politics/republicans-election-laws.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220611230735/https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/24/us/politics/republicans-election-laws.html |archive-date=June 11, 2022}} *{{Cite web |last=Kalmbacher |first=Colin |date=May 26, 2021 |title=Arizona GOP Bill Would Allow GOP-Controlled State Legislature to Strip Key Election Powers from Democratic Secretary of State |url=https://lawandcrime.com/high-profile/arizona-gop-bill-would-allow-gop-controlled-state-legislature-to-strip-key-election-powers-from-democratic-secretary-of-state/ |work=Law & Crime |access-date=October 20, 2022 |archive-date=May 31, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210531061200/https://lawandcrime.com/high-profile/arizona-gop-bill-would-allow-gop-controlled-state-legislature-to-strip-key-election-powers-from-democratic-secretary-of-state/ |url-status=live }} *{{cite news |last1=Gardner |first1=Amy |date=May 29, 2021 |title=Texas Republicans finalize bill that would enact stiff new voting restrictions and make it easier to overturn election results |newspaper=The Washington Post |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/texas-voting-restrictions/2021/05/29/86923248-be25-11eb-9c90-731aff7d9a0d_story.html |access-date=October 20, 2022 |archive-date=July 14, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210714230135/https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/texas-voting-restrictions/2021/05/29/86923248-be25-11eb-9c90-731aff7d9a0d_story.html |url-status=live }}}}

Supporters of the bills argue they would improve election security and reverse temporary changes enacted during the COVID-19 pandemic; they point to false claims of significant election fraud, as well as the substantial public distrust of the integrity of the 2020 election those claims have fostered,{{Efn|According to an NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll, while more than 60% of Americans believe the 2020 election was secure, a large majority of Republican voters say they do not trust the results of the 2020 election.<ref name="NPR-poll">{{Cite web|last=Montanaro|first=Domenico|date=December 9, 2020|title=Poll: Just A Quarter Of Republicans Accept Election Outcome |access-date=June 14, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220611233203/https://www.npr.org/2020/12/09/944385798/poll-just-a-quarter-of-republicans-accept-election-outcome |archive-date=June 11, 2022 |url=https://www.npr.org/2020/12/09/944385798/poll-just-a-quarter-of-republicans-accept-election-outcome|url-status=live|website=NPR}}</ref> According to a poll by Quinnipiac, 77% of Republicans believe there was widespread voter fraud.<ref>{{Cite web|date=December 10, 2020|title=December 10, 2020 – 60% View Joe Biden's 2020 Presidential Victory As Legitimate, Quinnipiac University National Poll Finds; 77% Of Republicans Believe There Was Widespread Voter Fraud|url=https://poll.qu.edu/national/release-detail?ReleaseID=3685|website=Quinnipiac University|access-date=October 20, 2022|archive-date=March 21, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210321131057/https://poll.qu.edu/national/release-detail?ReleaseID=3685|url-status=live}}</ref>}} as justification.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Inskeep |first=Steve |date=February 28, 2021 |title=Why Republicans Are Moving To Fix Elections That Weren't Broken |url=https://www.npr.org/2021/02/28/970877930/why-republicans-are-moving-to-fix-elections-that-werent-broken |website=NPR |access-date=October 20, 2022 |archive-date=March 28, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210328143539/https://www.npr.org/2021/02/28/970877930/why-republicans-are-moving-to-fix-elections-that-werent-broken |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Steinhauser |first=Paul |date=February 17, 2021 |title=Republican Party launching new election integrity committee |url=https://www.foxnews.com/politics/republican-party-launching-new-election-integrity-committee |website=Fox News |access-date=October 20, 2022 |archive-date=March 15, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210315121016/https://www.foxnews.com/politics/republican-party-launching-new-election-integrity-committee |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Montellaro |first=Zach |date=January 24, 2021 |title=State Republicans push new voting restrictions after Trump's loss |url=https://www.politico.com/news/2021/01/24/republicans-voter-id-laws-461707 |website=Politico |access-date=October 20, 2022 |archive-date=March 29, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210329192348/https://www.politico.com/news/2021/01/24/republicans-voter-id-laws-461707 |url-status=live }}</ref> Political analysts say that the efforts amount to voter suppression, are intended to advantage Republicans by reducing the number of people who vote, and would disproportionately affect minority voters.{{refn| *{{cite journal|first1=Davita|last1=Glasberg|first2=William|last2=Armaline|first3=Bandana|last3=Purkayastha|title=I Exist, Therefore I Should Vote: Political Human Rights, Voter Suppression and Undermining Democracy in the U.S.