The Democratic Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States. Since the late 1850s, its main political rival has been the Republican Party; the two parties have since dominated American politics.
Democratic Party | |
---|---|
Chairperson | Jaime Harrison |
Governing body | Democratic National Committee[1][2] |
U.S. President | Joe Biden |
U.S. Vice President | Kamala Harris |
Senate Majority Leader | Chuck Schumer |
House Minority Leader | Hakeem Jeffries |
Founders | |
Founded | January 8, 1828[3] Baltimore, Maryland, U.S. |
Preceded by | Democratic-Republican Party |
Headquarters | 430 South Capitol St. SE, Washington, D.C., U.S. |
Student wing | |
Youth wing | Young Democrats of America |
Women's wing | National Federation of Democratic Women |
Overseas wing | Democrats Abroad |
Ideology | |
Political position | Center-left[b][disputed – discuss] |
Caucuses | Problem Solvers Caucus Blue Dog Coalition New Democrat Coalition Congressional Progressive Caucus |
Colors | Blue |
Senate | 47 / 100[c] |
House of Representatives | 213 / 435 |
State Governors | 23 / 50 |
State upper chambers | 857 / 1,973 |
State lower chambers | 2,425 / 5,413 |
Territorial Governors | 4 / 5 |
Seats in Territorial upper chambers | 31 / 97 |
Seats in Territorial lower chambers | 9 / 91 |
Election symbol | |
Website | |
democrats | |
The Democratic Party was founded in 1828. Martin Van Buren of New York played the central role in building the coalition of state organizations that formed a new party as a vehicle to elect Andrew Jackson of Tennessee. The Democratic Party is the world's oldest active political party.[11][12][13] It initially supported expansive presidential power,[14] the interests of slave states,[15] agrarianism,[16] and geographical expansionism,[16] while opposing a national bank and high tariffs.[16] It split in 1860 over slavery[clarification needed] and won the presidency only twice[d] between 1860 and 1912, although it won the popular vote two more times in that period. In the late 19th century, it continued to oppose high tariffs and had fierce internal debates on the gold standard. In the early 20th century, it partially (not all factions) supported progressive reforms and opposed imperialism, with Woodrow Wilson winning the White House in 1912 and 1916.
Since Franklin D. Roosevelt was elected president in 1932, the Democratic Party has promoted a liberal platform that includes support for Social Security and unemployment insurance.[4][17][18] The New Deal attracted strong support for the party from recent European immigrants but diminished the party's pro-business wing.[19][20][21] From late in Roosevelt's administration through the 1950s, a minority in the party's Southern wing joined with conservative Republicans to slow and stop progressive domestic reforms.[22] Following the Great Society era of progressive legislation under Lyndon B. Johnson, who was often able to overcome the conservative coalition in the 1960s, the core bases of the parties shifted, with the Southern states becoming more reliably Republican and the Northeastern states becoming more reliably Democratic.[23][24] The party's labor union element has become smaller since the 1970s,[25][26] and as the American electorate shifted in a more conservative direction following the presidency of Ronald Reagan, the election of Bill Clinton marked a move for the party toward the Third Way, moving the party's economic stance towards market-based economic policy.[27][28][29] Barack Obama oversaw the party's passage of the Affordable Care Act in 2010. During his and Joe Biden's presidency, the party has adopted an increasingly progressive economic agenda[30][31] and more left-wing views on cultural and social issues.[32]
In the 21st century, the party is strongest among urban voters,[33][34] union workers, college graduates,[35][36][37][38] women, African Americans, American Jews,[39][40][41][42] LGBT+ people,[43][44] and the unmarried. On social issues, it advocates for abortion rights,[45] voting rights,[46] LGBT rights,[47] action on climate change,[48] and the legalization of marijuana.[49] On economic issues, the party favors healthcare reform, universal child care, paid sick leave and supporting unions.[50][51][52][53] In foreign policy, the party supports liberal internationalism as well as tough stances against China and Russia.[54][55][56]
History
Democratic Party officials often trace its origins to the Democratic-Republican Party, founded by Thomas Jefferson, James Madison and other influential opponents of the conservative Federalists in 1792.[57][58] That party died out before the modern Democratic Party was organized;[59] the Jeffersonian party also inspired the Whigs and modern Republicans.[60] Historians argue that the modern Democratic Party was first organized in the late 1820s with the election of war hero Andrew Jackson[13] of Tennessee, making it the world's oldest active political party.[12] It was predominately built by Martin Van Buren, who assembled a wide cadre of politicians in every state behind Jackson.[11][13]
Since the nomination of William Jennings Bryan in 1896, the party has generally positioned itself to the left of the Republican Party on economic issues. Democrats have been more liberal on civil rights since 1948, although conservative factions within the Democratic Party that opposed them persisted in the South until the 1960s. On foreign policy, both parties have changed positions several times.[61]
Background
The Democratic Party evolved from the Jeffersonian Republican or Democratic-Republican Party organized by Jefferson and Madison in opposition to the Federalist Party.[62] The Democratic-Republican Party favored republicanism; a weak federal government; states' rights; agrarian interests (especially Southern planters); and strict adherence to the Constitution. The party opposed a national bank and Great Britain.[63] After the War of 1812, the Federalists virtually disappeared and the only national political party left was the Democratic-Republicans, which was prone to splinter along regional lines.[64] The era of one-party rule in the United States, known as the Era of Good Feelings, lasted from 1816 until 1828, when Andrew Jackson became president. Jackson and Martin Van Buren worked with allies in each state to form a new Democratic Party on a national basis. In the 1830s, the Whig Party coalesced into the main rival to the Democrats.
Before 1860, the Democratic Party supported expansive presidential power,[14] the interests of slave states,[15] agrarianism,[16] and expansionism,[16] while opposing a national bank and high tariffs.[16]
19th century
The Democratic-Republican Party split over the choice of a successor to President James Monroe.[65] The faction that supported many of the old Jeffersonian principles, led by Andrew Jackson and Martin Van Buren, became the modern Democratic Party.[66] Historian Mary Beth Norton explains the transformation in 1828:
Jacksonians believed the people's will had finally prevailed. Through a lavishly financed coalition of state parties, political leaders, and newspaper editors, a popular movement had elected the president. The Democrats became the nation's first well-organized national party ... and tight party organization became the hallmark of nineteenth-century American politics.[67]
Behind the platforms issued by state and national parties stood a widely shared political outlook that characterized the Democrats:
The Democrats represented a wide range of views but shared a fundamental commitment to the Jeffersonian concept of an agrarian society. They viewed the central government as the enemy of individual liberty. The 1824 "corrupt bargain" had strengthened their suspicion of Washington politics. ... Jacksonians feared the concentration of economic and political power. They believed that government intervention in the economy benefited special-interest groups and created corporate monopolies that favored the rich. They sought to restore the independence of the individual—the artisan and the ordinary farmer—by ending federal support of banks and corporations and restricting the use of paper currency, which they distrusted. Their definition of the proper role of government tended to be negative, and Jackson's political power was largely expressed in negative acts. He exercised the veto more than all previous presidents combined. ... Nor did Jackson share reformers' humanitarian concerns. He had no sympathy for American Indians, initiating the removal of the Cherokees along the Trail of Tears.[68]
Opposing factions led by Henry Clay helped form the Whig Party. The Democratic Party had a small yet decisive advantage over the Whigs until the 1850s when the Whigs fell apart over the issue of slavery. In 1854, angry with the Kansas–Nebraska Act, anti-slavery Democrats left the party and joined Northern Whigs to form the Republican Party.[69][70] Martin van Buren also helped found the Free Soil Party to oppose the spread of slavery, running as its candidate in the 1848 presidential election, before returning to the Democratic Party and staying loyal to the Union.[71]
The Democrats split over slavery, with Northern and Southern tickets in the election of 1860, in which the Republican Party gained ascendancy.[72] The radical pro-slavery Fire-Eaters led walkouts at the two conventions when the delegates would not adopt a resolution supporting the extension of slavery into territories even if the voters of those territories did not want it. These Southern Democrats nominated the pro-slavery incumbent vice president, John C. Breckinridge of Kentucky, for president and General Joseph Lane, of Oregon, for vice president. The Northern Democrats nominated Senator Stephen A. Douglas of Illinois for president and former Georgia Governor Herschel V. Johnson for vice president. This fracturing of the Democrats led to a Republican victory and Abraham Lincoln was elected the 16th president of the United States.[73]
As the American Civil War broke out, Northern Democrats were divided into War Democrats and Peace Democrats. The Confederate States of America deliberately avoided organized political parties. Most War Democrats rallied to Republican President Abraham Lincoln and the Republicans' National Union Party in the election of 1864, which featured Andrew Johnson on the Union ticket to attract fellow Democrats. Johnson replaced Lincoln in 1865, but he stayed independent of both parties.[74]
The Democrats benefited from white Southerners' resentment of Reconstruction after the war and consequent hostility to the Republican Party. After Redeemers ended Reconstruction in the 1870s and following the often extremely violent disenfranchisement of African Americans led by such white supremacist Democratic politicians as Benjamin Tillman of South Carolina in the 1880s and 1890s, the South, voting Democratic, became known as the "Solid South". Although Republicans won all but two presidential elections, the Democrats remained competitive. The party was dominated by pro-business Bourbon Democrats led by Samuel J. Tilden and Grover Cleveland, who represented mercantile, banking, and railroad interests; opposed imperialism and overseas expansion; fought for the gold standard; opposed bimetallism; and crusaded against corruption, high taxes and tariffs. Cleveland was elected to non-consecutive presidential terms in 1884 and 1892.[75]
20th century
Early 20th century
Agrarian Democrats demanding free silver, drawing on Populist ideas, overthrew the Bourbon Democrats in 1896 and nominated William Jennings Bryan for the presidency (a nomination repeated by Democrats in 1900 and 1908). Bryan waged a vigorous campaign attacking Eastern moneyed interests, but he lost to Republican William McKinley.[76]
The Democrats took control of the House in 1910, and Woodrow Wilson won election as president in 1912 (when the Republicans split) and 1916. Wilson effectively led Congress to put to rest the issues of tariffs, money, and antitrust, which had dominated politics for 40 years, with new progressive laws. He failed to secure Senate passage of the Versailles Treaty (ending the war with Germany and joining the League of Nations).[77] The weakened party was deeply divided by issues such as the KKK and prohibition in the 1920s. However, it did organize new ethnic voters in Northern cities.[78]
After World War I ended and continuing through the Great Depression, the Democratic and Republican Parties both largely believed in American exceptionalism over European monarchies and state socialism that existed elsewhere in the world.[79]
1930s–1960s and the rise of the New Deal coalition
The Great Depression in 1929 that began under Republican President Herbert Hoover and the Republican Congress set the stage for a more liberal government as the Democrats controlled the House of Representatives nearly uninterrupted from 1930 until 1994, the Senate for 44 of 48 years from 1930, and won most presidential elections until 1968. Franklin D. Roosevelt, elected to the presidency in 1932, came forth with federal government programs called the New Deal. New Deal liberalism meant the regulation of business (especially finance and banking) and the promotion of labor unions as well as federal spending to aid the unemployed, help distressed farmers and undertake large-scale public works projects. It marked the start of the American welfare state.[80] The opponents, who stressed opposition to unions, support for business and low taxes, started calling themselves "conservatives".[81]
Until the 1980s, the Democratic Party was a coalition of two parties divided by the Mason–Dixon line: liberal Democrats in the North and culturally conservative voters in the South, who though benefitting from many of the New Deal public works projects, opposed increasing civil rights initiatives advocated by northeastern liberals. The polarization grew stronger after Roosevelt died. Southern Democrats formed a key part of the bipartisan conservative coalition in an alliance with most of the Midwestern Republicans. The economically activist philosophy of Franklin D. Roosevelt, which has strongly influenced American liberalism, shaped much of the party's economic agenda after 1932.[82] From the 1930s to the mid-1960s, the liberal New Deal coalition usually controlled the presidency while the conservative coalition usually controlled Congress.[83]
1960s–1980s and the collapse of the New Deal coalition
Issues facing parties and the United States after World War II included the Cold War and the civil rights movement. Republicans attracted conservatives and, after the 1960s, white Southerners from the Democratic coalition with their use of the Southern strategy and resistance to New Deal and Great Society liberalism. Until the 1950s, African Americans had traditionally supported the Republican Party because of its anti-slavery civil rights policies. Following the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Voting Rights Act of 1965, the Southern states became more reliably Republican in presidential politics, while Northeastern states became more reliably Democratic.[84][85][86][43] Studies show that Southern whites, which were a core constituency in the Democratic Party, shifted to the Republican Party due to racial backlash and social conservatism.[87][88][89]
The election of President John F. Kennedy from Massachusetts in 1960 partially reflected this shift. In the campaign, Kennedy attracted a new generation of younger voters. In his agenda dubbed the New Frontier, Kennedy introduced a host of social programs and public works projects, along with enhanced support of the space program, proposing a crewed spacecraft trip to the moon by the end of the decade. He pushed for civil rights initiatives and proposed the Civil Rights Act of 1964, but with his assassination in November 1963, he was not able to see its passage.[90]
Kennedy's successor Lyndon B. Johnson was able to persuade the largely conservative Congress to pass the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and with a more progressive Congress in 1965 passed much of the Great Society, including Medicare and Medicaid, which consisted of an array of social programs designed to help the poor, sick, and elderly. Kennedy and Johnson's advocacy of civil rights further solidified black support for the Democrats but had the effect of alienating Southern whites who would eventually gravitate toward the Republican Party, particularly after the election of Ronald Reagan to the presidency in 1980. Many conservative Southern Democrats defected to the Republican Party, beginning with the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the general leftward shift of the party.[91][86][43][88]
The United States' involvement in the Vietnam War in the 1960s was another divisive issue that further fractured the fault lines of the Democrats' coalition. After the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution in 1964, President Johnson committed a large contingency of combat troops to Vietnam, but the escalation failed to drive the Viet Cong from South Vietnam, resulting in an increasing quagmire, which by 1968 had become the subject of widespread anti-war protests in the United States and elsewhere. With increasing casualties and nightly news reports bringing home troubling images from Vietnam, the costly military engagement became increasingly unpopular, alienating many of the kinds of young voters that the Democrats had attracted in the early 1960s. The protests that year along with assassinations of Martin Luther King Jr. and Democratic presidential candidate Senator Robert F. Kennedy (younger brother of John F. Kennedy) climaxed in turbulence at the hotly-contested Democratic National Convention that summer in Chicago (which amongst the ensuing turmoil inside and outside of the convention hall nominated Vice President Hubert Humphrey) in a series of events that proved to mark a significant turning point in the decline of the Democratic Party's broad coalition.[92]
Republican presidential nominee Richard Nixon was able to capitalize on the confusion of the Democrats that year, and won the 1968 election to become the 37th president. He won re-election in a landslide in 1972 against Democratic nominee George McGovern, who like Robert F. Kennedy, reached out to the younger anti-war and counterculture voters, but unlike Kennedy, was not able to appeal to the party's more traditional white working-class constituencies. During Nixon's second term, his presidency was rocked by the Watergate scandal, which forced him to resign in 1974. He was succeeded by vice president Gerald Ford, who served a brief tenure.
Watergate offered the Democrats an opportunity to recoup, and their nominee Jimmy Carter won the 1976 presidential election. With the initial support of evangelical Christian voters in the South, Carter was temporarily able to reunite the disparate factions within the party, but inflation and the Iran Hostage Crisis of 1979–1980 took their toll, resulting in a landslide victory for Republican presidential nominee Ronald Reagan in 1980, which shifted the political landscape in favor of the Republicans for years to come. The influx of conservative Democrats into the Republican Party is often cited as a reason for the Republican Party's shift further to the right during the late 20th century as well as the shift of its base from the Northeast and Midwest to the South.[93][94]
1990s and Third Way centrism
With the ascendancy of the Republicans under Ronald Reagan, the Democrats searched for ways to respond yet were unable to succeed by running traditional candidates, such as former vice president and Democratic presidential nominee Walter Mondale and Massachusetts Governor Michael Dukakis, who lost to Reagan and George H.W. Bush in the 1984 and 1988 presidential elections, respectively. Many Democrats attached their hopes to the future star of Gary Hart, who had challenged Mondale in the 1984 primaries running on a theme of "New Ideas"; and in the subsequent 1988 primaries became the de facto front-runner and virtual "shoo-in" for the Democratic presidential nomination before a sex scandal ended his campaign. The party nevertheless began to seek out a younger generation of leaders, who like Hart had been inspired by the pragmatic idealism of John F. Kennedy.[95]
Arkansas governor Bill Clinton was one such figure, who was elected president in 1992 as the Democratic nominee. The Democratic Leadership Council was a campaign organization connected to Clinton that advocated a realignment and triangulation under the re-branded "New Democrat" label.[96][27][28] The party adopted a synthesis of neoliberal economic policies with cultural liberalism, with the voter base after Reagan having shifted considerably to the right.[96] In an effort to appeal both to liberals and to fiscal conservatives, Democrats began to advocate for a balanced budget and market economy tempered by government intervention (mixed economy), along with a continued emphasis on social justice and affirmative action. The economic policy adopted by the Democratic Party, including the former Clinton administration, has been referred to as "Third Way".
