Republican Party (United States)

The Republican Party, commonly known as the Grand Old Party (GOP), is the major conservative and right-wing 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 U.S. territories. It rapidly gained support in the North, drawing in former Whigs, Free Soilers, and former Know Nothings. Abraham Lincoln's election in 1860 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. The 1980 election of Ronald Reagan 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 culminated in the 2016 election of Donald Trump, whose leadership style and political agenda—often referred to as Trumpism—reshaped the party's identity. By the early 2020s, the party had largely shifted towards illiberalism, with scholars noting democratic backsliding in the U.S. since Trump's second presidency began in 2025. A significant faction has begun to self-identify as white nationalist. In the 21st century, the Republican Party's strongest demographics are rural voters, White Southerners, evangelicals, men, senior citizens, and voters without college degrees.

On economic issues, the party has maintained a pro-capital attitude since its inception. It currently supports Trump's mercantilist policies, including tariffs on imports on all countries at the highest rates in the world while opposing globalization and free trade. It also supports low income taxes and deregulation while opposing labor unions, a public health insurance option and single-payer healthcare. On social issues, it advocates for restricting abortion and supports some tough-on-crime policies such as capital punishment but is divided on the prohibition of recreational drug use. It promotes gun ownership, easing gun restrictions, and opposes transgender rights. Views on immigration within the party vary; it generally supports limited legal immigration but is strongly in favor of crackdowns on illegal immigration and the deportation of those without permanent legal status, such as undocumented immigrants and those with temporary protected status. In foreign policy, the party mostly supports U.S. aid to Israel but is divided on aid to Ukraine and improving relations with Russia, with Trump's ascent empowering more isolationist foreign policy factions.