|url=https://scholarlycommons.law.case.edu/swb/vol16/iss1/2|journal=Societies Without Borders|date=January 1, 2022|issn=1872-1915|pages=20–47|volume=16|issue=1|access-date=October 28, 2022|archive-date=October 28, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221028052113/https://scholarlycommons.law.case.edu/swb/vol16/iss1/2/|url-status=live}} *{{cite journal|first1=Lydia|last1=Hardy|title=Voter Suppression Post-Shelby: Impacts and Issues of Voter Purge and Voter ID Laws|url=https://digitalcommons.law.mercer.edu/jour_mlr/vol71/iss3/10|journal=Mercer Law Review|date=May 1, 2020|issn=0025-987X|volume=71|issue=3|access-date=October 28, 2022|archive-date=October 28, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221028052111/https://digitalcommons.law.mercer.edu/jour_mlr/vol71/iss3/10/|url-status=live}} *{{Cite web |last1=Brewster |first1=Adam |last2=Huey-Burns |first2=Caitlin |date=February 25, 2021 |title=Proposals to restrict voting gain traction in Republican states |url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/voting-restriction-proposals-republican-states/ |website=CBS News |access-date=October 20, 2022 |archive-date=March 30, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210330114129/https://www.cbsnews.com/news/voting-restriction-proposals-republican-states/ |url-status=live }} *{{Cite web |last=Skelley |first=Geoffrey |date=May 17, 2021 |title=How The Republican Push To Restrict Voting Could Affect Our Elections |url=https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/how-the-republican-push-to-restrict-voting-could-affect-our-elections/ |access-date=November 28, 2022 |website=FiveThirtyEight |language=en-US |archive-date=October 21, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231021064741/https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/how-the-republican-push-to-restrict-voting-could-affect-our-elections/ |url-status=dead }}}}

== Republican presidents == {{Further|List of presidents of the United States}} {{See also|Democratic Party (United States)#Democratic presidents}} As of 2025, there have been 19 Republican presidents, which is 3 more than the Democratic Party. {|class="sortable wikitable" |- !style="text-align:center;" {{vertical header|Order of presidency}} !style="text-align:center;"|Name (lifespan) !style="text-align:center;" class="unsortable"|Portrait !style="text-align:center;"|State !style="text-align:center;"|Presidency start date !style="text-align:center;"|Presidency end date !style="text-align:center;"|Time in office |- style="text-align:left; background:#fff;" |16 |{{sortname|Abraham|Lincoln}} (1809–1865) |65px |Illinois |March 4, 1861 |April 15, 1865{{efn|name=died|Died in office}} |{{ayd|1861|3|4|1865|4|15}} |- style="text-align:left; background:#fff;" |18 |{{sortname|Ulysses S.|Grant}} (1822–1885) |65px |Illinois |March 4, 1869 |March 4, 1877 |{{ayd|1869|3|4|1877|3|4}} |- style="text-align:left; background:#fff;" |19 |{{sortname|Rutherford B.|Hayes}} (1822–1893) |65px |Ohio |March 4, 1877 |March 4, 1881 |{{ayd|1877|3|4|1881|3|4}} |- style="text-align:left; background:#fff;" |20 |{{sortname|James A.|Garfield}} (1831–1881) |65px |Ohio |March 4, 1881 |September 19, 1881{{efn|name=died|Died in office}} |{{ayd|1881|3|4|1881|9|19}} |- style="text-align:left; background:#fff;" |21 |{{sortname|Chester A.|Arthur}} (1829–1886) |65px |New York |September 19, 1881 |March 4, 1885 |{{ayd|1881|9|19|1885|3|4}} |- style="text-align:left; background:#fff;" |23 |{{sortname|Benjamin|Harrison}} (1833–1901) |65px |Indiana |March 4, 1889 |March 4, 1893 |{{ayd|1889|3|4|1893|3|4}} |- style="text-align:left; background:#fff;" |25 |{{sortname|William|McKinley}} (1843–1901) |65px |Ohio |March 4, 1897 |September 14, 1901{{efn|name=died|Died in office}} |{{ayd|1897|3|4|1901|9|14}} |- style="text-align:left; background:#fff;" |26 |{{sortname|Theodore|Roosevelt}} (1858–1919) |65px |New York |September 14, 1901 |March 4, 1909 |{{ayd|1901|9|14|1909|3|4}} |- style="text-align:left; background:#fff;" |27 |{{sortname|William Howard|Taft}} (1857–1930) |65px |Ohio |March 4, 1909 |March 4, 1913 |{{ayd|1909|3|4|1913|3|4}} |- style="text-align:left; background:#fff;" |29 |{{sortname|Warren G.|Harding}} (1865–1923) |65px |Ohio |March 4, 1921 |August 2, 1923{{efn|name=died|Died in office}} |{{ayd|1921|3|4|1923|8|2}} |- style="text-align:left; background:#fff;" |30 |{{sortname|Calvin|Coolidge}} (1872–1933) |65px |Massachusetts |August 2, 1923 |March 4, 1929 |{{ayd|1923|8|2|1929|3|4}} |- style="text-align:left; background:#fff;" |31 |{{sortname|Herbert|Hoover}} (1874–1964) |65px |California |March 4, 1929 |March 4, 1933 |{{ayd|1929|3|4|1933|3|4}} |- style="text-align:left; background:#fff;" |34 |{{sortname|Dwight D.|Eisenhower}} (1890–1969) |65px |Kansas |January 20, 1953 |January 20, 1961 |{{ayd|1953|1|20|1961|1|20}} |- style="text-align:left; background:#fff;" |37 |{{sortname|Richard|Nixon}} (1913–1994) |65px |California |January 20, 1969 |August 9, 1974{{efn|Resigned from office}} |{{ayd|1969|1|20|1974|8|9}} |- style="text-align:left; background:#fff;" |38 |{{sortname|Gerald|Ford}} (1913–2006) |65px |Michigan |August 9, 1974 |January 20, 1977 |{{ayd|1974|8|9|1977|1|20}} |- style="text-align:left; background:#fff;" |40 |{{sortname|Ronald|Reagan}} (1911–2004) |65px |California |January 20, 1981 |January 20, 1989 |{{ayd|1981|1|20|1989|1|20}} |- style="text-align:left; background:#fff;" |41 |{{sortname|George H. W.|Bush}} (1924–2018) |65px |Texas |January 20, 1989 |January 20, 1993 |{{ayd|1989|1|20|1993|1|20}} |- style="text-align:left; background:#fff;" |43 |{{sortname|George W.|Bush}} (born 1946) |65px |Texas |January 20, 2001 |January 20, 2009 |{{ayd|2001|1|20|2009|1|20}} |- style="text-align:left; background:#fff;" |45 |rowspan=2|{{sortname|Donald|Trump}} (born 1946) |rowspan=2|81x81px ||New York/ Florida |January 20, 2017 |January 20, 2021 |rowspan=2|{{ayd|2021|1|20}} |- |47 |Florida |January 20, 2025 |Incumbent |- |}

==Election results== === In congressional elections: 1950–present === {{See also|Party divisions of United States Congresses}}