The Democrats lost control of Congress in the 1994 elections to the Republicans, however, in 1996 Clinton was re-elected, becoming the first Democratic president since Franklin D. Roosevelt to win a second full term.[97] Clinton's vice president Al Gore ran to succeed him as president, and won the popular vote, but after a controversial election dispute over a Florida recount settled by the U.S. Supreme Court (which ruled 5–4 in favor of Bush), he lost the 2000 election to Republican opponent George W. Bush in the Electoral College.[98]
21st century
2000s
In the wake of the 2001 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon as well as the growing concern over global warming, some of the party's key issues in the early 21st century have included combating terrorism while preserving human rights, expanding access to health care, labor rights, and environmental protection. Democrats regained majority control of both the House and the Senate in the 2006 elections. Barack Obama won the Democratic Party's nomination and was elected as the first African American president in 2008. Under the Obama presidency, the party moved forward reforms including an economic stimulus package, the Dodd–Frank financial reform act, and the Affordable Care Act.[99]
2010s
In the 2010 midterm elections, the Democratic Party lost control of the House as well as its majorities in several state legislatures and governorships. In the 2012 elections, President Obama was re-elected, but the party remained in the minority in the House of Representatives and lost control of the Senate in the 2014 midterm elections. After the 2016 election of Donald Trump, who lost the popular vote to Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, the Democratic Party transitioned into the role of an opposition party and held neither the presidency nor Congress for two years.[100] However, the party won back the House in the 2018 midterm elections under the leadership of Nancy Pelosi.
Democrats were extremely critical of President Trump, particularly his policies on immigration, healthcare, and abortion, as well as his response to the COVID-19 pandemic.[101][102][103] In December 2019, Democrats in the House of Representatives impeached Trump, although he was acquitted in the Republican-controlled Senate.[104]
2020s
In November 2020, Democrat Joe Biden defeated Trump to win the 2020 presidential election.[105] He began his term with extremely narrow Democratic majorities in the U.S. House and Senate.[106][107] During the Biden presidency, the party has been characterized as adopting an increasingly progressive economic agenda.[30] In 2022, Biden appointed Ketanji Brown Jackson, the first Black woman on the Supreme Court. However, she was replacing liberal justice Stephen Breyer, so she did not alter the court's 6–3 split between conservatives (the majority) and liberals.[108][109][110][111] After Dobbs v. Jackson (decided June 24, 2022), which led to abortion bans in much of the country, the Democratic Party rallied behind abortion rights.[45]
In the 2022 midterm elections, Democrats dramatically outperformed historical trends and a widely anticipated red wave did not materialize.[112][113] The party only narrowly lost its majority in the U.S. House and expanded its majority in the U.S. Senate,[114][115][116] along with several gains at the state level.[117][118][119][120]
In July 2024, after a series of age and health concerns, Biden became the first incumbent president since Lyndon B. Johnson in 1968 to withdraw from running for reelection, the first since the 19th century to withdraw after serving only one term,[e] and the only one to ever withdraw after already winning the primaries.[121][123]
As of 2024, Democrats hold the presidency and a majority in the U.S. Senate, as well as 23 state governorships, 19 state legislatures, 17 state government trifectas, and the mayorships in the majority of the country's major cities.[124] Three of the nine current U.S. Supreme Court justices were appointed by Democratic presidents. By registered members, the Democratic Party is the largest party in the U.S. and the fourth largest in the world. Including the incumbent Biden, 16 Democrats have served as president of the United States.[4]
Name and symbols
The Democratic-Republican Party splintered in 1824 into the short-lived National Republican Party and the Jacksonian movement which in 1828 became the Democratic Party. Under the Jacksonian era, the term "The Democracy" was in use by the party, but the name "Democratic Party" was eventually settled upon[125] and became the official name in 1844.[126] Members of the party are called "Democrats" or "Dems".
The most common mascot symbol for the party has been the donkey, or jackass.[127] Andrew Jackson's enemies twisted his name to "jackass" as a term of ridicule regarding a stupid and stubborn animal. However, the Democrats liked the common-man implications and picked it up too, therefore the image persisted and evolved.[128] Its most lasting impression came from the cartoons of Thomas Nast from 1870 in Harper's Weekly. Cartoonists followed Nast and used the donkey to represent the Democrats and the elephant to represent the Republicans.
In the early 20th century, the traditional symbol of the Democratic Party in Indiana, Kentucky, Oklahoma and Ohio was the rooster, as opposed to the Republican eagle.[131] The rooster was also adopted as an official symbol of the national Democratic Party.[132] In 1904, the Alabama Democratic Party chose, as the logo to put on its ballots, a rooster with the motto "White supremacy – For the right."[133] The words "White supremacy" were replaced with "Democrats" in 1966.[134][129] In 1996, the Alabama Democratic Party dropped the rooster, citing racist and white supremacist connotations linked with the symbol.[130] The rooster symbol still appears on Oklahoma, Kentucky, Indiana, and West Virginia ballots.[131] In New York, the Democratic ballot symbol is a five-pointed star.[135]
Although both major political parties (and many minor ones) use the traditional American colors of red, white, and blue in their marketing and representations, since election night 2000 blue has become the identifying color for the Democratic Party while red has become the identifying color for the Republican Party. That night, for the first time all major broadcast television networks used the same color scheme for the electoral map: blue states for Al Gore (Democratic nominee) and red states for George W. Bush (Republican nominee). Since then, the color blue has been widely used by the media to represent the party. This is contrary to common practice outside of the United States where blue is the traditional color of the right and red the color of the left.[136]
Jefferson-Jackson Day is the annual fundraising event (dinner) held by Democratic Party organizations across the United States.[137] It is named after Presidents Thomas Jefferson and Andrew Jackson, whom the party regards as its distinguished early leaders.
The song "Happy Days Are Here Again" is the unofficial song of the Democratic Party. It was used prominently when Franklin D. Roosevelt was nominated for president at the 1932 Democratic National Convention and remains a sentimental favorite for Democrats. For example, Paul Shaffer played the theme on the Late Show with David Letterman after the Democrats won Congress in 2006. "Don't Stop" by Fleetwood Mac was adopted by Bill Clinton's presidential campaign in 1992 and has endured as a popular Democratic song. The emotionally similar song "Beautiful Day" by the band U2 has also become a favorite theme song for Democratic candidates. John Kerry used the song during his 2004 presidential campaign and several Democratic congressional candidates used it as a celebratory tune in 2006.[138][139]
As a traditional anthem for its presidential nominating convention, Aaron Copland's "Fanfare for the Common Man" is traditionally performed at the beginning of the Democratic National Convention.
Structure
National committee
The Democratic National Committee (DNC) is responsible for promoting Democratic campaign activities. While the DNC is responsible for overseeing the process of writing the Democratic Platform, the DNC is more focused on campaign and organizational strategy than public policy. In presidential elections, it supervises the Democratic National Convention. The national convention is subject to the charter of the party and the ultimate authority within the Democratic Party when it is in session, with the DNC running the party's organization at other times. Since 2021, the DNC has been chaired by Jaime Harrison.[140]
State parties
Each state also has a state committee, made up of elected committee members as well as ex officio committee members (usually elected officials and representatives of major constituencies), which in turn elects a chair. County, town, city, and ward committees generally are composed of individuals elected at the local level. State and local committees often coordinate campaign activities within their jurisdiction, oversee local conventions, and in some cases primaries or caucuses, and may have a role in nominating candidates for elected office under state law. Rarely do they have much direct funding, but in 2005 DNC Chairman Dean began a program (called the "50 State Strategy") of using DNC national funds to assist all state parties and pay for full-time professional staffers.[141]
In addition, state-level party committees operate in the territories of American Samoa, Guam, and Virgin Islands, the commonwealths of Northern Mariana Islands and Puerto Rico, and the District of Columbia, with all but Puerto Rico being active in nominating candidates for both presidential and territorial contests, while Puerto Rico's Democratic Party is organized only to nominate presidential candidates. The Democrats Abroad committee is organized by American voters who reside outside of U.S. territory to nominate presidential candidates. All such party committees are accorded recognition as state parties and are allowed to elect both members to the National Committee as well as delegates to the National Convention.
Major party committees and groups
The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) assists party candidates in House races and is chaired by Representative Suzan DelBene of Washington. Similarly, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC), chaired by Senator Gary Peters of Michigan, raises funds for Senate races. The Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee (DLCC), chaired by Majority Leader of the New York State Senate Andrea Stewart-Cousins, is a smaller organization that focuses on state legislative races. The Democratic Governors Association (DGA) is an organization supporting the candidacies of Democratic gubernatorial nominees and incumbents. Likewise, the mayors of the largest cities and urban centers convene as the National Conference of Democratic Mayors.[142]
The DNC sponsors the College Democrats of America (CDA), a student-outreach organization with the goal of training and engaging a new generation of Democratic activists. Democrats Abroad is the organization for Americans living outside the United States. They work to advance the party's goals and encourage Americans living abroad to support the Democrats. The Young Democrats of America (YDA) and the High School Democrats of America (HSDA) are young adult and youth-led organizations respectively that attempt to draw in and mobilize young people for Democratic candidates but operates outside of the DNC.
Political positions
The party's platform blends civil liberty and social equality with support for a mixed capitalist economy.[143] On social issues, it advocates for the continued legality of abortion,[45] the legalization of marijuana,[49] and LGBT rights.[47]
On economic issues, it favors universal healthcare coverage, universal child care, paid sick leave, corporate governance reform, and supporting unions.[50][51][52][53]
- Economic policy
- Expand Social Security and safety-net programs.[144]
- Increase the capital gains tax rate to 39.6% for taxpayers with annual income above $1 million.[145]
- Cut taxes for the working and middle classes as well as small businesses.[146]
- Change tax rules to discourage shipping jobs overseas.[146]
- Increase federal and state minimum wages.[147]
- Modernize and expand access to public education and provide universal preschool education.[148]
- Support the goal of universal health care through a public health insurance option or expanding Medicare/Medicaid.[149]
- Increase investments in infrastructure development[150] as well as scientific and technological research.[151]
- Offer tax credits to make clean energy more accessible for consumers and increase domestic production of clean energy.[152]
- Uphold labor protections and the right to unionize.[153][154]
- Reform the student loan system and allow for refinancing student loans.[155]
- Make college more affordable.[147][156]
- Mandate equal pay for equal work regardless of gender, race, or ethnicity.[157]
- Social policy
- Decriminalize or legalize marijuana.[147]
- Uphold network neutrality.[158]
- Implement campaign finance reform.[159]
- Uphold voting rights and easy access to voting.[160][161]
- Support same-sex marriage and ban conversion therapy.[147]
- Allow legal access to abortions and women's reproductive health care.[150]
- Reform the immigration system and allow for a pathway to citizenship.[150]
- Expand background checks and reduce access to assault weapons to address gun violence.[150]
- Improve privacy laws and curtail government surveillance.[150]
- Oppose torture.[162][163]
- Abolish capital punishment.[164]
- Recognize and defend Internet freedom worldwide.[146]
Economic issues
The social safety net and strong labor unions have been at the heart of Democratic economic policy since the New Deal in the 1930s.[143] The Democratic Party's economic policy positions, as measured by votes in Congress, tend to align with those of the middle class.[44][165][166][167][168] Democrats support a progressive tax system, higher minimum wages, equal opportunity employment, Social Security, universal health care, public education, and subsidized housing.[143] They also support infrastructure development and clean energy investments to achieve economic development and job creation.[169]
Since the 1990s, the party has at times supported centrist economic reforms that cut the size of government and reduced market regulations.[170] The party has generally rejected both laissez-faire economics and market socialism, instead favoring Keynesian economics within a capitalist market-based system.[171]
Fiscal policy
Democrats support a more progressive tax structure to provide more services and reduce economic inequality by making sure that the wealthiest Americans pay more in taxes.[172] Democrats and Republicans traditionally take differing stances on eradicating poverty. Brady said "Our poverty level is the direct consequence of our weak social policies, which are a direct consequence of weak political actors".[173] They oppose the cutting of social services, such as Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid,[174] believing it to be harmful to efficiency and social justice. Democrats believe the benefits of social services in monetary and non-monetary terms are a more productive labor force and cultured population and believe that the benefits of this are greater than any benefits that could be derived from lower taxes, especially on top earners, or cuts to social services. Furthermore, Democrats see social services as essential toward providing positive freedom, freedom derived from economic opportunity. The Democratic-led House of Representatives reinstated the PAYGO (pay-as-you-go) budget rule at the start of the 110th Congress.[175]
Minimum wage
The Democratic Party favors raising the minimum wage. The Fair Minimum Wage Act of 2007 was an early component of the Democrats' agenda during the 110th Congress. In 2006, the Democrats supported six state-ballot initiatives to increase the minimum wage and all six initiatives passed.[176]
In 2017, Senate Democrats introduced the Raise the Wage Act which would raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2024.[177] In 2021, Democratic president Joe Biden proposed increasing the minimum wage to $15 by 2025.[178] In many states controlled by Democrats, the state minimum wage has been increased to a rate above the federal minimum wage.[179]
Health care
Democrats call for "affordable and quality health care" and favor moving toward universal health care in a variety of forms to address rising healthcare costs. Progressive Democrats politicians favor a single-payer program or Medicare for All, while liberals prefer creating a public health insurance option.[51]
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, signed into law by President Barack Obama on March 23, 2010, has been one of the most significant pushes for universal health care. As of December 2019, more than 20 million Americans have gained health insurance under the Affordable Care Act.[180]
Education
Democrats favor improving public education by raising school standards and reforming the Head Start program. They also support universal preschool, expanding access to primary education, including through charter schools, and are generally opposed to school voucher programs. They call for addressing student loan debt and reforms to reduce college tuition.[181] Other proposals have included tuition-free public universities and reform of standardized testing. Democrats have the long-term aim of having publicly funded college education with low tuition fees (like in much of Europe and Canada), which would be available to every eligible American student. Alternatively, they encourage expanding access to post-secondary education by increasing state funding for student financial aid such as Pell Grants and college tuition tax deductions.[182]
Environment
Democrats believe that the government should protect the environment and have a history of environmentalism. In more recent years, this stance has emphasized renewable energy generation as the basis for an improved economy, greater national security, and general environmental benefits.[188] The Democratic Party is substantially more likely than the Republican Party to support environmental regulation and policies that are supportive of renewable energy.[189][190]
The Democratic Party also favors expansion of conservation lands and encourages open space and rail travel to relieve highway and airport congestion and improve air quality and the economy as it "believe[s] that communities, environmental interests, and the government should work together to protect resources while ensuring the vitality of local economies. Once Americans were led to believe they had to make a choice between the economy and the environment. They now know this is a false choice".[191]
The foremost environmental concern of the Democratic Party is climate change. Democrats, most notably former Vice President Al Gore, have pressed for stern regulation of greenhouse gases. On October 15, 2007, Gore won the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts to build greater knowledge about man-made climate change and laying the foundations for the measures needed to counteract it.[192]
Renewable energy and fossil fuels
Democrats have supported increased domestic renewable energy development, including wind and solar power farms, in an effort to reduce carbon pollution. The party's platform calls for an "all of the above" energy policy including clean energy, natural gas and domestic oil, with the desire of becoming energy independent.[176] The party has supported higher taxes on oil companies and increased regulations on coal power plants, favoring a policy of reducing long-term reliance on fossil fuels.[193][194] Additionally, the party supports stricter fuel emissions standards to prevent air pollution.
During his presidency, Joe Biden enacted the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, which is the largest allocation of funds for addressing climate change in the history of the United States.[195][196][197]
Trade
Like the Republican Party, the Democratic Party has taken widely varying views on international trade throughout its history. The Democratic Party has usually been more supportive of free trade than the Republican Party.
The Democrats dominated the Second Party System and set low tariffs designed to pay for the government but not protect industry. Their opponents the Whigs wanted high protective tariffs but usually were outvoted in Congress. Tariffs soon became a major political issue as the Whigs (1832–1852) and (after 1854) the Republicans wanted to protect their mostly northern industries and constituents by voting for higher tariffs and the Southern Democrats, which had very little industry but imported many goods voted for lower tariffs. After the Second Party System ended in 1854 the Democrats lost control and the new Republican Party had its opportunity to raise rates.[198]
During the Third Party System, Democratic president Grover Cleveland made low tariffs the centerpiece of Democratic Party policies, arguing that high tariffs were an unnecessary and unfair tax on consumers. The South and West generally supported low tariffs, while the industrial North high tariffs.[199] During the Fourth Party System, Democratic president Woodrow Wilson made a drastic lowering of tariff rates a major priority for his presidency. The 1913 Underwood Tariff cut rates, and the new revenues generated by the federal income tax made tariffs much less important in terms of economic impact and political rhetoric.[200]
During the Fifth Party System, the Reciprocal Tariff Act of 1934 was enacted during FDR's administration, marking 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.[201] After World War II, the U.S. promoted the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) established in 1947 during the Truman administration, to minimize tariffs liberalize trade among all capitalist countries.[202][203]
In the 1990s, the Clinton administration and a number of prominent Democrats pushed through a number of agreements such as the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). Since then, the party's shift away from free trade became evident in the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) vote, with 15 House Democrats voting for the agreement and 187 voting against.[204][205][206][207]
Social issues
The modern Democratic Party emphasizes social equality and equal opportunity. Democrats support voting rights and minority rights, including LGBT rights. Democratic president Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which outlawed racial segregation. Carmines and Stimson wrote "the Democratic Party appropriated racial liberalism and assumed federal responsibility for ending racial discrimination."[208][209][210]
Ideological social elements in the party include cultural liberalism, civil libertarianism, and feminism. Some Democratic social policies are immigration reform, electoral reform, and women's reproductive rights.
Equal opportunity
The Democratic Party supports equal opportunity for all Americans regardless of sex, age, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender identity, religion, creed, or national origin. The Democratic Party has broad appeal across most socioeconomic and ethnic demographics, as seen in recent exit polls.[211] Democrats also strongly support the Americans with Disabilities Act to prohibit discrimination against people based on physical or mental disability. As such, the Democrats pushed as well the ADA Amendments Act of 2008, a disability rights expansion that became law.[212]
Most Democrats support affirmative action to further equal opportunity. However, in 2020 57% voters in California voted to keep their state constitution's ban on affirmative action, despite Biden winning 63% of the vote in California in the same election.[213]
Voting rights
The party is very supportive of improving voting rights as well as election accuracy and accessibility.[214] They support extensions of voting time, including making election day a holiday. They support reforming the electoral system to eliminate gerrymandering, abolishing the electoral college, as well as passing comprehensive campaign finance reform.[159]
Abortion and reproductive rights
The Democratic position on abortion has changed significantly over time.[215][216] During the late 1960s and early 1970s, Republicans generally favored legalized abortion more than Democrats,[217] although significant heterogeneity could be found within both parties.[218] During this time, opposition to abortion tended to be concentrated within the political left in the United States. Liberal Protestants and Catholics (many of whom were Democratic voters) opposed abortion, while most conservative Protestants supported legal access to abortion services.[215][clarification needed]
In its national platforms from 1992 to 2004, the Democratic Party has called for abortion to be "safe, legal and rare"—namely, keeping it legal by rejecting laws that allow governmental interference in abortion decisions and reducing the number of abortions by promoting both knowledge of reproduction and contraception and incentives for adoption. When Congress voted on the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act in 2003, congressional Democrats were split, with a minority (including former Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid) supporting the ban and the majority of Democrats opposing the legislation.[219]
According to the 2020 Democratic Party platform, "Democrats believe every woman should be able to access high-quality reproductive health care services, including safe and legal abortion."[220]
Immigration
Like the Republican Party, the Democratic Party has taken widely varying views on immigration throughout its history. Since the 1990s, the Democratic Party has been more supportive overall of immigration than the Republican Party.[221] Many Democratic politicians have called for systematic reform of the immigration system such that residents that have come into the United States illegally have a pathway to legal citizenship. President Obama remarked in November 2013 that he felt it was "long past time to fix our broken immigration system," particularly to allow "incredibly bright young people" that came over as students to become full citizens.[222] In 2013, Democrats in the Senate passed S. 744, which would reform immigration policy to allow citizenship for illegal immigrants in the United States. The law failed to pass in the House and was never re-introduced after the 113th Congress.[223]
As of 2024, no major immigration reform legislation has been enacted into law in the 21st century, mainly due to opposition by the Republican Party.[224][225] Opposition to immigration has increased in the 2020s, with a majority of Democrats supporting increasing border security.[226][227]
LGBT rights
The Democratic position on LGBT rights has changed significantly over time.[228][229] Before the 2000s, like the Republicans, the Democratic Party often took positions hostile to LGBT rights. As of the 2020s, both voters and elected representatives within the Democratic Party are overwhelmingly supportive of LGBT rights.[228]
Support for same-sex marriage has steadily increased among the general public, including voters in both major parties, since the start of the 21st century. An April 2009 ABC News/Washington Post public opinion poll put support among Democrats at 62%.[230] A 2006 Pew Research Center poll of Democrats found that 55% supported gays adopting children with 40% opposed while 70% support gays in the military, with only 23% opposed.[231] Gallup polling from May 2009 stated that 82% of Democrats support open enlistment.[232] A 2023 Gallup public opinion poll found 84% of Democrats support same-sex marriage, compared to 71% support by the general public and 49% support by Republicans.[233]
The 2004 Democratic National Platform stated that marriage should be defined at the state level and it repudiated the Federal Marriage Amendment.[234] John Kerry, the Democratic presidential nominee in 2004, did not support same-sex marriage in his campaign. While not stating support of same-sex marriage, the 2008 platform called for repeal of the Defense of Marriage Act, which banned federal recognition of same-sex marriage and removed the need for interstate recognition, supported antidiscrimination laws and the extension of hate crime laws to LGBT people and opposed "don't ask, don't tell".[235][236] The 2012 platform included support for same-sex marriage and for the repeal of DOMA.[47]
On May 9, 2012, Barack Obama became the first sitting president to say he supports same-sex marriage.[237][238] Previously, he had opposed restrictions on same-sex marriage such as the Defense of Marriage Act, which he promised to repeal,[239] California's Prop 8,[240] and a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage (which he opposed saying that "decisions about marriage should be left to the states as they always have been"),[241] but also stated that he personally believed marriage to be between a man and a woman and that he favored civil unions that would "give same-sex couples equal legal rights and privileges as married couples".[239] Earlier, when running for the Illinois Senate in 1996 he said, "I favor legalizing same-sex marriages, and would fight efforts to prohibit such marriages".[242] Former presidents Bill Clinton[243] and Jimmy Carter[244] along with former Democratic presidential nominees Al Gore[245] and Michael Dukakis[246] support same-sex marriage. President Joe Biden has supported same-sex marriage since 2012, when he became the highest-ranking government official to support it. In 2022, Biden signed the Respect for Marriage Act; the law repealed the Defense of Marriage Act, which Biden had voted for during his Senate tenure.[247]
Status of Puerto Rico and D.C.
The 2016 Democratic Party platform declares, regarding the status of Puerto Rico: "We are committed to addressing the extraordinary challenges faced by our fellow citizens in Puerto Rico. Many stem from the fundamental question of Puerto Rico's political status. Democrats believe that the people of Puerto Rico should determine their ultimate political status from permanent options that do not conflict with the Constitution, laws, and policies of the United States. Democrats are committed to promoting economic opportunity and good-paying jobs for the hardworking people of Puerto Rico. We also believe that Puerto Ricans must be treated equally by Medicare, Medicaid, and other programs that benefit families. Puerto Ricans should be able to vote for the people who make their laws, just as they should be treated equally. All American citizens, no matter where they reside, should have the right to vote for the president of the United States. Finally, we believe that federal officials must respect Puerto Rico's local self-government as laws are implemented and Puerto Rico's budget and debt are restructured so that it can get on a path towards stability and prosperity".[150]
Also, it declares that regarding the status of the District of Columbia: "Restoring our democracy also means finally passing statehood for the District of Columbia, so that the American citizens who reside in the nation's capital have full and equal congressional rights as well as the right to have the laws and budget of their local government respected without Congressional interference."[150]
Legal issues
Gun control
With a stated goal of reducing crime and homicide, the Democratic Party has introduced various gun control measures, most notably the Gun Control Act of 1968, the Brady Bill of 1993 and Crime Control Act of 1994. In its national platform for 2008, the only statement explicitly favoring gun control was a plan calling for renewal of the 1994 Assault Weapons Ban.[249] In 2022, Democratic president Joe Biden signed the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, which among other things expanded background checks and provided incentives for states to pass red flag laws.[250] According to a 2023 Pew Research Center poll, 20% of Democrats owned firearms, compared to 32% of the general public and 45% of Republicans.[251]
Death penalty
The Democratic Party's 2020 platform states its opposition to the death penalty.[164] Although most Democrats in Congress have never seriously moved to overturn the rarely used federal death penalty, both Russ Feingold and Dennis Kucinich have introduced such bills with little success. Democrats have led efforts to overturn state death penalty laws, and prevent the reinstatement of the death penalty in those states which prohibit it, including Massachusetts, New York, and Delaware. During the Clinton administration, Democrats led the expansion of the federal death penalty. These efforts resulted in the passage of the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996, signed into law by President Clinton, which heavily limited appeals in death penalty cases. In 1972, the Democratic Party platform called for the abolition of capital punishment.[252]
During his Illinois Senate career, former President Barack Obama successfully introduced legislation intended to reduce the likelihood of wrongful convictions in capital cases, requiring videotaping of confessions. When campaigning for the presidency, Obama stated that he supports the limited use of the death penalty, including for people who have been convicted of raping a minor under the age of 12, having opposed the Supreme Court's ruling in Kennedy v. Louisiana that the death penalty was unconstitutional in which the victim of a crime was not killed.[253] Obama has stated that he thinks the "death penalty does little to deter crime" and that it is used too frequently and too inconsistently.[254] In June 2016, the Democratic Platform Drafting Committee unanimously adopted an amendment to abolish the death penalty.[255] The 2024 platform is the first since the 2004 platform, that doesn't mention the death penalty, and the first since 2016 not to call for abolition.[256]
Torture
Many Democrats are opposed to the use of torture against individuals apprehended and held prisoner by the United States military, and hold that categorizing such prisoners as unlawful combatants does not release the United States from its obligations under the Geneva Conventions. Democrats contend that torture is inhumane, damages the United States' moral standing in the world, and produces questionable results. Democrats are largely against waterboarding.[257]
Torture became a divisive issue in the party after Barack Obama was elected president.[258]
Privacy
The Democratic Party believes that individuals should have a right to privacy. For example, many Democrats have opposed the NSA warrantless surveillance of American citizens.[259][260]
Some Democratic officeholders have championed consumer protection laws that limit the sharing of consumer data between corporations. Democrats have opposed sodomy laws since the 1972 platform which stated that "Americans should be free to make their own choice of life-styles and private habits without being subject to discrimination or prosecution",[252] and believe that government should not regulate consensual noncommercial sexual conduct among adults as a matter of personal privacy.[261]
Foreign policy issues
The foreign policy of the voters of the two major parties has largely overlapped since the 1990s. A Gallup poll in early 2013 showed broad agreement on the top issues, albeit with some divergence regarding human rights and international cooperation through agencies such as the United Nations.[262]
In June 2014, the Quinnipiac Poll asked Americans which foreign policy they preferred:
A) The United States is doing too much in other countries around the world, and it is time to do less around the world and focus more on our own problems here at home. B) The United States must continue to push forward to promote democracy and freedom in other countries worldwide because these efforts make our own country more secure.
Democrats chose A over B by 65% to 32%; Republicans chose A over B by 56% to 39%; and independents chose A over B by 67% to 29%.[263]
Iran sanctions
The Democratic Party has been critical of Iran's nuclear weapon program and supported economic sanctions against the Iranian government. In 2013, the Democratic-led administration worked to reach a diplomatic agreement with the government of Iran to halt the Iranian nuclear weapon program in exchange for international economic sanction relief.[264] As of 2014[update], negotiations had been successful and the party called for more cooperation with Iran in the future.[265] In 2015, the Obama administration agreed to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, which provides sanction relief in exchange for international oversight of the Iranian nuclear program. In February 2019, the Democratic National Committee passed a resolution calling on the United States to re-enter the JCPOA, which President Trump withdrew from in 2018.[266]
Invasion of Afghanistan
Democrats in the House of Representatives and in the Senate near-unanimously voted for the Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Terrorists against "those responsible for the recent attacks launched against the United States" in Afghanistan in 2001, supporting the NATO coalition invasion of the nation. Most elected Democrats continued to support the Afghanistan conflict during George W. Bush's presidency.[267][268] During the 2008 Presidential Election, then-candidate Barack Obama called for a "surge" of troops into Afghanistan.[268] After winning the presidency, Obama followed through, sending additional troops to Afghanistan. Troop levels were 94,000 in December 2011 and kept falling, with a target of 68,000 by fall 2012.[269]
Support for the war among the American people diminished over time. Many Democrats changed their opinion over the course of the war, coming to oppose continuation of the conflict.[270][271] In July 2008, Gallup found that 41% of Democrats called the invasion a "mistake" while a 55% majority disagreed.[271] A CNN survey in August 2009 stated that a majority of Democrats opposed the war. CNN polling director Keating Holland said: "Nearly two thirds of Republicans support the war in Afghanistan. Three quarters of Democrats oppose the war".[270]
During the 2020 Presidential Election, then-candidate Joe Biden promised to "end the forever wars in Afghanistan and the Middle East."[272] Biden went on to win the election, and in April 2021, he announced he would withdraw all US troops from Afghanistan by September 11 of that year.[273] The last troops left in August, bringing America's 20-year-long military campaign in the country to a close.[274] According to a 2023 AP-NORC poll, a majority of Democrats believed that the War in Afghanistan was not worth it.[275]
Israel
Democrats have historically been a stronger supporter of Israel than Republicans.[276] During the 1940s, the party advocated for the cause of an independent Jewish state over the objections of many conservatives in the Old Right, who strongly opposed it.[276] In 1948, Democratic President Harry Truman became the first world leader to recognize an independent state of Israel.[277]
The 2020 Democratic Party platform acknowledges a "commitment to Israel's security, its qualitative military edge, its right to defend itself, and the 2016 Memorandum of Understanding is ironclad" and that "we oppose any effort to unfairly single out and delegitimize Israel, including at the United Nations or through the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions Movement".[278] During the 2023 Israel-Hamas War, the party requested a large-scale military aid package to Israel.[279] Biden also announced military support for Israel, condemned the actions of Hamas and other Palestinian militants as terrorism,[280] and ordered the US military to build a port to facilitate the arrival of humanitarian aid to Palestinian civilians in Gaza.[281] However, parts of the Democratic base also became more skeptical of the Israel government.[282] The number of Democrats (and Americans in general) who oppose sending arms to Israel has grown month by month as Israel's war on Gaza continues.[283] Experts say support for Israel could have a negative impact on Democrats in several key states, including Michigan and Pennsylvania, in the 2024 presidential election.[284]
Europe, Russia, and Ukraine
The 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine was politically and economically opposed by the Biden Administration, who promptly began an increased arming of Ukraine.[285][286] In October 2023, the Biden administration requested an additional $61.4 billion in aid for Ukraine for the year ahead,[287] but delays in the passage of further aid by the Republican-controlled House of Representatives inhibited progress, with the additional $61 billion in aid to Ukraine added in April 2024.[288][289][290]
Demographics
As of 2024, the party performs best among voters who are upper income,[291] live in urban regions,[33][34] college graduates,[35][36][37][38] identify as either Atheist or Agnostic, or are Jewish,[39][40] Black, LGBT+, and unmarried.[43][44][41]
Support for the civil rights movement in the 1960s by Democratic presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson helped increase the Democrats' support within the African American community. African Americans have consistently voted between 85% and 95% Democratic since the 1960s, making African Americans one of the largest of the party's constituencies.[39][40]
According to the Pew Research Center, 78.4% of Democrats in the 116th United States Congress were Christian.[292] However, the vast majority of white evangelical and Latter-day Saint Christians favor the Republican Party.[293] The party also receives strong support from non-religious voters.[294][295]
A major component of the party's coalition has been organized labor. Democrats are more likely to be represented by unions than Republican voters.[25][296] The party also receives strong support from college-educated professionals and knowledge workers.[297]
Younger Americans have tended to vote mainly for Democratic candidates in recent years, particularly those under the age of 30.[298]
Since 1980, a "gender gap" has seen stronger support for the Democratic Party among women than among men. Unmarried and divorced women are more likely to vote for Democrats.[299][300] Although women supported Obama over Mitt Romney by a margin of 55–44% in 2012, Romney prevailed amongst married women, 53–46%.[301] Obama won unmarried women 67–31%.[302] According to a December 2019 study, "White women are the only group of female voters who support Republican Party candidates for president. They have done so by a majority in all but 2 of the last 18 elections".[303][304]
Geographically, the party is strongest in the Northeastern United States, parts of the Great Lakes region and Southwestern United States, and the West Coast. The party is also very strong in major cities, regardless of region.[34][305][306]
Education
The victory of Republican Donald Trump in 2016 brought about a realignment in which many voters without college degrees, also referred to as "working class" voters by many sources, voted Republican.[308][309] Until 2016, white voters with college degrees were a Republican-leaning group.[35] Despite Obama's decisive 2008 victory, Republican nominee John McCain won a majority of white voters with college degrees 51-47%.[310] In 2012, Republican nominee Mitt Romney won white voters with college degrees 56-42%, though Obama won voters with college degrees as a whole 50-48% while winning re-election.[311]
Many Democrats without college degrees differ from liberals in their more socially moderate views, and are more likely to belong to an ethnic minority.[312][313][314] White voters with college degrees are more likely to live in urban areas.[313]
Democrats have consistently won voters with graduate degrees since the 1990s, including a majority of White voters with graduate degrees.[35][315] Since the 2010s,[35] white voters with college degrees have been increasingly voting for the Democratic Party.[37][38]
In the 2020 United States presidential election, Joe Biden won white voters with a college degree 51-48%, while winning college graduates as a whole 55-43%. Biden became the first Democratic president to win a majority of white voters with college degrees since 1964.[316][37][38] In the 2024 United States presidential election, Kamala Harris won white voters with college degrees 52-45%, becoming the first Democratic presidential nominee to lose a presidential election despite winning a majority of white voters with college degrees. Harris also became the first Democratic presidential nominee to receive more support from high-income Americans than low-income Americans.[291]
The Democratic Party has steadily increased the percentage of votes it receives from voters with college degrees since the 1970s, while the educational attainment of the United States has steadily increased.[36][308] Voters with college degrees as a whole were a Republican-voting group until the 1990s. Despite winning in a landslide in 1964, Democratic president Lyndon B. Johnson only narrowly won a majority of voters with college degrees 52-48%.[317] In 1976, Democrat Jimmy Carter narrowly won while losing voters with college degrees 43-55%.[318] Since the 1990s, a majority of voters with graduate degrees have consistently voted for the Democratic Party. For example, Republican president George W. Bush won voters with just a bachelor's degree 52-46% and lost voters with a graduate degree 44-55%, while winning re-election in 2004.[319]
Factions
Upon foundation, the Democratic Party supported agrarianism and the Jacksonian democracy movement of President Andrew Jackson, representing farmers and rural interests and traditional Jeffersonian democrats.[320] Since the 1890s, especially in northern states, the party began to favor more liberal positions (the term "liberal" in this sense describes modern liberalism, rather than classical liberalism or economic liberalism). Historically, the party has represented farmers, laborers, and religious and ethnic minorities as it has opposed unregulated business and finance and favored progressive income taxes.