{|class="wikitable sortable" |+United States congressional elections |- !House election year !No. of overall House seats won !+/– !Presidency !No. of overall Senate seats won !+/–{{efn|Comparing seats held immediately preceding and following the general election}} !Senate election year |- !1950 |{{Party shading/Democratic}}|{{Composition bar|199|435|hex={{party color|Republican Party (United States)}}}} |{{Party shading/Democratic}} data-sort-value="28"|{{increase}} 28 |{{Party shading/Democratic}}|Harry S. Truman |{{Party shading/Democratic}}|{{Composition bar|47|96|hex={{party color|Republican Party (United States)}}}} |{{Party shading/Democratic}} data-sort-value="5"|{{increase}} 5 !1950 |- !1952 |{{Party shading/Republican}}|{{Composition bar|221|435|hex={{party color|Republican Party (United States)}}}} |{{Party shading/Republican}} data-sort-value="22"|{{increase}} 22 |rowspan="4" {{Party shading/Republican}} |Dwight D. Eisenhower |{{Party shading/Republican}}|{{Composition bar|49|96|hex={{party color|Republican Party (United States)}}}} |{{Party shading/Republican}} data-sort-value="2"|{{increase}} 2 !1952 |- !1954 |{{Party shading/Democratic}}|{{Composition bar|203|435|hex={{party color|Republican Party (United States)}}}} |{{Party shading/Democratic}} data-sort-value="−18"|{{decrease}} 18 |{{Party shading/Democratic}}|{{Composition bar|47|96|hex={{party color|Republican Party (United States)}}}} |{{Party shading/Democratic}} data-sort-value="−2"|{{decrease}} 2 !1954 |- !1956 |{{Party shading/Democratic}}|{{Composition bar|201|435|hex={{party color|Republican Party (United States)}}}} |{{Party shading/Democratic}} data-sort-value="−2"|{{decrease}} 2 |{{Party shading/Democratic}}|{{Composition bar|47|96|hex={{party color|Republican Party (United States)}}}} |{{Party shading/Democratic}} data-sort-value="0"|{{steady}} 0 !1956 |- !1958 |{{Party shading/Democratic}}|{{Composition bar|153|435|hex={{party color|Republican Party (United States)}}}} |{{Party shading/Democratic}} data-sort-value="−48"|{{decrease}} 48 |{{Party shading/Democratic}}|{{Composition bar|34|98|hex={{party color|Republican Party (United States)}}}} |{{Party shading/Democratic}} data-sort-value="−13"|{{decrease}} 13 !1958 |- !1960 |{{Party shading/Democratic}}|{{Composition bar|175|437|hex={{party color|Republican Party (United States)}}}} |{{Party shading/Democratic}} data-sort-value="22"|{{increase}} 22 |rowspan="2" {{Party shading/Democratic}}|John F. Kennedy |{{Party shading/Democratic}}|{{Composition bar|35|100|hex={{party color|Republican Party (United States)}}}} |{{Party shading/Democratic}} data-sort-value="1"|{{increase}} 1 !1960 |- !1962 |{{Party shading/Democratic}}|{{Composition bar|176|435|hex={{party color|Republican Party (United States)}}}} |{{Party shading/Democratic}} data-sort-value="1"|{{increase}} 1 |{{Party shading/Democratic}}|{{Composition bar|34|100|hex={{party color|Republican Party (United States)}}}} |{{Party shading/Democratic}} data-sort-value="−3"|{{decrease}} 3 !1962 |- !1964 |{{Party shading/Democratic}}|{{Composition bar|140|435|hex={{party color|Republican Party (United States)}}}} |{{Party shading/Democratic}} data-sort-value="−36"|{{decrease}} 36 |rowspan="2" {{Party shading/Democratic}}|Lyndon B. Johnson |{{Party shading/Democratic}}|{{Composition bar|32|100|hex={{party color|Republican Party (United States)}}}} |{{Party shading/Democratic}} data-sort-value="−2"|{{decrease}} 2 !1964 |- !1966 |{{Party shading/Democratic}}|{{Composition bar|187|435|hex={{party color|Republican Party (United States)}}}} |{{Party shading/Democratic}} data-sort-value="47"|{{increase}} 47 |{{Party shading/Democratic}}|{{Composition bar|38|100|hex={{party color|Republican Party (United States)}}}} |{{Party shading/Democratic}} data-sort-value="3"|{{increase}} 3 !1966 |- !1968 |{{Party shading/Democratic}}|{{Composition bar|192|435|hex={{party color|Republican Party (United States)}}}} |{{Party shading/Democratic}} data-sort-value="5"|{{increase}} 5 |rowspan="3" {{Party shading/Republican}}|Richard Nixon |{{Party shading/Democratic}}|{{Composition bar|42|100|hex={{party color|Republican Party (United States)}}}} |{{Party shading/Democratic}} data-sort-value="5"|{{increase}} 5 !1968 |- !1970 |{{Party shading/Democratic}}|{{Composition bar|180|435|hex={{party color|Republican Party (United States)}}}} |{{Party shading/Democratic}} data-sort-value="−12"|{{decrease}} 12 |{{Party shading/Democratic}}|{{Composition bar|44|100|hex={{party color|Republican Party (United States)}}}} |{{Party shading/Democratic}} data-sort-value="2"|{{increase}} 2 !1970 |- !1972 |{{Party shading/Democratic}}|{{Composition bar|192|435|hex={{party color|Republican Party (United States)}}}} |{{Party shading/Democratic}} data-sort-value="12"|{{increase}} 12 |{{Party shading/Democratic}}|{{Composition bar|41|100|hex={{party color|Republican Party (United States)}}}} |{{Party shading/Democratic}} data-sort-value="−2"|{{decrease}} 2 !1972 |- !1974 |{{Party shading/Democratic}}|{{Composition bar|144|435|hex={{party color|Republican Party (United States)}}}} |{{Party shading/Democratic}} data-sort-value="−48"|{{decrease}} 48 |{{Party shading/Republican}}|Gerald Ford |{{Party shading/Democratic}}|{{Composition bar|38|100|hex={{party color|Republican Party (United States)}}}} |{{Party shading/Democratic}} data-sort-value="−3"|{{decrease}} 3 !1974 |- !1976 |{{Party shading/Democratic}}|{{Composition bar|143|435|hex={{party color|Republican Party (United States)}}}} |{{Party shading/Democratic}} data-sort-value="−1"|{{decrease}} 1 |rowspan="2" {{Party shading/Democratic}}|Jimmy Carter |{{Party shading/Democratic}}|{{Composition bar|38|100|hex={{party color|Republican Party (United States)}}}} |{{Party shading/Democratic}} data-sort-value="1"|{{increase}} 1 !1976 |- !1978 |{{Party shading/Democratic}}|{{Composition bar|158|435|hex={{party color|Republican Party (United States)}}}} |{{Party shading/Democratic}} data-sort-value="15"|{{increase}} 15 |{{Party shading/Democratic}}|{{Composition bar|41|100|hex={{party color|Republican Party (United States)}}}} |{{Party shading/Democratic}} data-sort-value="3"|{{increase}} 3 !1978 |- !1980 |{{Party shading/Democratic}}|{{Composition bar|192|435|hex={{party color|Republican Party (United States)}}}} |{{Party shading/Democratic}} data-sort-value="34"|{{increase}} 34 |rowspan="4" {{Party shading/Republican}}|Ronald Reagan |{{Party shading/Republican}}|{{Composition bar|53|100|hex={{party color|Republican Party (United States)}}}} |{{Party shading/Republican}} data-sort-value="12"|{{increase}} 12 !1980 |- !1982 |{{Party shading/Democratic}}|{{Composition bar|166|435|hex={{party color|Republican Party (United States)}}}} |{{Party shading/Democratic}} data-sort-value="−26"|{{decrease}} 26 |{{Party shading/Republican}}|{{Composition bar|54|100|hex={{party color|Republican Party (United States)}}}} |{{Party shading/Republican}} data-sort-value="0"|{{steady}} 0 !1982 |- !1984 |{{Party shading/Democratic}}|{{Composition bar|182|435|hex={{party color|Republican Party (United States)}}}} |{{Party shading/Democratic}} data-sort-value="16"|{{increase}} 16 |{{Party shading/Republican}}|{{Composition bar|53|100|hex={{party color|Republican Party (United States)}}}} |{{Party shading/Republican}} data-sort-value="−2"|{{decrease}} 2 !1984 |- !1986 |{{Party shading/Democratic}}|{{Composition bar|177|435|hex={{party color|Republican Party (United States)}}}} |{{Party shading/Democratic}} data-sort-value="−5"|{{decrease}} 5 |{{Party shading/Democratic}}|{{Composition bar|45|100|hex={{party color|Republican Party (United States)}}}} |{{Party shading/Democratic}} data-sort-value="−8"|{{decrease}} 8 !1986 |- !1988 |{{Party shading/Democratic}}|{{Composition bar|175|435|hex={{party color|Republican Party (United States)}}}} |{{Party shading/Democratic}} data-sort-value="−2"|{{decrease}} 2 |rowspan="2" {{Party shading/Republican}}|George H. W. Bush |{{Party shading/Democratic}}|{{Composition bar|45|100|hex={{party color|Republican Party (United States)}}}} |{{Party shading/Democratic}} data-sort-value="−1"|{{decrease}} 1 !1988 |- !1990 |{{Party shading/Democratic}}|{{Composition bar|167|435|hex={{party color|Republican Party (United States)}}}} |{{Party shading/Democratic}} data-sort-value="−8"|{{decrease}} 8 |{{Party shading/Democratic}}|{{Composition bar|44|100|hex={{party color|Republican Party (United States)}}}} |{{Party shading/Democratic}} data-sort-value="−1"|{{decrease}} 1 !1990 |- !1992 |{{Party shading/Democratic}}|{{Composition bar|176|435|hex={{party color|Republican Party (United States)}}}} |{{Party shading/Democratic}} data-sort-value="9"|{{increase}} 9 |rowspan="4" {{Party shading/Democratic}}|Bill Clinton |{{Party shading/Democratic}}|{{Composition bar|43|100|hex={{party color|Republican Party (United States)}}}} |{{Party shading/Democratic}} data-sort-value="0"|{{steady}} 0 !1992 |- !1994 |{{Party shading/Republican}}|{{Composition bar|230|435|hex={{party color|Republican Party (United States)}}}} |{{Party shading/Republican}} data-sort-value="54"|{{increase}} 54 |{{Party shading/Republican}}|{{Composition bar|53|100|hex={{party color|Republican Party (United States)}}}} |{{Party shading/Republican}} data-sort-value="8"|{{increase}} 8 !1994 |- !1996 |{{Party shading/Republican}}|{{Composition bar|227|435|hex={{party color|Republican Party (United States)}}}} |{{Party shading/Republican}} data-sort-value="−3"|{{decrease}} 3 |{{Party shading/Republican}}|{{Composition bar|55|100|hex={{party color|Republican Party (United States)}}}} |{{Party shading/Republican}} data-sort-value="2"|{{increase}} 2 !1996 |- !1998 |{{Party shading/Republican}}|{{Composition bar|223|435|hex={{party color|Republican Party (United States)}}}} |{{Party shading/Republican}} data-sort-value="−4"|{{decrease}} 4 |{{Party shading/Republican}}|{{Composition bar|55|100|hex={{party color|Republican Party (United States)}}}} |{{Party shading/Republican}} data-sort-value="0"|{{steady}} 0 !1998 |- !2000 |{{Party shading/Republican}}|{{Composition bar|221|435|hex={{party color|Republican Party (United States)}}}} |{{Party shading/Republican}} data-sort-value="−2"|{{decrease}} 2 |rowspan="4" {{Party shading/Republican}}|George W. Bush |{{Party shading/Republican}}|{{Composition bar|50|100|hex={{party color|Republican Party (United States)}}}} |{{Party shading/Republican}} data-sort-value="−4"|{{decrease}} 4 !2000{{efn|name=tie1|Republican Vice President Dick Cheney provided a tie-breaking vote, initially giving Republicans a majority from Inauguration Day until Jim Jeffords left the Republican Party to caucus with the Democrats on June 6, 2001.}} |- !2002 |{{Party shading/Republican}}|{{Composition bar|229|435|hex={{party color|Republican Party (United States)}}}} |{{Party shading/Republican}} data-sort-value="8"|{{increase}} 8 |{{Party shading/Republican}}|{{Composition bar|51|100|hex={{party color|Republican Party (United States)}}}} |{{Party shading/Republican}} data-sort-value="2"|{{increase}} 2 !2002 |- !2004 |{{Party shading/Republican}}|{{Composition bar|232|435|hex={{party color|Republican Party (United States)}}}} |{{Party shading/Republican}} data-sort-value="3"|{{increase}} 3 |{{Party shading/Republican}}|{{Composition bar|55|100|hex={{party color|Republican Party (United States)}}}} |{{Party shading/Republican}} data-sort-value="4"|{{increase}} 4 !2004 |- !2006 |{{Party shading/Democratic}}|{{Composition bar|202|435|hex={{party color|Republican Party (United States)}}}} |{{Party