In the 1930s, the party began advocating social programs targeted at the poor. Before the New Deal, the party had a fiscally conservative, pro-business wing, typified by Grover Cleveland and Al Smith.[321] The party was dominant in the Southern United States until President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964. In foreign policy, internationalism (including interventionism) was a dominant theme from 1913 to the mid-1960s. The major influences for liberalism were labor unions (which peaked in the 1936–1952 era) and African Americans. Environmentalism has been a major component since the 1970s.
Even after the New Deal, until the 2010s, the party still had a fiscally conservative faction,[322] such as John Nance Garner and Howard W. Smith.[323] The party's Southern conservative wing began shrinking after President Lyndon B. Johnson supported the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and largely died out in the 2010s, as the Republican Party built up its Southern base.[305][324] The party still receives support from African Americans and urban areas in the Southern United States.[325] Until the 2010s, White voters with college degrees were a Republican-leading group.[35] In the 2020 presidential election, Joe Biden became the first Democratic president to win a majority of white voters with college degrees (51-48%) since 1964, while winning college graduates as a whole 55-43%.[326]
The 21st century Democratic Party is predominantly a coalition of centrists, liberals, and progressives, with significant overlap between the three groups. In 2019, the Pew Research Center found that among Democratic and Democratic-leaning registered voters, 47% identify as liberal or very liberal, 38% identify as moderate, and 14% identify as conservative or very conservative.[327][328] In recent exit polls, the Democratic Party has had broad appeal across most socioeconomic and ethnic demographics.[329][330][331] Political scientists characterize the Democratic Party as less ideologically cohesive than the Republican Party due to the broader diversity of coalitions that compose the Democratic Party.[332][333][334]
Liberals
Modern liberals are a large portion of the Democratic base. According to 2018 exit polls, liberals constituted 27% of the electorate, and 91% of American liberals favored the candidate of the Democratic Party.[336] White-collar college-educated professionals were mostly Republican until the 1950s, but they had become a vital component of the Democratic Party by the early 2000s.[337]
A large majority of liberals favor moving toward universal health care, with many supporting an eventual gradual transition to a single-payer system in particular. A majority also favor diplomacy over military action; stem cell research, same-sex marriage, stricter gun control, environmental protection laws, as well as the preservation of abortion rights. Immigration and cultural diversity are deemed positive as liberals favor cultural pluralism, a system in which immigrants retain their native culture in addition to adopting their new culture. Most liberals oppose increased military spending and the mixing of church and state.[338] They tend to be divided on free trade agreements such as the USMCA and PNTR with China, with some seeing them as more favorable to corporations than workers.[339] As of 2020, the three most significant labor groupings in the Democratic coalition were the AFL–CIO and Change to Win labor federations as well as the National Education Association, a large, unaffiliated teachers' union. Important issues for labor unions include supporting unionized manufacturing jobs, raising the minimum wage, and promoting broad social programs such as Social Security and Medicare.[340]
This ideological group differs from the traditional organized labor base. According to the Pew Research Center, a plurality of 41% resided in mass affluent households and 49% were college graduates, the highest figure of any typographical group.[36] It was also the fastest growing typological group since the late 1990s to the present.[338] Liberals include most of academia[341] and large portions of the professional class.[37]
Moderates
Moderate Democrats, or New Democrats, are an ideologically centrist faction within the Democratic Party that emerged after the victory of Republican George H. W. Bush in the 1988 presidential election.[342] Running as a New Democrat, Bill Clinton won the 1992 and 1996 presidential elections.[343] They are an economically liberal and "Third Way" faction that dominated the party for around 20 years, until the beginning of Obama's presidency.[322][344] They are represented by organizations such as the New Democrat Network and the New Democrat Coalition.
The Blue Dog Coalition was formed during the 104th Congress to give members from the Democratic Party representing conservative-leaning districts a unified voice after the Democrats' loss of Congress in the 1994 Republican Revolution.[345][346][347] However, in the late 2010s and early 2020s, the Coalition's focus shifted towards ideological centrism. One of the most influential centrist groups was the Democratic Leadership Council (DLC), a nonprofit organization that advocated centrist positions for the party. The DLC disbanded in 2011.[348]
Some Democratic elected officials have self-declared as being centrists, including former President Bill Clinton, former Vice President Al Gore, Senator Mark Warner, Kansas governor Laura Kelly, former Senator Jim Webb, and President Joe Biden.[349][350]
The New Democrat Network supports socially liberal and fiscally moderate Democratic politicians and is associated with the congressional New Democrat Coalition in the House.[351] Annie Kuster is the chair of the coalition,[349] and former senator and President Barack Obama was self-described as a New Democrat.[352]
Progressives
Progressives are the most left-leaning faction in the party and support strong business regulations, social programs, and workers' rights.[353][354] In 2014, progressive Senator Elizabeth Warren set out "Eleven Commandments of Progressivism": tougher regulation on corporations; affordable education; scientific investment and environmentalism; net neutrality; increased wages; equal pay for women; collective bargaining rights; defending social programs; same-sex marriage; immigration reform; and unabridged access to reproductive healthcare.[355]
The Congressional Progressive Caucus (CPC) is a caucus of progressive Democrats chaired by Pramila Jayapal of Washington.[356][31] Its members have included Representatives Dennis Kucinich of Ohio, John Conyers of Michigan, Jim McDermott of Washington, Barbara Lee of California, and Senator Paul Wellstone of Minnesota. Senators Sherrod Brown of Ohio, Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin, Mazie Hirono of Hawaii, and Ed Markey of Massachusetts were members of the caucus when in the House of Representatives. As of March 2023, no Democratic senators belonged to the CPC, but independent Senator Bernie Sanders was a member.[357]
As of 2024, the CPC is the second-largest ideological caucus in the House Democratic Caucus by voting members, behind the New Democrat Coalition.[358][359] In the aftermath of Trump winning the 2024 presidential election, the progressive movement has lost influence within the Democratic party.[360]
Democratic presidents
As of 2021[update], there have been a total of 16 Democratic presidents.
Recent electoral history
In congressional elections: 1950–present
House of Representatives | President | Senate | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Election
year |
No. of
seats won |
+/– | No. of
seats won |
+/– | Election
year | |||
1950 | 235 / 435
|
28 | Harry S. Truman | 49 / 96
|
5 | 1950 | ||
1952 | 213 / 435
|
22 | Dwight D. Eisenhower | 47 / 96
|
2 | 1952 | ||
1954 | 232 / 435
|
19 | 49 / 96
|
2 | 1954 | |||
1956 | 234 / 435
|
2 | 49 / 96
|
0 | 1956 | |||
1958 | 283 / 437
|
49 | 64 / 98
|
15 | 1958 | |||
1960 | 262 / 437
|
21 | John F. Kennedy | 64 / 100
|
1 | 1960 | ||
1962 | 258 / 435
|
4 | 66 / 100
|
3 | 1962 | |||
1964 | 295 / 435
|
37 | Lyndon B. Johnson | 68 / 100
|
2 | 1964 | ||
1966 | 248 / 435
|
47 | 64 / 100
|
3 | 1966 | |||
1968 | 243 / 435
|
5 | Richard Nixon | 57 / 100
|
5 | 1968 | ||
1970 | 255 / 435
|
12 | 54 / 100
|
3 | 1970 | |||
1972 | 242 / 435
|
13 | 56 / 100
|
2 | 1972 | |||
1974 | 291 / 435
|
49 | Gerald Ford | 60 / 100
|
4 | 1974 | ||
1976 | 292 / 435
|
1 | Jimmy Carter | 61 / 100
|
0 | 1976 | ||
1978 | 277 / 435
|
15 | 58 / 100
|
3 | 1978 | |||
1980 | 243 / 435
|
34 | Ronald Reagan | 46 / 100
|
12 | 1980 | ||
1982 | 269 / 435
|
26 | 46 / 100
|
1 | 1982 | |||
1984 | 253 / 435
|
16 | 47 / 100
|
2 | 1984 | |||
1986 | 258 / 435
|
5 | 55 / 100
|
8 | 1986 | |||
1988 | 260 / 435
|
2 | George H. W. Bush | 55 / 100
|
1 | 1988 | ||
1990 | 267 / 435
|
7 | 56 / 100
|
1 | 1990 | |||
1992 | 258 / 435
|
9 | Bill Clinton | 57 / 100
|
1 | 1992 | ||
1994 | 204 / 435
|
54 | 47 / 100
|
10 | 1994 | |||
1996 | 206 / 435
|
2 | 45 / 100
|
2 | 1996 | |||
1998 | 211 / 435
|
5 | 45 / 100
|
0 | 1998 | |||
2000 | 212 / 435
|
1 | George W. Bush | 50 / 100
|
5 | 2000[h] | ||
2002 | 204 / 435
|
7 | 49 / 100
|
2 | 2002 | |||
2004 | 202 / 435
|
2 | 45 / 100
|
4 | 2004 | |||
2006 | 233 / 435
|
31 | 51 / 100
|
6[i] | 2006 | |||
2008 | 257 / 435
|
21 | Barack Obama | 59 / 100
|
8[i] | 2008 | ||
2010 | 193 / 435
|
63 | 53 / 100
|
6[i] | 2010 | |||
2012 | 201 / 435
|
8 | 55 / 100
|
2[i] | 2012 | |||
2014 | 188 / 435
|
13 | 46 / 100
|
9[i] | 2014 | |||
2016 | 194 / 435
|
6 | Donald Trump | 48 / 100
|
2[i] | 2016 | ||
2018 | 235 / 435
|
41 | 47 / 100
|
1[i] | 2018 | |||
2020 | 222 / 435
|
13 | Joe Biden | 50 / 100
|
3[i] | 2020[j] | ||
2022 | 213 / 435
|
9 | 51 / 100
|
1[i] | 2022 | |||
2024 | 213 / 435 [k]
|
TBD | Donald Trump | 47 / 100
|
4[i] | 2024 |
In presidential elections: 1828–present
Election year |
Presidential ticket | Votes | Vote % | Electoral votes | +/– | Result |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1828 | Andrew Jackson/John C. Calhoun | 642,553 | 56.0 | 178 / 261
|
178 | Won |
1832 | Andrew Jackson/Martin Van Buren | 701,780 | 54.2 | 219 / 286
|
41 | Won |
1836 | Martin Van Buren/Richard Mentor Johnson | 764,176 | 50.8 | 170 / 294
|
49 | Won |
1840 | Martin Van Buren/None[l] | 1,128,854 | 46.8 | 60 / 294
|
110 | Lost |
1844 | James K. Polk/George M. Dallas | 1,339,494 | 49.5 | 170 / 275
|
110 | Won |
1848 | Lewis Cass/William O. Butler | 1,223,460 | 42.5 | 127 / 290
|
43 | Lost |
1852 | Franklin Pierce/William R. King | 1,607,510 | 50.8 | 254 / 296
|
127 | Won |
1856 | James Buchanan/John C. Breckinridge | 1,836,072 | 45.3 | 174 / 296
|
80 | Won |
1860 | Stephen A. Douglas/Herschel V. Johnson | 1,380,202 | 29.5 | 12 / 303
|
162 | Lost |
1864 | George B. McClellan/George H. Pendleton | 1,812,807 | 45.0 | 21 / 233
|
9 | Lost |
1868 | Horatio Seymour/Francis Preston Blair Jr. | 2,706,829 | 47.3 | 80 / 294
|
59 | Lost |
1872 | Horace Greeley/Benjamin G. Brown (Liberal Republican) | 2,834,761 | 43.8 | 69 / 352
|
11 | Lost |
1876 | Samuel J. Tilden/Thomas A. Hendricks | 4,288,546 | 50.9 | 184 / 369
|
115 | Lost[A] |
1880 | Winfield Scott Hancock/William H. English | 4,444,260 | 48.2 | 155 / 369
|
29 | Lost |
1884 | Grover Cleveland/Thomas A. Hendricks | 4,914,482 | 48.9 | 219 / 401
|
64 | Won |
1888 | Grover Cleveland/Allen G. Thurman | 5,534,488 | 48.6 | 168 / 401
|
51 | Lost[B] |
1892 | Grover Cleveland/Adlai Stevenson I | 5,556,918 | 46.0 | 277 / 444
|
109 | Won |
1896 | William Jennings Bryan/Arthur Sewall | 6,509,052 | 46.7 | 176 / 447
|
101 | Lost |
1900 | William Jennings Bryan/Adlai Stevenson I | 6,370,932 | 45.5 | 155 / 447
|
21 | Lost |
1904 | Alton B. Parker/Henry G. Davis | 5,083,880 | 37.6 | 140 / 476
|
15 | Lost |
1908 | William Jennings Bryan/John W. Kern | 6,408,984 | 43.0 | 162 / 483
|
22 | Lost |
1912 | Woodrow Wilson/Thomas R. Marshall | 6,296,284 | 41.8 | 435 / 531
|
273 | Won |
1916 | Woodrow Wilson/Thomas R. Marshall | 9,126,868 | 49.2 | 277 / 531
|
158 | Won |
1920 | James M. Cox/Franklin D. Roosevelt | 9,139,661 | 34.2 | 127 / 531
|
150 | Lost |
1924 | John W. Davis/Charles W. Bryan | 8,386,242 | 28.8 | 136 / 531
|
9 | Lost |
1928 | Al Smith/Joseph T. Robinson | 15,015,464 | 40.8 | 87 / 531
|
49 | Lost |
1932 | Franklin D. Roosevelt/John Nance Garner | 22,821,277 | 57.4 | 472 / 531
|
385 | Won |
1936 | Franklin D. Roosevelt/John Nance Garner | 27,747,636 | 60.8 | 523 / 531
|
51 | Won |
1940 | Franklin D. Roosevelt/Henry A. Wallace | 27,313,945 | 54.7 | 449 / 531
|
74 | Won |
1944 | Franklin D. Roosevelt/Harry S. Truman | 25,612,916 | 53.4 | 432 / 531
|
17 | Won |
1948 | Harry S. Truman/Alben W. Barkley | 24,179,347 | 49.6 | 303 / 531
|
129 | Won |
1952 | Adlai Stevenson II/John Sparkman | 27,375,090 | 44.3 | 89 / 531
|
214 | Lost |
1956 | Adlai Stevenson II/Estes Kefauver | 26,028,028 | 42.0 | 73 / 531
|
16 | Lost |
1960 | John F. Kennedy/Lyndon B. Johnson | 34,220,984 | 49.7 | 303 / 537
|
230 | Won |
1964 | Lyndon B. Johnson/Hubert Humphrey | 43,127,041 | 61.1 | 486 / 538
|
183 | Won |
1968 | Hubert Humphrey/Edmund Muskie | 31,271,839 | 42.7 | 191 / 538
|
295 | Lost |
1972 | George McGovern/Sargent Shriver | 29,173,222 | 37.5 | 17 / 538
|
174 | Lost |
1976 | Jimmy Carter/Walter Mondale | 40,831,881 | 50.1 | 297 / 538
|
280 | Won |
1980 | Jimmy Carter/Walter Mondale | 35,480,115 | 41.0 | 49 / 538
|
248 | Lost |
1984 | Walter Mondale/Geraldine Ferraro | 37,577,352 | 40.6 | 13 / 538
|
36 | Lost |
1988 | Michael Dukakis/Lloyd Bentsen | 41,809,074 | 45.6 | 111 / 538
|
98 | Lost |
1992 | Bill Clinton/Al Gore | 44,909,806 | 43.0 | 370 / 538
|
259 | Won |
1996 | Bill Clinton/Al Gore | 47,401,185 | 49.2 | 379 / 538
|
9 | Won |
2000 | Al Gore/Joe Lieberman | 50,999,897 | 48.4 | 266 / 538
|
113 | Lost[C] |
2004 | John Kerry/John Edwards | 59,028,444 | 48.3 | 251 / 538
|
15 | Lost |
2008 | Barack Obama/Joe Biden | 69,498,516 | 52.9 | 365 / 538
|
114 | Won |
2012 | Barack Obama/Joe Biden | 65,915,795 | 51.1 | 332 / 538
|
33 | Won |
2016 | Hillary Clinton/Tim Kaine | 65,853,514 | 48.2 | 227 / 538
|
105 | Lost[D] |
2020 | Joe Biden/Kamala Harris | 81,268,924 | 51.3 | 306 / 538
|
79 | Won |
2024 | Kamala Harris/Tim Walz | TBD | TBD | 226 / 538
|
80 | Lost |
See also
- Democratic Party (United States) organizations
- List of political parties in the United States
- List of United States Democratic Party presidential candidates
- List of United States Democratic Party presidential tickets
- Political party strength in U.S. states
- Politics of the United States
- List of major liberal parties considered centre-left
Notes
- ^ According to the Manifesto Project Database MARPOR dataset for 2020, the Democratic Party has a RILE score of -24.662, putting it within the range of being a center to center-left party. Historically, it has classified the party as centrist or center-right, but the database has noted a relatively recent shift to the left in the party's politics.
- ^ [7] [8] [9][failed verification] [10] [a]
- ^ There are 47 senators who are members of the party; however, four independent senators, Angus King, Bernie Sanders, Joe Manchin III, and Kyrsten Sinema caucus with the Democrats, effectively giving the Democrats a 51–49 majority.
- ^ Grover Cleveland in 1884 and 1892
- ^ All three incumbents in the 20th century to withdraw or not seek reelection—Calvin Coolidge, Harry S. Truman, and Lyndon B. Johnson—had succeeded to the presidency when their predecessor died, then won a second term in their own right.[121] Three presidents in the 1800s made and kept pledges to serve only one term, most recently Rutherford B. Hayes.[122]
- ^ Elected as Vice President with the National Union Party ticket in the 1864 presidential election. Ascended to the presidency after the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln in 1865. Rejoined the Democratic Party in 1868.
- ^ a b Died in office.
- ^ Republican Vice President Dick Cheney provided a tie-breaking vote, giving Republicans a majority until June 6, 2001, when Jim Jeffords left Republicans to join the Democratic Caucus.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j Includes Independents caucusing with the Democrats.
- ^ Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris provided a tie-breaking vote, giving Democrats a majority throughout the 117th Congress.
- ^ As of November 24, according to DDHQ.
- ^ While there was no official Democratic nominee, the majority of the Democratic electors still cast their electoral votes for incumbent Vice President Richard Mentor Johnson.
- ^ Although Tilden won a majority of the popular vote, Republican Rutherford B. Hayes won a majority of votes in the Electoral College.
- ^ Although Cleveland won a plurality of the popular vote, Republican Benjamin Harrison won a majority of votes in the Electoral College.
- ^ Although Gore won a plurality of the popular vote, Republican George W. Bush won a majority of votes in the Electoral College.
- ^ Although Clinton won a plurality of the popular vote, Republican Donald Trump won a majority of votes in the Electoral College.
References
- ^ "About the Democratic Party". Democrats. Archived from the original on April 6, 2022. Retrieved April 15, 2022.
For 171 years, [the Democratic National Committee] has been responsible for governing the Democratic Party
- ^ Democratic Party (March 12, 2022). "The Charter & The Bylaws of the Democratic Party of the United States" (PDF). p. 3. Archived (PDF) from the original on March 27, 2022. Retrieved April 15, 2022.
The Democratic National Committee shall have general responsibility for the affairs of the Democratic Party between National Conventions
- ^ Cole, Donald B. (1970). Jacksonian Democracy in New Hampshire, 1800–1851. Harvard University Press. p. 69. ISBN 978-0-67-428368-8.
- ^ a b c Arnold, N. Scott (2009). Imposing values: an essay on liberalism and regulation. Oxford University Press. p. 3. ISBN 9780495501121. Archived from the original on October 2, 2020. Retrieved April 28, 2020.
Modern liberalism occupies the left-of-center in the traditional political spectrum and is represented by the Democratic Party in the United States.
Cite error: The named reference "sarnold" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page). - ^ Bacon, Perry Jr. (March 11, 2019). "The Six Wings Of The Democratic Party". FiveThirtyEight. Archived from the original on August 15, 2021. Retrieved October 21, 2021.
- ^ Stein, Letita; Cornwell, Susan; Tanfani, Joseph (August 23, 2018). "Inside the progressive movement roiling the Democratic Party". Reuters. Archived from the original on June 13, 2022. Retrieved June 13, 2022.
- ^ Rae, Nicol C. (June 2007). "Be Careful What You Wish For: The Rise of Responsible Parties in American National Politics". Annual Review of Political Science. 10 (1). Annual Reviews: 169–191. doi:10.1146/annurev.polisci.10.071105.100750. ISSN 1094-2939.
What are we to make of American parties at the dawn of the twenty-first century? ... The impact of the 1960s civil rights revolution has been to create two more ideologically coherent parties: a generally liberal or center-left party and a conservative party.
- ^ Cronin, James E.; Ross, George W.; Shoch, James (August 24, 2011). "Introduction: The New World of the Center-Left". What's Left of the Left: Democrats and Social Democrats in Challenging Times. Duke University Press. ISBN 978-0-8223-5079-8. Archived from the original on August 20, 2024. Retrieved August 7, 2024. pp. 17, 22, 182:
Including the American Democratic Party in a comparative analysis of center-left parties is unorthodox, since unlike Europe, America has not produced a socialist movement tied to a strong union movement. Yet the Democrats may have become center-left before anyone else, obliged by their different historical trajectory to build complex alliances with social groups other than the working class and to deal with unusually powerful capitalists ... Taken together, the three chapters devoted to the United States show that the center-left in America faces much the same set of problems as elsewhere and, especially in light of the election results from 2008, that the Democratic Party's potential to win elections, despite its current slide in approval, may be at least equal to that of any center-left party in Europe ... Despite the setback in the 2010 midterms, together the foregoing trends have put the Democrats in a position to eventually build a dominant center-left majority in the United States.
- ^ Bruner, Christopher M. (2018). "Center-Left Politics and Corporate Governance: What Is the 'Progressive' Agenda?". BYU Law Review. 2018 (2). Digital Commons: 267–334. doi:10.2139/ssrn.2917253. ISSN 2162-8572. SSRN 2917253.
This article has argued that a widespread and fundamental reorientation of the Democratic Party toward decidedly centrist national politics over recent decades fundamentally altered the role of corporate governance, and related issues, in the project of assembling a competitive electoral coalition.
- ^ Hacker, Jacob S.; Malpas, Amelia; Pierson, Paul; Zacher, Sam (December 27, 2023). "Bridging the Blue Divide: The Democrats' New Metro Coalition and the Unexpected Prominence of Redistribution". Perspectives on Politics. 22 (3). Cambridge University Press on behalf of the American Political Science Association: 3. doi:10.1017/S1537592723002931. ISSN 1537-5927.
We conclude by considering why Democrats have taken this course, why they are not perceived as having done so, and why, at this fraught juncture for American democratic capitalism, political scientists could learn much from closer examination of the rich world's largest center-left party.
- ^ a b M. Philip Lucas, "Martin Van Buren as Party Leader and at Andrew Jackson's Right Hand." in A Companion to the Antebellum Presidents 1837–1861 (2014): 107–129.
- ^ a b "The Democratic Party, founded in 1828, is the world's oldest political party" states Janda, Kenneth; Berry, Jeffrey M.; Goldman, Jerry (2010). The Challenge of Democracy: American Government in Global Politics. Cengage Learning. p. 276. ISBN 9780495906186.
- ^ a b c Michael Kazin, What It Took to Win: A History of the Democratic Party (2022) pp 5, 12.
- ^ a b Holt, Michael F. (1992). Political Parties and American Political Development: From the Age of Jackson to the Age of Lincoln. Louisiana State University Press. pp. 27–28. ISBN 978-0807126097. Archived from the original on April 5, 2023. Retrieved March 19, 2023.
- ^ a b Bates, Christopher (2015). The Early Republic and Antebellum America: An Encyclopedia of Social, Political, Cultural, and Economic History. Taylor & Francis. p. 293. ISBN 9781317457404.
The expansion engineered by Polk rendered the Democratic Party increasingly beholden to Southern slave interests, which dominated the party from 1848 to the Civil War.
- ^ a b c d e f Staff. "Jacksonian Democracy: The Democratization of Politics". Encyclopædia Britannica. Archived from the original on July 12, 2022. Retrieved October 6, 2022.
By the 1840s, Whig and Democratic congressmen voted as rival blocs. Whigs supported and Democrats opposed a weak executive, a new Bank of the United States, a high tariff, distribution of land revenues to the states, relief legislation to mitigate the effects of the depression, and federal reapportionment of House seats. Whigs voted against and Democrats approved an independent treasury, an aggressive foreign policy, and expansionism. These were important issues, capable of dividing the electorate just as they divided the major parties in Congress.
- ^ Geer, John G. (1992). "New Deal Issues and the American Electorate, 1952–1988". Political Behavior. 14 (1): 45–65. doi:10.1007/BF00993508. hdl:1803/4054. ISSN 0190-9320. JSTOR 586295. S2CID 144817362. Archived from the original on December 29, 2021. Retrieved August 23, 2022.
- ^ Grigsby, Ellen (2008). Analyzing Politics: An Introduction to Political Science. Cengage Learning. pp. 106–107. ISBN 9780495501121. Archived from the original on October 2, 2020. Retrieved April 28, 2020.
In the United States, the Democratic Party represents itself as the liberal alternative to the Republicans, but its liberalism is for the most part the later version of liberalism—modern liberalism.
- ^ Prendergast, William B. (1999). The Catholic Voter in American Politics: The Passing of the Democratic Monolith. Washington, D.C.: Georgetown University. ISBN 978-0-87840-724-8. Archived from the original on October 9, 2023. Retrieved July 25, 2018.
- ^ Marlin, George J. (2004). The American Catholic Voter: 200 Years of Political Impact. South Bend, Indiana: St. Augustine. ISBN 978-1-58731-029-4. Retrieved April 28, 2020.
- ^ Michael Corbett et al. Politics and Religion in the United States (2nd ed. 2013).
- ^ Zeitz, Joshua (October 16, 2023). "The 'Unprecedented' House GOP Meltdown Isn't as Novel as You Think. And There Is a Way Out". Archived from the original on October 16, 2023. Retrieved October 16, 2023.
- ^ Zelizer, Julian E. (February 15, 2015). "How Medicare Was Made". The New Yorker. Archived from the original on March 4, 2015. Retrieved August 23, 2022.
- ^ "Women More Likely to Be Democrats, Regardless of Age". Gallup. June 12, 2009. Archived from the original on June 14, 2010. Retrieved June 17, 2010.
- ^ a b Kullgren, Ian (November 10, 2020). "Union Workers Weren't a Lock for Biden. Here's Why That Matters". Bloomberg Law. Archived from the original on November 3, 2022. Retrieved November 3, 2022.
- ^ Frank, Thomas (2016). Listen, liberal, or, What ever happened to the party of the people? (First ed.). New York: Henry Holt and Company. ISBN 978-1-62779-539-5. OCLC 908628802.
- ^ a b Hale, Jon F. (1995). "The Making of the New Democrats". Political Science Quarterly. 110 (2): 207–232. doi:10.2307/2152360. ISSN 0032-3195. JSTOR 2152360. Archived from the original on December 12, 2021. Retrieved August 24, 2022.
- ^ a b Wills, Garry (January 19, 1997). "The Clinton Principle". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on August 24, 2022. Retrieved August 24, 2022.
- ^ Edsall, Thomas B. (June 28, 1998). "Clinton and Blair envision a 'Third Way' international movement". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Archived from the original on November 27, 2020. Retrieved November 1, 2022.
- ^ a b Hacker, Jacob S.; Malpas, Amelia; Pierson, Paul; Zacher, Sam (2024). "Bridging the Blue Divide: The Democrats' New Metro Coalition and the Unexpected Prominence of Redistribution". Perspectives on Politics. 22 (3): 609–629. doi:10.1017/S1537592723002931. ISSN 1537-5927.
- ^ a b Gerstle, Gary (2022). The Rise and Fall of the Neoliberal Order: America and the World in the Free Market Era. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0197519646. Archived from the original on June 26, 2022. Retrieved August 1, 2024.
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.
- ^ Burn-Murdoch, John (November 15, 2024). "Trump broke the Democrats' thermostat". Financial Times. Retrieved November 15, 2024.
- ^ a b McGreal, Chris (November 11, 2018). "Can Democrats ever win back white, rural America?". The Guardian. Archived from the original on March 8, 2019. Retrieved March 7, 2019.
- ^ a b c Thompson, Derek (September 13, 2019). "How Democrats Conquered the City". The Atlantic. Archived from the original on March 7, 2020. Retrieved March 13, 2020.
- ^ a b c d e f "Polarisation by education is remaking American politics". The Economist. October 13, 2024.
From 1952 to 2000, a majority of white voters with college degrees self-identified as Republicans. Starting with the 2012 election, this affiliation began to weaken. It loosened even more once [Donald] Trump became the Republican standard-bearer in 2016. By 2020, the college-educated called themselves Democrats by a 2:1 margin. And there were many more of them; their share of the electorate rose from 8% in 1952 to 40% in 2020. Had the party held on to the rest of its support, this would have ensured an enduring majority. Yet at the same time, Democrats lost support among whites without college degrees. They now favour Republicans by their own margin of 2:1.
- ^ a b c d Grossmann, Matt; Hopkins, David A. "Polarized by Degrees: How the Diploma Divide and the Culture War Transformed American Politics". Cambridge University Press. Retrieved May 23, 2024.