shading/Democratic}} data-sort-value="−30"|{{decrease}} 30 |{{Party shading/Democratic}}|{{Composition bar|49|100|hex={{party color|Republican Party (United States)}}}} |{{Party shading/Democratic}} data-sort-value="−6"|{{decrease}} 6 !2006 |- !2008 |{{Party shading/Democratic}}|{{Composition bar|178|435|hex={{party color|Republican Party (United States)}}}} |{{Party shading/Democratic}} data-sort-value="−21"|{{decrease}} 21 |rowspan="4" {{Party shading/Democratic}}|Barack Obama |{{Party shading/Democratic}}|{{Composition bar|41|100|hex={{party color|Republican Party (United States)}}}} |{{Party shading/Democratic}} data-sort-value="−8"|{{decrease}} 8 !2008 |- !2010 |{{Party shading/Republican}}|{{Composition bar|242|435|hex={{party color|Republican Party (United States)}}}} |{{Party shading/Republican}} data-sort-value="63"|{{increase}} 63 |{{Party shading/Democratic}}|{{Composition bar|47|100|hex={{party color|Republican Party (United States)}}}} |{{Party shading/Democratic}} data-sort-value="6"|{{increase}} 6 !2010 |- !2012 |{{Party shading/Republican}}|{{Composition bar|234|435|hex={{party color|Republican Party (United States)}}}} |{{Party shading/Republican}} data-sort-value="−8"|{{decrease}} 8 |{{Party shading/Democratic}}|{{Composition bar|45|100|hex={{party color|Republican Party (United States)}}}} |{{Party shading/Democratic}} data-sort-value="−2"|{{decrease}} 2 !2012 |- !2014 |{{Party shading/Republican}}|{{Composition bar|247|435|hex={{party color|Republican Party (United States)}}}} |{{Party shading/Republican}} data-sort-value="13"|{{increase}} 13 |{{Party shading/Republican}}|{{Composition bar|54|100|hex={{party color|Republican Party (United States)}}}} |{{Party shading/Republican}} data-sort-value="9"|{{increase}} 9 !2014 |- !2016 |{{Party shading/Republican}}|{{Composition bar|241|435|hex={{party color|Republican Party (United States)}}}} |{{Party shading/Republican}} data-sort-value="−6"|{{decrease}} 6 |rowspan="2" {{Party shading/Republican}}|Donald Trump |{{Party shading/Republican}}|{{Composition bar|52|100|hex={{party color|Republican Party (United States)}}}} |{{Party shading/Republican}} data-sort-value="−2"|{{decrease}} 2 !2016 |- !2018 |{{Party shading/Democratic}}|{{Composition bar|200|435|hex={{party color|Republican Party (United States)}}}} |{{Party shading/Democratic}} data-sort-value="−41"|{{decrease}} 41 |{{Party shading/Republican}}|{{Composition bar|53|100|hex={{party color|Republican Party (United States)}}}} |{{Party shading/Republican}} data-sort-value="1"|{{increase}} 1 !2018 |- !2020 |{{Party shading/Democratic}}|{{Composition bar|213|435|hex={{party color|Republican Party (United States)}}}} |{{Party shading/Democratic}} data-sort-value="13"|{{increase}} 13 |rowspan="2" {{Party shading/Democratic}}|Joe Biden |{{Party shading/Democratic}}|{{Composition bar|50|100|hex={{party color|Republican Party (United States)}}}} |{{Party shading/Democratic}} data-sort-value="−3"| {{decrease}} 3 !2020{{efn|name=tie2|Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris provided a tie-breaking vote, giving Democrats a majority from Inauguration Day until the end of the 117th Congress.}} |- !2022 |{{Party shading/Republican}}|{{Composition bar|222|435|hex={{party color|Republican Party (United States)}}}} |{{Party shading/Republican}} data-sort-value="9"|{{increase}} 9 |{{Party shading/Democratic}}|{{Composition bar|49|100|hex={{party color|Republican Party (United States)}}}} |{{Party shading/Democratic}} data-sort-value="−1"|{{decrease}} 1 !2022 |- !2024 |{{Party shading/Republican}}|{{Composition bar|220|435|hex={{party color|Republican Party (United States)}}}} |{{Party shading/Republican}} data-sort-value="−2"|{{decrease}} 2 |{{Party shading/Republican}}|Donald Trump |{{Party shading/Republican}}|{{Composition bar|53|100|hex={{party color|Republican Party (United States)}}}} |{{Party shading/Republican}} data-sort-value="4"|{{increase}} 4 !2024 |}

=== In presidential elections: 1856–present === {{See also|List of United States Republican Party presidential tickets}}

{|class="sortable wikitable" |- ! rowspan="2" | Election ! colspan="2" | Presidential ticket ! rowspan="2" | Votes ! rowspan="2" | Vote % ! rowspan="2" | Electoral votes ! rowspan="2" | +/– ! rowspan="2" | Result |- ! Presidential nominee ! Running mate |- |align=center|1856 |{{sortname|John C.|Frémont}} |{{sortname|William L.|Dayton}} |align=center|1,342,345 |align=center|33.1 |align=left|{{Composition bar|114|296|hex=#FF0000}} |align=left data-sort-value="114"|''New party'' ({{increase}}114) |{{lost}} |- |align=center|1860 |{{sortname|Abraham|Lincoln}} |{{sortname|Hannibal|Hamlin}} |align=center|1,865,908 |align=center|39.8 |align=left|{{Composition bar|180|303|hex=#FF0000}} |align=left data-sort-value="66"|{{increase}}66 |{{won}} |- |align=center|1864 |{{sortname|Abraham|Lincoln}}{{efn|group=upper-alpha|Lincoln and Johnson were nominated by the National Union Party, a wartime coalition of Republicans, War Democrats, and Unconditional Unionists.}} |{{sortname|Andrew|Johnson}} |align=center|2,218,388 |align=center|55.0 |align=left|{{Composition bar|212|233|hex=#FF0000}} |align=left data-sort-value="32"|{{increase}}32 |{{won}} |- |align=center|1868 |rowspan=2 |{{sortname|Ulysses S.|Grant}} |{{sortname|Schuyler|Colfax}} |align=center|3,013,421 |align=center|52.7 |align=left|{{Composition bar|214|294|hex=#FF0000}} |align=left data-sort-value="2"|{{increase}}2 |{{won}} |- |align=center|1872 |{{sortname|Henry|Wilson}} |align=center|3,598,235 |align=center|55.6 |align=left|{{Composition bar|286|352|hex=#FF0000}} |align=left data-sort-value="72"|{{increase}}72 |{{won}} |- |align=center|1876 |{{sortname|Rutherford B.|Hayes}} |{{sortname|William A.