Democrats have become the home of highly-educated citizens with progressive social views who prefer credentialed experts to make policy decisions, while Republicans have become the populist champions of white voters without college degrees who increasingly distrust teachers, scientists, journalists, universities, non-profit organizations, and even corporations.
- ^ a b c d e Levitz, Eric (October 19, 2022). "How the Diploma Divide Is Remaking American Politics". New York Intelligencer. Archived from the original on October 20, 2022. Retrieved April 24, 2023.
- ^ a b c d Sosnik, Doug (April 17, 2023). "The 'Diploma Divide' Is the New Fault Line in American Politics". The New York Times. Archived from the original on April 24, 2023. Retrieved April 24, 2023.
- ^ a b c Jackson, Brooks (April 18, 2008). "Blacks and the Democratic Party". FactCheck.org. Archived from the original on November 3, 2011. Retrieved October 30, 2011.
- ^ a b c Bositis, David. "Blacks and the 2012 Democratic National Convention; page 9, table 1: black votes in presidential elections, 1936 - 2008" (PDF). Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies. Archived (PDF) from the original on February 22, 2024. Retrieved March 23, 2024.
- ^ a b "Partisanship by race, ethnicity and education". Pew Research Center. April 9, 2024. Retrieved April 26, 2024.
- ^ "Voting patterns of Jews and other religious groups". Statistical Modeling, Causal Inference, and Social Science. Archived from the original on February 15, 2015. Retrieved February 15, 2015.
- ^ a b c d Miller, Gary; Schofield, Norman (2003). "Activists and Partisan Realignment in the United States". American Political Science Review. 97 (2): 245–260. doi:10.1017/S0003055403000650 (inactive November 7, 2024). ISSN 1537-5943. S2CID 12885628.
By 2000, however, the New Deal party alignment no longer captured patterns of partisan voting. In the intervening 40 years, the Civil Rights and Voting Rights Acts had triggered an increasingly race-driven distinction between the parties. ... Goldwater won the electoral votes of five states of the Deep South in 1964, four of them states that had voted Democratic for 84 years (Califano 1991, 55). He forged a new identification of the Republican party with racial conservatism, reversing a century-long association of the GOP with racial liberalism. This in turn opened the door for Nixon's "Southern strategy" and the Reagan victories of the eighties.
{{cite journal}}
: CS1 maint: DOI inactive as of November 2024 (link) - ^ a b c Grossmann, Matt; Mahmood, Zuhaib; Isaac, William (October 1, 2021). "Political Parties, Interest Groups, and Unequal Class Influence in American Policy". The Journal of Politics. 83 (4): 1706–1720. doi:10.1086/711900. ISSN 0022-3816. S2CID 224851520. Archived from the original on October 29, 2021. Retrieved October 12, 2021.
- ^ a b c Traister, Rebecca (March 27, 2023). "Abortion Wins Elections". The Cut. Archived from the original on April 6, 2023. Retrieved April 7, 2023.
- ^ "What We Do". Democrats. Democratic National Committee. Archived from the original on July 17, 2024. Retrieved July 17, 2024.
- ^ a b c "Democratic Platform Endorses Gay Marriage". NPR. September 4, 2012. Archived from the original on October 5, 2013. Retrieved May 10, 2023.
- ^ "Combating the Climate Crisis and Pursuing Environmental Justic". Democrats. Democratic National Committee. Archived from the original on July 17, 2024. Retrieved July 17, 2024.
- ^ a b Gurley, Gabrielle (November 23, 2020). "Biden at the Cannabis Crossroads". The American Prospect. Archived from the original on August 26, 2022. Retrieved August 24, 2022.
- ^ a b Miranda Ollstein, Alice (August 12, 2022). "A bittersweet health care win for Democrats". POLITICO. Archived from the original on April 7, 2023. Retrieved April 7, 2023.
- ^ a b c Goodnough, Abby; Kaplan, Thomas (June 28, 2019). "Democrat vs. Democrat: How Health Care Is Dividing the Party". The New York Times. Archived from the original on July 22, 2020. Retrieved July 22, 2020.
- ^ a b Levy, Jonah (2006). The State after Statism: New State Activities in the Age of Liberalization. Harvard University Press. p. 198. ISBN 9780495501121.
In the corporate governance area, the center-left repositioned itself to press for reform. The Democratic Party in the United States used the postbubble scandals and the collapse of share prices to attack the Republican Party ... Corporate governance reform fit surprisingly well within the contours of the center-left ideology. The Democratic Party and the SPD have both been committed to the development of the regulatory state as a counterweight to managerial authority, corporate power, and market failure.
- ^ a b U.S. Department of State. "A Mixed Economy: The Role of the Market". Thoughtco.com. Archived from the original on May 24, 2017.
- ^ Ikenberry, John (2020). "America's Asia Policy after Trump". Global Asia.
- ^ Wong, Edward (September 6, 2022). "Biden Puts Defense of Democracy at Center of Agenda, at Home and Abroad". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved December 27, 2023.
- ^ Cooley, Alexander; Nexon, Daniel H. (December 14, 2021). "The Real Crisis of Global Order". Foreign Affairs. No. January/February 2022. ISSN 0015-7120.
- ^ The party has claimed a founding date of 1792 as noted in S.2047 which passed in the United States Senate in 1991. 102nd Congress (1991), S.2047 – A bill to establish a commission to commemorate the bicentennial of the establishment of the Democratic Party of the United States., archived from the original on February 22, 2021, retrieved February 20, 2021 "[I]n 1992, the Democratic Party of the United States will celebrate the 200th anniversary of its establishment on May 13, 1792."
- ^ Larson, Edward (2007). A Magnificent Catastrophe: The Tumultuous Election of 1800, America's First Presidential Campaign. Free Press. p. 21. ISBN 9780743293167.
The divisions between Adams and Jefferson were exasperated by the more extreme views expressed by some of their partisans, particularly the High Federalists led by Hamilton on what was becoming known as the political right, and the democratic wing of the Republican Party on the left, associated with New York Governor George Clinton and Pennsylvania legislator Albert Gallatin, among others.
- ^ Ericson, David F. (1964). "The Evolution of the Democratic Party". The American Historical Review. 70 (1): 22–43.
- ^ Banning, Lance (1978). The Jeffersonian Persuasion: Evolution of a Party Ideology. Cornell University Press. p. 208.
- ^ Arthur Paulson, Realignment and Party Revival: Understanding American Electoral Politics at the Turn of the Twenty-First Century (2000) pp. 46–72.
- ^ Berman, Jay (2012). The Democratic Party: Evolution and America's Longing for a Lasting Majority. Taylor & Francis. p. 8.
- ^ James Roger Sharp, American Politics in the Early Republic: The New Nation in Crisis (1993).
- ^ The American Republic Since 1877, Student Edition. McGraw-Hill Education. 2006. p. 193.
- ^ Banning, Lance (1978). The Jeffersonian Persuasion: Evolution of a Party Ideology. Cornell University Press. p. 253.
- ^ Traub, James. "The Ugly Election That Birthed Modern American Politics". National Geographic. Archived from the original on July 7, 2018. Retrieved July 6, 2018.
- ^ Mary Beth Norton et al., A People and a Nation, Volume I: to 1877 (Houghton Mifflin, 2007) p. 287.
- ^ Mary Beth Norton et al., A People and a Nation, Volume I: to 1877 (2007) pp. 287–288.
- ^ Galbraith Schlisinger, Of the People: The 200 Year History of the Democratic Party (1992) ch. 1–3.
- ^ Robert Allen Rutland, The Democrats: From Jefferson to Clinton (U. of Missouri Press, 1995) ch. 1–4.
- ^ Ferrell, Claudine L. (2006). The Abolitionist Movement. Westport: Greenwood Press. p. 88. ISBN 978-0-313-33180-0.
- ^ Jean H. Baker, Affairs of Party: Political Culture of Northern Democrats in the Mid-nineteenth Century (1983)
- ^ David M. Potter. The Impending Crisis, 1848–1861 (1976). ch. 16.
- ^ Mark E. Neely. Lincoln and the Democrats: The Politics of Opposition in the Civil War (2017).
- ^ Rutland, The Democrats: From Jefferson to Clinton (1995) ch. 5–6.
- ^ Robert W. Cherny, A Righteous Cause: The Life of William Jennings Bryan (1994)
- ^ H.W. Brands, Woodrow Wilson (2003).
- ^ Douglas B. Craig, After Wilson: The Struggle for the Democratic Party, 1920–1934 (1993)
- ^ Davis, Kenneth C. (2003). Don't Know Much About History: Everything You Need to Know About American History but Never Learned (1st ed.). New York: HarperCollins. pp. 321, 341. ISBN 978-0-06-008381-6.
- ^ Ellen Russell (2007). New Deal Banking Reforms and Keynesian Welfare State Capitalism. Routledge. pp. 3–4. ISBN 9781135910655. Archived from the original on October 2, 2020. Retrieved April 28, 2020.
- ^ Rutland, The Democrats: From Jefferson to Clinton (1995) ch. 7.
- ^ David M. Kennedy, Freedom from Fear: The American People in Depression and War, 1929–1945 (2001).
- ^ Paul Finkelman and Peter Wallenstein, eds. The Encyclopedia Of American Political History (CQ Press, 2001) pp. 124–126.
- ^ Bullock, Charles S.; Hoffman, Donna R.; Gaddie, Ronald Keith (2006). "Regional Variations in the Realignment of American Politics, 1944–2004". Social Science Quarterly. 87 (3): 494–518. doi:10.1111/j.1540-6237.2006.00393.x. ISSN 0038-4941.
The events of 1964 laid open the divisions between the South and national Democrats and elicited distinctly different voter behavior in the two regions. The agitation for civil rights by southern blacks continued white violence toward the civil rights movement, and President Lyndon Johnson's aggressive leadership all facilitated passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. ... In the South, 1964 should be associated with GOP growth while in the Northeast this election contributed to the eradication of Republicans.
- ^ Stanley, Harold W. (1988). "Southern Partisan Changes: Dealignment, Realignment or Both?". The Journal of Politics. 50 (1): 64–88. doi:10.2307/2131041. ISSN 0022-3816. JSTOR 2131041. S2CID 154860857.
Events surrounding the presidential election of 1964 marked a watershed in terms of the parties and the South (Pomper, 1972). The Solid South was built around the identification of the Democratic party with the cause of white supremacy. Events before 1964 gave white southerners pause about the linkage between the Democratic Party and white supremacy, but the 1964 election, passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 altered in the minds of most the positions of the national parties on racial issues.
- ^ a b Black, Earl; Black, Merle (September 30, 2003). The Rise of Southern Republicans. Harvard University Press. ISBN 9780674012486. Archived from the original on June 12, 2018. Retrieved June 9, 2018.
When the Republican party nominated Arizona Senator Barry Goldwater—one of the few senators who had opposed the Civil Rights Act—as their presidential candidate in 1964, the party attracted many southern whites but permanently alienated African-American voters. Beginning with the Goldwater-versus-Johnson campaign more southern whites voted Republican than Democratic, a pattern that has recurred in every subsequent presidential election. ... Before the 1964 presidential election the Republican party had not carried any Deep South state for eighty-eight years. Yet shortly after Congress passed the Civil Rights Act, hundreds of Deep South counties gave Barry Goldwater landslide majorities.
- ^ Issue Evolution. Princeton University Press. September 6, 1990. ISBN 9780691023311. Archived from the original on May 16, 2018. Retrieved June 9, 2018.
- ^ a b Valentino, Nicholas A.; Sears, David O. (2005). "Old Times There Are Not Forgotten: Race and Partisan Realignment in the Contemporary South". American Journal of Political Science. 49 (3): 672–88. doi:10.1111/j.1540-5907.2005.00136.x. ISSN 0092-5853.
- ^ Kuziemko, Ilyana; Washington, Ebonya (2018). "Why Did the Democrats Lose the South? Bringing New Data to an Old Debate". American Economic Review. 108 (10): 2830–2867. doi:10.1257/aer.20161413. ISSN 0002-8282.
- ^ James T. Patterson, Grand Expectations: The United States, 1945–1974 (1997).
- ^ Miller, Gary; Schofield, Norman (2008). "The Transformation of the Republican and Democratic Party Coalitions in the U.S.". Perspectives on Politics. 6 (3): 433–450. doi:10.1017/S1537592708081218. ISSN 1541-0986. S2CID 145321253.
1964 was the last presidential election in which the Democrats earned more than 50 percent of the white vote in the United States.
- ^ Patterson, Grand Expectations: The United States, 1945–1974 (1997).
- ^ Smyth, David J.; Taylor, Susan Washburn (1992). "Why Do the Republicans Win the White House More Often than the Democrats?". Presidential Studies Quarterly. 22 (3): 481–491. ISSN 0360-4918. JSTOR 27550992. Archived from the original on January 19, 2023. Retrieved January 19, 2023.
- ^ Jr, R. W. Apple (July 12, 1992). "Donkey's Years; Is There Room At the Top For Democrats?". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on January 19, 2023. Retrieved January 19, 2023.
- ^ James T. Patterson, Restless Giant: The United States from Watergate to Bush v. Gore (2011).
- ^ a b Geismer, Lily (June 11, 2019). "Democrats and neoliberalism". Vox. Archived from the original on November 5, 2022. Retrieved November 5, 2022.
The version of neoliberalism embedded in these policies understood a distinct role for government to stimulate market-oriented solutions to address social ills such as unemployment and poverty. It thereby aimed not to eradicate the welfare state but rather to reformulate it. It extended the importance of poverty alleviation, which had long served as a benchmark of liberal policy, and had many similarities with the basic ideas of the war on poverty.
- ^ Patterson. Restless Giant: The United States from Watergate to Bush v. Gore (2011).
- ^ Supreme Court of the US (December 12, 2000). "George W. Bush, et al., Petitioners v. Albert Gore, Jr., et al., 531 U.S. 98 (2000)". Cornell Law School. Archived from the original on October 15, 2007. Retrieved June 26, 2010.
- ^ Lerer, Lisa (December 22, 2010). "No Congress Since 1960s Has Impact on Public as 111th". Bloomberg L.P. Archived from the original on March 29, 2020. Retrieved April 20, 2016.
- ^ Michael McQuarrie (November 8, 2017). "The revolt of the Rust Belt: place and politics in the age of anger". The British Journal of Sociology. 68 (S1): S120–S152. doi:10.1111/1468-4446.12328. PMID 29114874. S2CID 26010609.
Today, the Democratic Party is a party of professionals, minorities and the New Economy.
- ^ York, David Smith Molly Redden in New (April 1, 2016). "Donald Trump's abortion remarks provoke biggest crisis of his campaign". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Archived from the original on July 29, 2020. Retrieved June 29, 2020.
- ^ McCormick, Stephanie Armour and John (March 14, 2020). "Democrats Sharpen Criticism of Trump's Health-Care Policy in Coronavirus Pandemic". The Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Archived from the original on July 29, 2020. Retrieved June 29, 2020.
- ^ "Trump WHO decision draws criticism from Democrats in US Congress". Al Jazeera. Archived from the original on July 29, 2020. Retrieved June 29, 2020.
- ^ Ewing, Philip (February 5, 2020). "'Not Guilty': Trump Acquitted On 2 Articles Of Impeachment As Historic Trial Closes". NPR. Archived from the original on February 6, 2020. Retrieved February 8, 2021.
- ^ "Biden defeats Trump for White House, says 'time to heal'". AP NEWS. November 7, 2020. Archived from the original on November 17, 2020. Retrieved November 7, 2020.
- ^ Martin, Jonathan; Fausset, Richard; Epstein, Reid J. (January 6, 2021). "Georgia Highlights: Democrats Win the Senate as Ossoff Defeats Perdue". The New York Times. Archived from the original on January 7, 2021. Retrieved January 11, 2021.
- ^ "U.S. House Election Results". The New York Times. November 3, 2020. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on February 20, 2021. Retrieved February 8, 2021.
- ^ Fritze, John (March 6, 2022). "Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson would add another Protestant voice to heavily Catholic Supreme Court". Yahoo! News. Archived from the original on June 30, 2022. Retrieved June 30, 2022.
- ^ de Vogue, Ariane (June 30, 2022). "Ketanji Brown Jackson to join a Supreme Court in turmoil". CNN. Archived from the original on June 29, 2022. Retrieved June 30, 2022.
- ^ "WATCH LIVE: Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson sworn in as first Black woman on Supreme Court". PBS NewsHour. June 30, 2022. Archived from the original on June 30, 2022. Retrieved June 30, 2022.