|Wheeler}} |align=center|4,034,311 |align=center|47.9 |align=left|{{Composition bar|185|369|hex=#FF0000}} |align=left data-sort-value="−134"|{{decrease}}134 |{{won}}{{efn|group=upper-alpha|Although Hayes won a majority of votes in the Electoral College, Democrat Samuel J. Tilden won a majority of the popular vote.}} |- |align=center|1880 |{{sortname|James A.|Garfield}} |{{sortname|Chester A.|Arthur}} |align=center|4,446,158 |align=center|48.3 |align=left|{{Composition bar|214|369|hex=#FF0000}} |align=left data-sort-value="29"|{{increase}}29 |{{won}} |- |align=center|1884 |{{sortname|James G.|Blaine}} |{{sortname|John A.|Logan}} |align=center|4,856,905 |align=center|48.3 |align=left|{{Composition bar|182|401|hex=#FF0000}} |align=left data-sort-value="−32"|{{decrease}}32 |{{lost}} |- |align=center|1888 |rowspan=2 |{{sortname|Benjamin|Harrison}} |{{sortname|Levi P.|Morton}} |align=center|5,443,892 |align=center|47.8 |align=left|{{Composition bar|233|401|hex=#FF0000}} |align=left data-sort-value="51"|{{increase}}51 |{{won}}{{efn|group=upper-alpha|Although Harrison won a majority of votes in the Electoral College, Democrat Grover Cleveland won a plurality of the popular vote.}} |- |align=center|1892 |{{sortname|Whitelaw|Reid}} |align=center|5,176,108 |align=center|43.0 |align=left|{{Composition bar|145|444|hex=#FF0000}} |align=left data-sort-value="−88"|{{decrease}}88 |{{lost}} |- |align=center|1896 |rowspan=2 |{{sortname|William|McKinley}} |{{sortname|Garret|Hobart}} |align=center|7,111,607 |align=center|51.0 |align=left|{{Composition bar|271|447|hex=#FF0000}} |align=left data-sort-value="126"|{{increase}}126 |{{won}} |- |align=center|1900 |{{sortname|Theodore|Roosevelt}} |align=center|7,228,864 |align=center|51.6 |align=left|{{Composition bar|292|447|hex=#FF0000}} |align=left data-sort-value="21"|{{increase}}21 |{{won}} |- |align=center|1904 |{{sortname|Theodore|Roosevelt}} |{{sortname|Charles W.|Fairbanks}} |align=center|7,630,457 |align=center|56.4 |align=left|{{Composition bar|336|476|hex=#FF0000}} |align=left data-sort-value="44"|{{increase}}44 |{{won}} |- |align=center|1908 |rowspan=2 |{{sortname|William Howard|Taft}} |{{sortname|James S.|Sherman}} |align=center|7,678,395 |align=center|51.6 |align=left|{{Composition bar|321|483|hex=#FF0000}} |align=left data-sort-value="−15"|{{decrease}}15 |{{won}} |- |align=center|1912 |{{sortname|Nicholas M.|Butler}}{{efn|Incumbent vice-president James S. Sherman was re-nominated as Taft's running-mate, but died six days before the election. Butler was chosen to receive the Republican vice-presidential votes after the election.}} |align=center|3,486,242 |align=center|23.2 |align=left|{{Composition bar|8|531|hex=#FF0000}} |align=left data-sort-value="−313"|{{decrease}}313 |{{lost}}{{efn|group=upper-alpha|Taft finished in third place in both the electoral and popular vote, behind Progressive Theodore Roosevelt.}} |- |align=center|1916 |{{sortname|Charles E.|Hughes|Charles Evans Hughes}} |{{sortname|Charles W.|Fairbanks}} |align=center|8,548,728 |align=center|46.1 |align=left|{{Composition bar|254|531|hex=#FF0000}} |align=left data-sort-value="246"|{{increase}}246 |{{lost}} |- |align=center|1920 |{{sortname|Warren G.|Harding}} |{{sortname|Calvin|Coolidge}} |align=center|16,144,093 |align=center|60.3 |align=left|{{Composition bar|404|531|hex=#FF0000}} |align=left data-sort-value="150"|{{increase}}150 |{{won}} |- |align=center|1924 |{{sortname|Calvin|Coolidge}} |Charles G. Dawes |align=center|15,723,789 |align=center|54.0 |align=left|{{Composition bar|382|531|hex=#FF0000}} |align=left data-sort-value="−22"|{{decrease}}22 |{{won}} |- |align=center|1928 |rowspan=2 |{{sortname|Herbert|Hoover}} |rowspan=2 |{{sortname|Charles|Curtis}} |align=center|21,427,123 |align=center|58.2 |align=left|{{Composition bar|444|531|hex=#FF0000}} |align=left data-sort-value="62"|{{increase}}62 |{{won}} |- |align=center|1932 |align=center|15,761,254 |align=center|39.7 |align=left|{{Composition bar|59|531|hex=#FF0000}} |align=left data-sort-value="−385"|{{decrease}}385 |{{lost}} |- |align=center|1936 |{{sortname|Alf|Landon}} |{{sortname|Frank|Knox}} |align=center|16,679,543 |align=center|36.5 |align=left|{{Composition bar|8|531|hex=#FF0000}} |align=left data-sort-value="−51"|{{decrease}}51 |{{lost}} |- |align=center|1940 |{{sortname|Wendell|Willkie}} |{{sortname|Charles L.|McNary}} |align=center|22,347,744 |align=center|44.8 |align=left|{{Composition bar|82|531|hex=#FF0000}} |align=left data-sort-value="74"|{{increase}}74 |{{lost}} |- |align=center|1944 |rowspan=2 |{{sortname|Thomas E.|Dewey}} |{{sortname|John W.|Bricker}} |align=center|22,017,929 |align=center|45.9 |align=left|{{Composition bar|99|531|hex=#FF0000}} |align=left data-sort-value="17"|{{increase}}17 |{{lost}} |- |align=center|1948 |{{sortname|Earl|Warren}} |align=center|21,991,292 |align=center|45.1 |align=left|{{Composition bar|189|531|hex=#FF0000}} |align=left data-sort-value="90"|{{increase}}90 |{{lost}} |- |align=center|1952 |rowspan=2 |{{sortname|Dwight D.|Eisenhower}} |rowspan=2 |{{sortname|Richard|Nixon}} |align=center|34,075,529 |align=center|55.2 |align=left|{{Composition bar|442|531|hex=#FF0000}} |align=left data-sort-value="253"|{{increase}}253 |{{won}} |- |align=center|1956 |align=center|35,579,180 |align=center|57.4 |align=left|{{Composition bar|457|531|hex=#FF0000}} |align=left data-sort-value="15"|{{increase}}15 |{{won}} |- |align=center|1960 |{{sortname|Richard|Nixon}} |{{sortname|Henry Cabot|Lodge Jr.||Lodge, Henry Cabot Jr.}} |align=center|34,108,157 |align=center|49.6 |align=left|{{Composition bar|219|537|hex=#FF0000}} |align=left data-sort-value="−238"|{{decrease}}238 |{{lost}} |- |align=center|1964 |{{sortname|Barry|Goldwater}} |{{sortname|William E.