- ^ "Ketanji Brown Jackson sworn in as first Black woman on US top court". BBC News. June 30, 2022. Archived from the original on July 1, 2022. Retrieved July 1, 2022.
- ^ Tumulty, Karen (November 9, 2022). "The expected red wave looks more like a puddle". The Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Archived from the original on November 12, 2022. Retrieved November 10, 2022.
- ^ Blake, Aaron (November 10, 2022). "How bad the 2022 election was for the GOP, historically speaking". The Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Archived from the original on February 19, 2023. Retrieved November 13, 2022.
- ^ Kinery, Emma (November 9, 2022). "Midterm results are looking increasingly sunny for Biden as he touts 'strong night' for Democrats". CNBC. Archived from the original on November 9, 2022. Retrieved November 10, 2022.
- ^ Enten, Harry (November 13, 2022). "How Joe Biden and the Democratic Party defied midterm history". CNN. Archived from the original on November 28, 2022. Retrieved November 28, 2022.
- ^ Crampton, Liz (November 9, 2022). "Democrats take legislatures in Michigan, Minnesota and eye Pennsylvania". Politico. Archived from the original on January 5, 2023. Retrieved November 10, 2022.
- ^ "State Partisan Composition," Archived July 4, 2023, at the Wayback Machine May 23, 2023, National Conference of State Legislatures, retrieved July 4, 2023
- ^ "Statehouse Democrats Embrace an Unfamiliar Reality: Full Power," Archived June 5, 2023, at the Wayback Machine January 18, 2023, New York Times, retrieved July 4, 2023
- ^ Associated Press: "Midterm election trifectas: Democrats won full government control in these states," Archived July 4, 2023, at the Wayback Machine November 10, 2022, Fox News, retrieved July 4, 2023
- ^ Cronin, Tom and Bob Loevy: "American federalism: States veer far left or far right," Archived July 4, 2023, at the Wayback Machine, July 1, 2023, updated July 2, 2023, Colorado Springs Gazette, retrieved July 4, 2023
- ^ a b Klassen, Thomas (July 21, 2024). "Biden steps aside, setting in motion an unprecedented period in American politics". The Conversation. Archived from the original on July 22, 2024. Retrieved July 24, 2024.
- ^ Gendler, Alex (July 23, 2024). "US presidents who did not seek reelection". Voice of America. Archived from the original on July 24, 2024. Retrieved July 24, 2024.
- ^ Kenning, Chris; Samuelsohn, Darren. "'It's unprecedented': Biden's exit is a history-making moment in the American presidency". USA Today. Archived from the original on July 25, 2024. Retrieved July 23, 2024.
- ^ "Mayors of the 30 Largest Cities in the U.S." Archived from the original on July 11, 2023. Retrieved July 11, 2023.
- ^ Appleby, Joyce (2003). Thomas Jefferson. Cambridge University Press. p. 4. ISBN 978-0-521-64841-7. Archived from the original on October 2, 2020. Retrieved April 28, 2020.
- ^ "Democratic Party". Encyclopædia Britannica. Archived from the original on February 17, 2015. Retrieved January 19, 2015.
- ^ see "History of the Democratic Donkey"
- ^ John William Ward (1962). Andrew Jackson: Symbol for an Age. Oxford Up. pp. 87–88. ISBN 9780199923205.
- ^ a b Ingram, Bob (January 21, 1966). "Loyalist Faction Wins; 'White Supremacy' Goes". Birmingham News. Retrieved July 22, 2017.
- ^ a b "Bad symbol removed". Times Daily. March 14, 1996. p. 7B. Archived from the original on May 31, 2022. Retrieved July 22, 2017.
- ^ a b "Barbour County, West Virginia General Election Ballot" (PDF). November 4, 2008. Archived from the original (PDF) on October 24, 2008.
- ^ Seidman, Steven (June 12, 2010). "The Rooster as the Symbol of the U.S. Democratic Party". Ithaca College. Archived from the original on October 24, 2017.
- ^ "FACT CHECK: Did a State Democratic Party Logo Once Feature the Slogan 'White Supremacy'?". Snopes.com. September 25, 2017. Archived from the original on September 13, 2024. Retrieved December 9, 2017.
- ^ "Alabama Democratic Party Strikes 'White Supremacy' From Its Motto". Ocala Star-Banner. Associated Press. January 23, 1966. p. 1. Archived from the original on November 28, 2020. Retrieved July 22, 2017.
- ^ Lopez, Tomas (October 23, 2014). "Poor Ballot Design Hurts New York's Minor Parties ... Again". Brennan Center for Justice. Archived from the original on February 7, 2017. Retrieved February 6, 2017.
- ^ Farhi, Paul (November 2, 2004). "Elephants Are Red, Donkeys Are Blue". Washington Post. p. C01. Archived from the original on May 9, 2008. Retrieved October 11, 2016.
- ^ Trotter, Bill (February 11, 2008). "Obama sets sights on November battle". Bangor Daily News. Archived from the original on February 28, 2008. Retrieved February 12, 2008.
- ^ Gruss, Michael (November 21, 2006). "Local roast becomes political pep rally for Democrats". The Virginian-Pilot. Archived from the original on February 25, 2015. Retrieved April 15, 2007.
- ^ Scherer, Michael (November 8, 2006). "The Democrats are ready to lead". Salon.com. Archived from the original on August 11, 2009. Retrieved March 18, 2007.
- ^ Schneider, Avie (January 22, 2021). "DNC Chairman Jaime Harrison Wants To Build The 'Next Generation' Of Democratic Talent". NPR. Archived from the original on February 20, 2021. Retrieved January 22, 2021.
- ^ Gilgoff, Dan (July 16, 2006). "Dean's List". U.S. News & World Report. Archived from the original on July 9, 2012. Retrieved April 26, 2007.
- ^ "Home". National Conference of Democratic Mayors. Archived from the original on October 2, 2020. Retrieved March 21, 2020.
- ^ a b c Larry E. Sullivan. The SAGE glossary of the social and behavioral sciences (2009). p. 291: "This liberalism favors a generous welfare state and a greater measure of social and economic equality. Liberty thus exists when all citizens have access to basic necessities such as education, healthcare, and economic opportunities."
- ^ Sargent, Greg (March 13, 2014). "Push to expand Social Security (not cut it) gets another boost". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on July 16, 2017. Retrieved August 22, 2017.
- ^ Iacurci, Greg (June 21, 2021). "Biden's top tax rate on capital gains, dividends would be among highest in developed world". CNBC. Archived from the original on November 23, 2022. Retrieved November 23, 2022.
- ^ a b c "On The Issues : Every Issue – Every Politician". Ontheissues.org. Archived from the original on May 4, 2016. Retrieved January 19, 2015.
- ^ a b c d Bacon, Perry Jr. (May 28, 2019). "What Republicans And Democrats Are Doing In The States Where They Have Total Power". FiveThirtyEight. Archived from the original on June 5, 2019. Retrieved June 5, 2019.
- ^ "Education". Democrats.org. Archived from the original on April 30, 2016. Retrieved May 29, 2014.
- ^ "Health Care". Democrats.org. Archived from the original on May 30, 2014. Retrieved May 29, 2014.
- ^ a b c d e f g "Democratic Party Platform 2016" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on November 10, 2016. Retrieved November 11, 2016.
- ^ "Science & Technology". Democrats.org. Archived from the original on June 26, 2014. Retrieved May 29, 2014.
- ^ Isaac-Thomas, Bella (August 11, 2022). "What the Inflation Reduction Act does for green energy". PBS. Archived from the original on November 22, 2022. Retrieved November 23, 2022.
- ^ "THE ALLIANCE OF U.S. LABOR UNIONS AND THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY" (PDF). Scholarsstrategynetwork.org. Archived (PDF) from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved January 19, 2015.
- ^ "Worker Rights". Archived from the original on August 21, 2014.
- ^ Asma Khalid (June 9, 2014). "Obama Endorses Sen. Warren's Student Loan Refinancing Bill". wbur. Archived from the original on June 11, 2016. Retrieved June 11, 2014.
- ^ Green, Erica (October 15, 2019). "House Democrats Unveil Plan to Make College More Affordable". The New York Times. Archived from the original on March 21, 2020. Retrieved March 21, 2020.
- ^ "Democrats highlight equal pay in political push". CNN. April 7, 2014. Archived from the original on June 10, 2016. Retrieved September 1, 2014.
- ^ Wyatt, Edward (November 10, 2014). "Obama Net Neutrality". The New York Times. Archived from the original on April 27, 2019. Retrieved January 19, 2015.
- ^ a b "Democratic Party on Government Reform". Ontheissues.org. Archived from the original on April 30, 2016. Retrieved January 19, 2015.
- ^ "A Call for Election Reform, Beginning with New York". The Huffington Post. June 15, 2013. Archived from the original on March 24, 2019. Retrieved December 6, 2019.
- ^ "Voting Rights". Democrats.org. Archived from the original on February 9, 2014. Retrieved February 2, 2014.
- ^ "For Torture and Surveillance Commission via H.R. 104, Target The Congressional Progressive Caucus". Irregular Times. Archived from the original on May 29, 2014. Retrieved May 29, 2014.
- ^ "Democratic Party on Crime". Ontheissues.org. Archived from the original on April 29, 2016. Retrieved January 19, 2015.
- ^ a b "Protecting Communities and Building Trust by Reforming Our Criminal Justice System". Democrats. Archived from the original on November 22, 2021. Retrieved November 30, 2021.
- ^ Bartels, Larry M. (2016). Unequal Democracy: The Political Economy of the New Gilded Age – Second Edition. Princeton University Press. ISBN 978-1-4008-8336-3. Archived from the original on November 5, 2021. Retrieved November 5, 2021.
- ^ Rhodes, Jesse H.; Schaffner, Brian F. (2017). "Testing Models of Unequal Representation: Democratic Populists and Republican Oligarchs?". Quarterly Journal of Political Science. 12 (2): 185–204. doi:10.1561/100.00016077. ISSN 1554-0626. Archived from the original on October 29, 2021. Retrieved November 5, 2021.
- ^ Lax, Jeffrey R.; Phillips, Justin H.; Zelizer, Adam (2019). "The Party or the Purse? Unequal Representation in the US Senate". American Political Science Review. 113 (4): 917–940. doi:10.1017/S0003055419000315. ISSN 0003-0554. S2CID 21669533. Archived from the original on October 29, 2021. Retrieved November 5, 2021.
- ^ Hacker, Jacob S.; Pierson, Paul (2020). Let them Eat Tweets: How the Right Rules in an Age of Extreme Inequality. Liveright Publishing. ISBN 978-1-63149-685-1.
- ^ "Jobs and the Economy". Democrats.org. Archived from the original on March 20, 2015. Retrieved July 14, 2014.
- ^ Dan Roberts (April 19, 2014). "Wall Street deregulation pushed by Clinton advisers, documents reveal". The Guardian. Archived from the original on January 6, 2020. Retrieved December 14, 2016.
- ^ Mudge, Stephanie (2018). Leftism Reinvented: Western Parties from Socialism to Neoliberalism. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press. pp. 167–213.
- ^ "How High Should Taxes Be?". Economics.about.com. June 12, 2010. Archived from the original on April 14, 2016. Retrieved June 17, 2010.
- ^ CARBONARO, GIULIA (2023). "Poverty Is Killing Nearly 200,000 Americans a Year". Newsweek. Archived from the original on June 29, 2023. Retrieved June 29, 2023.
- ^ "The Social Safety Net". usinfo.state.gov. Archived from the original on April 10, 2008.
- ^ "Day Two: House passes new budget rules". Associated Press. January 5, 2007. Archived from the original on December 4, 2019. Retrieved January 5, 2007.
- ^ a b "The Democratic Party Platform". Democrats.org. Archived from the original on March 15, 2014. Retrieved March 18, 2014.
- ^ Kulwin, Noah (May 25, 2017). "Democrats just united on a $15-an-hour minimum wage". Vice. Archived from the original on May 26, 2017. Retrieved May 29, 2017.
- ^ Freking, Kevin (January 30, 2021). "Biden, Democrats hit gas on push for $15 minimum wage". The Associated Press. Archived from the original on February 19, 2021. Retrieved February 6, 2021.
- ^ Marr, Chris. "Blue State Minimum Wages Inch Upward, Widening Gap With South". Bloomberg Law. Archived from the original on May 25, 2022. Retrieved July 24, 2022.
- ^ Nova, Annie (December 29, 2019). "How the Affordable Care Act transformed our health-care system". CNBC. Archived from the original on July 27, 2020. Retrieved July 22, 2020.
- ^ "Moving America Forward 2012 Democratic National Platform" (PDF). presidency.ucsb.edu. September 14, 2012. Archived (PDF) from the original on August 19, 2018. Retrieved January 13, 2018.
- ^ "Clinton Joins Key Senate Democrats to Release Report on "The College Cost Crunch"". clinton.senate.gov. June 28, 2006. Archived from the original on October 25, 2006. Retrieved November 25, 2006.
- ^ ● "54% of Americans view climate change as a major threat, but the partisan divide has grown". Pew Research Center. April 18, 2023. Archived from the original on April 22, 2023. ● Broader discussion by Tyson, Alec; Funk, Cary; Kennedy, Brian (April 18, 2023). "What the data says about Americans' views of climate change". Pew Research Center. Archived from the original on May 12, 2023.
- ^ McGreal, Chris (October 26, 2021). "Revealed: 60% of Americans say oil firms are to blame for the climate crisis". The Guardian. Archived from the original on October 26, 2021.
Source: Guardian/Vice/CCN/YouGov poll. Note: ±4% margin of error.
- ^ a b Tyson, Alec; Funk, Cary; Kennedy, Brian (March 1, 2022). "Americans Largely Favor U.S. Taking Steps To Become Carbon Neutral by 2050 / Appendix (Detailed charts and tables)". Pew Research. Archived from the original on April 18, 2022.
- ^ Jones, Jeffrey M. (April 11, 2022). "Climate Change Proposals Favored by Solid Majorities in U.S. / Support for Policies Designed to Limit Greenhouse Gases, by Political Party". Gallup. Archived from the original on October 1, 2022.
- ^ Chiu, Allyson; Guskin, Emily; Clement, Scott (October 3, 2023). "Americans don't hate living near solar and wind farms as much as you might think". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on October 3, 2023.
- ^ "Agenda — Environment". Archived from the original on March 15, 2007. Retrieved March 18, 2007.
- ^ Coley, Jonathan S.; Hess, David J. (2012). "Green energy laws and Republican legislators in the United States". Energy Policy. 48: 576–583. Bibcode:2012EnPol..48..576C. doi:10.1016/j.enpol.2012.05.062. ISSN 0301-4215. Archived from the original on June 18, 2019. Retrieved November 7, 2021.
- ^ Bergquist, Parrish; Warshaw, Christopher (2020). "Elections and parties in environmental politics". Handbook of U.S. Environmental Policy: 126–141. doi:10.4337/9781788972840.00017. ISBN 9781788972840. S2CID 219077951. Archived from the original on November 7, 2021. Retrieved November 7, 2021.
- ^ "Democratic Party on Environment". Archived from the original on July 3, 2019. Retrieved October 24, 2007.
- ^ John Nicols (October 12, 2007). "Al Gore Wins Nobel Peace Prize". The Nation.
- ^ "Energy Independence". Democrats.org. Archived from the original on September 20, 2010.
- ^ Sullivan, Sean (June 2, 2014). "Coal state Democrats to Obama: Curb emissions? Um, no thanks". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on May 13, 2015. Retrieved August 22, 2017.
- ^ Wells, Joey Garrison and Dylan. "Sen. Kyrsten Sinema backs Inflation Reduction Act, giving Biden the votes for Senate passage". USA TODAY. Archived from the original on August 24, 2022. Retrieved August 24, 2022.
- ^ "What The Climate Package Means For A Warming Planet : Consider This from NPR". NPR.org. Archived from the original on August 24, 2022. Retrieved August 24, 2022.
- ^ Nilsen, Ella (July 28, 2022). "Clean energy package would be biggest legislative climate investment in US history". CNN. Archived from the original on February 2, 2023. Retrieved July 31, 2022.
- ^ Taussig, Tariff History pp. 109–24
- ^ Joanne R. Reitano, The Tariff Question in the Gilded Age: The Great Debate of 1888 (Penn State Press, 1994)
- ^ Woodrow Wilson: "Address to a Joint Session of Congress on the Banking System," June 23, 1913. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project. http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=65369 Archived October 12, 2018, at the Wayback Machine.