|Miller}} |align=center|27,175,754 |align=center|38.5 |align=left|{{Composition bar|52|538|hex=#FF0000}} |align=left data-sort-value="−167"|{{decrease}}167 |{{lost}} |- |align=center|1968 |rowspan=2 |{{sortname|Richard|Nixon}} |rowspan=2 |{{sortname|Spiro|Agnew}} |align=center|31,783,783 |align=center|43.4 |align=left|{{Composition bar|301|538|hex=#FF0000}} |align=left data-sort-value="249"|{{increase}}249 |{{won}} |- |align=center|1972 |align=center|47,168,710 |align=center|60.7 |align=left|{{Composition bar|520|538|hex=#FF0000}} |align=left data-sort-value="219"|{{increase}}219 |{{won}} |- |align=center|1976 |{{sortname|Gerald|Ford}} |{{sortname|Bob|Dole}} |align=center|38,148,634 |align=center|48.0 |align=left|{{Composition bar|240|538|hex=#FF0000}} |align=left data-sort-value="−280"|{{decrease}}280 |{{lost}} |- |align=center|1980 |rowspan=2 |{{sortname|Ronald|Reagan}} |rowspan=2 |{{sortname|George H. W.|Bush}} |align=center|43,903,230 |align=center|50.7 |align=left|{{Composition bar|489|538|hex=#FF0000}} |align=left data-sort-value="249"|{{increase}}249 |{{won}} |- |align=center|1984 |align=center|54,455,472 |align=center|58.8 |align=left|{{Composition bar|525|538|hex=#FF0000}} |align=left data-sort-value="36"|{{increase}}36 |{{won}} |- |align=center|1988 |rowspan=2 |{{sortname|George H. W.|Bush}} |rowspan=2 |{{sortname|Dan|Quayle}} |align=center|48,886,097 |align=center|53.4 |align=left|{{Composition bar|426|538|hex=#FF0000}} |align=left data-sort-value="−99"|{{decrease}}99 |{{won}} |- |align=center|1992 |align=center|39,104,550 |align=center|37.4 |align=left|{{Composition bar|168|538|hex=#FF0000}} |align=left data-sort-value="−258"|{{decrease}}258 |{{lost}} |- |align=center|1996 |{{sortname|Bob|Dole}} |{{sortname|Jack|Kemp}} |align=center|39,197,469 |align=center|40.7 |align=left|{{Composition bar|159|538|hex=#FF0000}} |align=left data-sort-value="−9"|{{decrease}}9 |{{lost}} |- |align=center|2000 |rowspan=2 |{{sortname|George W.|Bush}} |rowspan=2 |{{sortname|Dick|Cheney}} |align=center|50,456,002 |align=center|47.9 |align=left|{{Composition bar|271|538|hex=#FF0000}} |align=left data-sort-value="112"|{{increase}}112 |{{won}}{{efn|group=upper-alpha|Although Bush won a majority of votes in the Electoral College, Democrat Al Gore won a plurality of the popular vote.}} |- |align=center|2004 |align=center|62,040,610 |align=center|50.7 |align=left|{{Composition bar|286|538|hex=#FF0000}} |align=left data-sort-value="15"|{{increase}}15 |{{won}} |- |align=center|2008 |{{sortname|John|McCain}} |{{sortname|Sarah|Palin}} |align=center|59,948,323 |align=center|45.7 |align=left|{{Composition bar|173|538|hex=#FF0000}} |align=left data-sort-value="−113"|{{decrease}}113 |{{lost}} |- |align=center|2012 |{{sortname|Mitt|Romney}} |{{sortname|Paul|Ryan}} |align=center|60,933,504 |align=center|47.2 |align=left|{{Composition bar|206|538|hex=#FF0000}} |align=left data-sort-value="33"|{{increase}}33 |{{lost}} |- |align=center|2016 |rowspan=3 |{{sortname|Donald|Trump}} |rowspan=2 |{{sortname|Mike|Pence}} |align=center|62,984,828 |align=center|46.1 |align=left|{{Composition bar|304|538|hex=#FF0000}} |align=left data-sort-value="98"|{{increase}}98 |{{won}}{{efn|group=upper-alpha|Although Trump won a majority of votes in the Electoral College, Democrat Hillary Clinton won a plurality of the popular vote.}} |- |align=center|2020 |align=center|74,223,975 |align=center|46.8 |align=left|{{Composition bar|232|538|hex=#FF0000}} |align=left data-sort-value="−72"|{{decrease}}72 |{{lost}} |- |align=center|2024 |{{sortname|JD|Vance}} |align=center|77,302,580 |align=center|49.8 |align=left|{{Composition bar|312|538|hex=#FF0000}} |align=left data-sort-value="80"|{{increase}}80 |{{won}} |}

== See also == {{Portal|Conservatism|Politics|United States}} {{div col|colwidth=50em}} * List of African-American Republicans * List of Hispanic and Latino Republicans * List of Republican Party (United States) organizations * List of state parties of the Republican Party (United States) * Political party strength in U.S. states {{div col end}}

== Notes == {{Notelist}} {{notelist-ua}}

== References == {{Reflist}}

== Further reading == {{Main|Bibliography of the history of the Republican Party}}

{{Refbegin|30em}} * ''The Almanac of American Politics 2022'' (2022) details on members of Congress, and the governors: their records and election results; also state and district politics; revised every two years since 1975. [https://www.amazon.com/Almanac-American-Politics-Richard-Cohen/dp/195237409X/ Details]. {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220107175827/https://www.amazon.com/Almanac-American-Politics-Richard-Cohen/dp/195237409X |date=January 7, 2022 }}; see ''The Almanac of American Politics''. * ''American National Biography'' (20 volumes, 1999) covers all politicians no longer alive; online at many academic libraries and at [https://wikipedialibrary.wmflabs.org/partners/84/ Wikipedia Library] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201030170202/https://wikipedialibrary.wmflabs.org/partners/84/ |date=October 30, 2020 }}. * Aberbach, Joel D., ed. and Peele, Gillian, ed. ''Crisis of Conservatism?: The Republican Party, the Conservative Movement, and American Politics after Bush'' (Oxford UP, 2011). 403pp * Aistrup, Joseph A. ''The Southern Strategy Revisited: Republican Top-Down Advancement in the South'' (1996). * Bauman, Dan, and Brock Read. "A Brief History of GOP Attempts to Kill the Education Dept" ''Chronicle of Higher Education'' (June 21, 2018) * Black, Earl, and Merle Black. ''The Rise of Southern Republicans'' (2002). * Bowen, Michael, ''The Roots of Modern Conservatism: Dewey, Taft, and the Battle for the Soul of the Republican Party.'' (U of North Carolina Press, 2011). xii, 254pp. * Brennan, Mary C. ''Turning Right in the Sixties: The Conservative Capture of the GOP'' (1995). * Conger, Kimberly H. ''The Christian Right in Republican State Politics'' (2010) 202 pages; focuses on Arizona, Indiana, and Missouri. * Crane, Michael. ''The Political Junkie Handbook: The Definitive Reference Books on Politics'' (2004) covers all the major issues explaining the parties' positions. * Critchlow, Donald T. ''The Conservative Ascendancy: How the Republican Right Rose to Power in Modern America'' (2nd ed. 2011). * Ehrman, John, ''The Eighties: America in the Age of Reagan'' (2005). * Fauntroy, Michael K. ''Republicans and the Black vote'' (2007). * {{cite book |last=Fried|first=J|title=Democrats and Republicans – Rhetoric and Reality|publisher=Algora Publishing|location=New York|year=2008}} * Frank, Thomas. ''What's the Matter with Kansas? How Conservatives Won the Heart of America'' (2005). * Frum, David. ''What's Right: The New Conservative Majority and the Remaking of America'' (1996). * Gould, Lewis L. ''The Republicans : A History of the Grand Old Party'' (2nd ed, 2014); First edition 2003 was entitled: ''Grand Old Party: A History of the Republicans'' [https://books.google.com/books?id=LlppAgAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=gould+republicans&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=1&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjfwoCvn9GSAxU4IEQIHTxkHncQ6AF6BAgIEAM online]; the standard scholarly history * Hemmer, Nicole. ''Partisans: The Conservative Revolutionaries Who Remade American Politics in the 1990s'' (2022) * Judis, John B. and Ruy Teixeira. ''The Emerging Democratic Majority'' (2004), two Democrats project social trends. * Kabaservice, Geoffrey. ''Rule and Ruin: The Downfall of Moderation and the Destruction of the Republican Party, From Eisenhower to the Tea Party'' (2012) scholarly history {{ISBN|978-0199768400}}. * Kleppner, Paul, et al. ''The Evolution of American Electoral Systems'' (1983), applies the party systems model. * Kurian, George Thomas ed. ''The Encyclopedia of the Republican Party'' (4 vol., 2002). * Lamis, Alexander P. ed. ''Southern Politics in the 1990s'' (1999). * Levendusky, Matthew. ''The Partisan Sort: How Liberals Became Democrats and Conservatives Became Republicans'' (2009). Chicago Studies in American Politics. * Mason, Robert. ''The Republican Party and American Politics from Hoover to Reagan'' (2011). * Mason, Robert and Morgan, Iwan (eds.) ''Seeking a New Majority: The Republican Party and American Politics, 1960–1980.'' (2013) Nashville, TN. Vanderbilt University Press. 2013. * Mayer, George H. ''The Republican Party, 1854–1966.'' 2d ed. (1967); an older standard scholarly history; [https://archive.org/details/republicanparty100maye online] * {{cite book|last=McPherson|first=James M.|title=Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era|year=1988|publisher=Oxford University Press|location=Oxford; New York|isbn=978-0195038637|title-link=Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era}} * Oakes, James. ''The Crooked Path to Abolition: Abraham Lincoln and the Antislavery Constitution'' (W.W. Norton, 2021). * Perlstein, Rick. ''Before the Storm: Barry Goldwater and the Unmaking of the American Consensus'' (2002), broad account of 1964. * Perlstein, Rick. ''Nixonland: The Rise of a President and the Fracturing of America'' (2009). * Reinhard, David W. ''The Republican Right since 1945'' (1983). * Ruffini, Patrick. '' Party of the people: Inside the multiracial populist coalition remaking the GOP'' (2023) [https://books.google.com/books?id=eR-UEAAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=Party+of+the+people++Ruffini&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=1&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjvo-CjsdGSAxV5J0QIHSoPJCwQ6AF6BAgOEAM online] * Rutland, Robert Allen. ''The Republicans: From Lincoln to Bush'' (1996), popular history [https://books.google.com/books?id=hZfltNKnQoMC&printsec=frontcover&dq=Rutland+Robert+Allen+Republican&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=1&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiOpav7sdGSAxXELkQIHcvWJJQQ6AF6BAgHEAM online] * 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), textbook. * Schlesinger, Arthur Meier Jr. ed. ''History of American Presidential Elections, 1789–2000'' (various multivolume editions, latest is 2001). Essays on the most important election are reprinted in Schlesinger, ''The Coming to Power: Critical presidential elections in American history'' (1972). [https://archive.org/search?query=title%3A%28%20History%20of%20American%20Presidential%20Elections%29%20AND%20creator%3A%28Schlesinger%29 online editions] * Shafer, Byron E. and Anthony J. Badger, eds. ''Contesting Democracy: Substance and Structure in American Political History, 1775–2000'' (2001), essays by specialists on each time period: ** 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. * Shafer, Byron, and Richard Johnston. ''The End of Southern Exceptionalism'' (2006), uses statistical election data and polls to argue that GOP growth was primarily a response to economic change. * Steely, Mel. ''The Gentleman from Georgia: The Biography of Newt Gingrich'' Mercer University Press, 2000. {{ISBN|0865546711}}. * Sundquist, James L. ''Dynamics of the Party System: Alignment and Realignment of Political Parties in the United States'' (1983). * Wooldridge, Adrian and John Micklethwait. ''The Right Nation: Conservative Power in America'' (2004). {{Refend}}

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