- ^ Bailey, Michael A.; Goldstein, Weingast (April 1997). "The Institutional Roots of American Trade Policy". World Politics. 49 (3): 309–38. doi:10.1353/wp.1997.0007. S2CID 154711958.
- ^ 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)
- ^ McClenahan, William (1991). "The Growth of Voluntary Export Restraints and American Foreign Economic Policy, 1956–1969". Business and Economic History. 20: 180–190. JSTOR 23702815.
- ^ Weisman, Jonathan (July 6, 2005). "CAFTA Reflects Democrats' Shift From Trade Bills". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on November 2, 2012. Retrieved December 10, 2006.
- ^ Nichols, John (July 28, 2005). "CAFTA Vote Outs "Bush Democrats"". The Nation. Archived from the original on October 27, 2011. Retrieved December 15, 2006.
- ^ "Building A Stronger, Fairer Economy". Democrats. Archived from the original on August 18, 2021. Retrieved August 10, 2021.
- ^ Roberts, Ken (April 26, 2024). "Biden Could Be 1st President Since Carter To Not Negotiate, Sign FTA". Forbes. Archived from the original on April 27, 2024. Retrieved April 27, 2024.
- ^ Carmines, Edward G.; Stimson, James A. "Racial Issues and The Structure of Mass Belief Systems," Journal of Politics (1982) 44#1 pp 2–20 in JSTOR Archived July 31, 2020, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Talmadge Anderson & James Benjamin Stewart (2007). Introduction to African American Studies: Transdisciplinary Approaches and Implications. Black Classic Press. p. 205. ISBN 9781580730396. Archived from the original on September 13, 2024. Retrieved October 16, 2015.
- ^ Jeffrey M. Stonecash (2010). New Directions in American Political Parties. Routledge. p. 131. ISBN 9781135282059. Archived from the original on September 13, 2024. Retrieved October 16, 2015.
- ^ "Behind Biden's 2020 Victory". Pew Research Center. June 30, 2021. Archived from the original on August 19, 2023. Retrieved August 19, 2023.
- ^ "Civil Rights". Democrats.org. Archived from the original on February 9, 2014. Retrieved February 2, 2014.
- ^ Padilla, Alex (November 3, 2020). "STATEMENT OF VOTE" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on December 14, 2020. Retrieved March 15, 2024.
- ^ Deborah White. "Liberalism 101: Democratic Party Agenda on Electoral Reform". About. Archived from the original on March 10, 2016. Retrieved April 17, 2014.
- ^ a b Williams, Daniel K. (June 2015). "The Partisan Trajectory of the American Pro-Life Movement: How a Liberal Catholic Campaign Became a Conservative Evangelical Cause". Religions. 6 (2): 451–475. doi:10.3390/rel6020451. ISSN 2077-1444.
- ^ Williams, Daniel K. (May 9, 2022). "This Really Is a Different Pro-Life Movement". The Atlantic. Archived from the original on May 10, 2022. Retrieved February 2, 2023.
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.
- ^ Halpern, Sue (November 8, 2018). "How Republicans Became Anti-Choice". The New York Review of Books. ISSN 0028-7504. Archived from the original on February 4, 2023. Retrieved February 4, 2023.
- ^ Taylor, Justin (May 9, 2018). "How the Christian Right Became Prolife on Abortion and Transformed the Culture Wars". The Gospel Coalition. Archived from the original on February 4, 2023. Retrieved February 4, 2023.
- ^ "House Votes on 2003-530". Ontheissues.org. October 2, 2003. Archived from the original on February 28, 2014. Retrieved March 18, 2014.
- ^ "2020 Democratic Party Platform" (PDF). 2020 Democratic National Convention. Archived from the original (PDF) on February 16, 2021. Retrieved January 10, 2021.
- ^ Peters, Margaret (2017). Trading Barriers. Princeton University Press. pp. 154–155. ISBN 978-0691174471. Archived from the original on March 3, 2018.
- ^ Frumin, Aliyah (November 25, 2013). "Obama: 'Long past time' for immigration reform". MSNBC.com. Archived from the original on January 21, 2014. Retrieved January 26, 2014.
- ^ Hackman, Michelle; Zitner, Aaron (February 2, 2024). "Why Both Parties Have Shifted Right on Immigration—and Still Can't Agree". The Wall Street Journal.
- ^ "U.S. Senate: Legislation & Records Home > Votes > Roll Call Vote". Senate.gov. Archived from the original on November 10, 2013. Retrieved March 18, 2014.
- ^ "Immigration reform stalled decade after Gang of 8's big push". AP News. April 3, 2023. Archived from the original on April 3, 2023. Retrieved April 3, 2023.
- ^ JONES, JEFFREY M. (July 12, 2024). "Sharply More Americans Want to Curb Immigration to U.S." Gallup. Archived from the original on July 20, 2024. Retrieved August 4, 2024.
55% want immigration levels reduced, highest since 2001
- ^ Ulloa, Jazmine; Kanno-Youngs, Zolan (August 25, 2024). "On Immigration, Harris and Democrats Walk a Delicate - and Harder - Line". The New York Times. Archived from the original on August 25, 2024. Retrieved August 25, 2024.
- ^ a b Igielnik, Ruth (November 16, 2022). "Backdrop for Vote on Same-Sex Marriage Rights: A Big Shift in Public Opinion". The New York Times. Archived from the original on November 16, 2022. Retrieved November 17, 2022.
- ^ Lindberg, Tim (August 2, 2022). "Congress is considering making same-sex marriage federal law – a political scientist explains how this issue became less polarized over time". Kansas Reflector. Archived from the original on August 23, 2022. Retrieved August 14, 2022.
- ^ "Changing Views on Social Issues" (PDF). April 30, 2009. Archived (PDF) from the original on November 10, 2010. Retrieved May 14, 2009.
- ^ Less Opposition to Gay Marriage, Adoption and Military Service Archived March 10, 2011, at the Wayback Machine. Pew Research Center. March 22, 2006.
- ^ Morales, Lymari (June 5, 2009). "Conservatives Shift in Favor of Openly Gay Service Members". Gallup.com. Archived from the original on May 1, 2016. Retrieved August 25, 2010.
- ^ McCarthy, Justin (June 5, 2023). "U.S. Same-Sex Marriage Support Holds at 71% High". Archived from the original on June 5, 2023. Retrieved June 5, 2023.
- ^ "The 2004 Democratic National Platform for America" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on October 13, 2004. (111 KB)
- ^ "Gay Support for Obama Similar to Dems in Past Elections". Law.ucla.edu. November 26, 2008. Archived from the original on December 9, 2009. Retrieved June 17, 2010.
- ^ Garcia, Michelle (April 22, 2012). "Is This the Year Democrats Embrace Marriage Equality?". Advocate.com. Archived from the original on October 4, 2013. Retrieved October 2, 2013.
- ^ "Obama backs same-sex marriage". CBS News. May 9, 2012. Archived from the original on May 10, 2012. Retrieved May 9, 2012.
- ^ Sam Stein (May 9, 2012). "Obama Backs Gay Marriage". The Huffington Post. Archived from the original on September 20, 2018. Retrieved December 6, 2019.
- ^ a b "Same-sex Marriage – Issues – Election Center 2008". CNN. Archived from the original on April 28, 2016. Retrieved January 19, 2015.
- ^ Obama Opposes Gay Marriage Ban Archived September 26, 2011, at the Wayback Machine. The Washington Post. By Perry Bacon Jr. July 2, 2008.
- ^ Obama Statement on Vote Against Constitutional Amendment to Ban Gay Marriage Archived December 8, 2008, at the Wayback Machine. United States Senate Official Website Archived December 28, 2016, at the Wayback Machine. June 7, 2006.
- ^ Linkins, Jason (January 13, 2009). "Obama Once Supported Same-Sex Marriage 'Unequivocally'". Huffingtonpost.com. Archived from the original on May 12, 2011. Retrieved June 17, 2010.
- ^ "Video: Clinton shifts on gay marriage". CNN. September 25, 2009. Archived from the original on December 26, 2009. Retrieved May 1, 2010.
- ^ Raushenbush, Paul (March 19, 2012). "President Jimmy Carter Authors New Bible Book, Answers Hard Biblical Questions". The Huffington Post. Archived from the original on June 25, 2012. Retrieved June 26, 2012.
- ^ "Gay men and women should have the same rights // Current". Current.com. January 17, 2008. Archived from the original on November 29, 2009. Retrieved June 17, 2010.
- ^ Israel, Josh (May 16, 2013). "Mondale and Dukakis Back Marriage Equality". ThinkProgress. Archived from the original on November 4, 2019. Retrieved November 4, 2019.
- ^ Cournoyer, Caroline (May 7, 2012). "Joe Biden Endorses Gay Marriage". Governing. Archived from the original on February 22, 2021. Retrieved February 9, 2021.
- ^ "Amid a Series of Mass Shootings in the U.S., Gun Policy Remains Deeply Divisive". PewResearch.org. April 20, 2021. Archived from the original on May 30, 2022.
- ^ "The Draft 2008 Democratic National Platform: Renewing America's Promise" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on May 12, 2012. Retrieved February 4, 2014.
- ^ Clyde, Don; Miranda, Shauneen (June 25, 2022). "Biden signs gun safety bill into law". NPR. Archived from the original on September 24, 2022. Retrieved September 20, 2022.
- ^ Schaeffer, Katherine (September 13, 2023). "Key facts about Americans and guns". Pew Research Center. Retrieved September 19, 2023.
- ^ a b "1972 Democratic Party Platform". July 11, 1972. Archived from the original on April 8, 2022 – via American Presidency Project.
- ^ "Obama Backs Death Penalty for Child Rapists" Archived May 27, 2009, at the Wayback Machine. Newser, June 26, 2008. Retrieved June 10, 2009.
- ^ "The Candidates on the Death Penalty". Pew Research Center. Archived from the original on July 4, 2008. Retrieved July 26, 2009.
- ^ "Democratic Platform Drafting Meeting Concludes". DNCC. June 25, 2016. Archived from the original on August 2, 2016. Retrieved June 29, 2016.
- ^ "Democrats Scrubbed An Issue From Their Party Platform — And It's Going Under The Radar". HuffPost. August 22, 2024.
- ^ Tyson, Alec (January 26, 2017). "Americans divided in views of use of torture in U.S. anti-terror efforts". Archived from the original on March 21, 2020. Retrieved March 21, 2020.
- ^ Kenneth T. Walsh. "Obama and Democrats' Torture Problem". U.S. News & World Report. Archived from the original on July 6, 2017. Retrieved August 26, 2017.
- ^ "Senate roll call on passage of the PATRIOT Act". Senate.gov. April 25, 2017. Archived from the original on December 5, 2017. Retrieved January 13, 2018.
- ^ "House approves Patriot Act renewal". CNN.com. Archived from the original on March 21, 2020. Retrieved March 21, 2020.
- ^ Ashtari, Shadee (November 6, 2013). "Here's The Medieval-Sounding Sodomy Law That Helped Ken Cuccinelli Lose In Virginia". Huffington Post. Archived from the original on March 24, 2019. Retrieved December 6, 2019.
- ^ "Republicans, Democrats Agree on Top Foreign Policy Goals". Gallup.com. February 20, 2013. Archived from the original on March 10, 2016. Retrieved April 16, 2017.
- ^ See "July 3, 2014 – Iraq – Getting In Was Wrong; Getting Out Was Right, U.S. Voters Tell Quinnipiac University National Poll" Quinnipiac University Poll Archived April 2, 2016, at the Wayback Machine item #51
- ^ Gordon, Michael R. (November 23, 2013). "Accord Reached With Iran to Halt Nuclear Program". The New York Times. Archived from the original on March 26, 2017. Retrieved February 21, 2017.
- ^ "Jewish Democratic donors urge Congress: Back off Iran sanctions". Haaretz.com. February 28, 2014. Archived from the original on September 24, 2015. Retrieved March 26, 2014.
- ^ Cortellessa, Eric. "Democratic Party passes resolution calling for US to re-enter Iran nuke deal". The Times of Israel. Archived from the original on February 21, 2019. Retrieved February 21, 2019.
- ^ "Democrats say McCain forgot Afghanistan". Boston Globe. July 24, 2008. Retrieved August 23, 2008. Archived August 20, 2008, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ a b "John McCain & Barack Obama urge Afghanistan surge" Archived November 13, 2009, at the Wayback Machine. New York Daily News. July 15, 2008. Retrieved August 23, 2008.
- ^ "U.S. plans major shift to advisory role in Afghanistan", Los Angeles Times, December 13, 2011 Archived August 19, 2016, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ a b Most Americans oppose Afghanistan war: poll Archived August 10, 2009, at the Wayback Machine. The Australian. August 7, 2009. Retrieved August 24, 2009.
- ^ a b "Afghan War Edges Out Iraq as Most Important for U.S." Archived December 24, 2016, at the Wayback Machine by Frank Newport. Gallup. July 30, 2008. Retrieved August 24, 2009.
- ^ "Joe Biden: I Promise To 'End The Forever Wars In Afghanistan And Middle East' As President". cbsnews.com. July 11, 2019. Archived from the original on November 19, 2022. Retrieved November 19, 2022.
- ^ "Biden to pull US troops from Afghanistan, end 'forever war'". AP NEWS. April 14, 2021. Archived from the original on November 19, 2022. Retrieved November 19, 2022.
- ^ Nicole Gaouette; Jennifer Hansler; Barbara Starr; Oren Liebermann (August 30, 2021). "The last US military planes have left Afghanistan, marking the end of the United States' longest war | CNN Politics". CNN. Archived from the original on September 11, 2021. Retrieved November 19, 2022.
- ^ "Republicans and Democrats agree that the Afghanistan war wasn't worth it, an AP-NORC poll shows". AP News. October 18, 2023. Archived from the original on October 18, 2023. Retrieved October 19, 2023.
- ^ a b Cavari, Amnon; Freedman, Guy (2020). American Public Opinion Toward Israel: From Consensus to Divide. Taylor & Francis. p. 145.
- ^ Tenorio, Rich (November 3, 2020). "How a nascent Israel was a key issue in Truman's stunning 1948 election upset". Times of Israel. Archived from the original on November 18, 2023. Retrieved November 1, 2023.
- ^ "PARTY PLATFORM". Democrats. Democrats.org. Archived from the original on March 15, 2014. Retrieved June 17, 2022.
- ^ Shear, Michael D. (October 19, 2023). "Israel-Hamas War: Biden Urges U.S. to Remain 'Beacon to the World' in Aiding Allies at War". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on October 20, 2023. Retrieved October 20, 2023.
- ^ Baker, Peter (October 10, 2023). "In Unforgiving Terms, Biden Condemns 'Evil' and 'Abhorrent' Attack on Israel". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on October 12, 2023. Retrieved October 12, 2023.
- ^ "Biden Ordering US Military to Build Port in Gaza to Facilitate Aid". March 7, 2024. Archived from the original on March 19, 2024. Retrieved March 23, 2024.
- ^ Berg, Matt (April 14, 2024). "Voters think Biden should be tougher on Israel, new poll finds". Politico. Archived from the original on May 28, 2024. Retrieved June 16, 2024.
- ^ Valdez, Jonah (September 10, 2024). "MOST AMERICANS WANT TO STOP ARMING ISRAEL. POLITICIANS DON'T CARE". The Intercept.
- ^ Stepansky, Joseph (August 17, 2024). "'Uncommitted' delegates bring Gaza-war message to Democratic convention". Al Jazeera. Archived from the original on September 13, 2024. Retrieved August 18, 2024.
- ^ "Here are the 11 GOP senators who voted against the Ukraine aid bill," Archived August 15, 2023, at the Wayback Machine May 19, 2022, The Hill (magazine) retrieved July 4, 2023
- ^ "A Loud Republican Minority Opposes More Ukraine Military Aid," Archived July 4, 2023, at the Wayback Machine May 19, 2023, New York Times retrieved July 4, 2023
- ^ Shivaram, Deepa (October 26, 2023). "The White House is asking for almost $106 billion for Israel, Ukraine and the border". NPR. Archived from the original on August 21, 2024. Retrieved August 2, 2024.
- ^ Zengerle, Patricia; Cowan, Richard (April 23, 2024). "US Congress passes Ukraine aid after months of delay". Reuters. Retrieved June 2, 2024.
- ^ Williams, Michael; Saenz, Arlette; Liptak, Kevin (April 30, 2024). "Biden signs foreign aid bill providing crucial military assistance to Ukraine". CNN. Archived from the original on April 24, 2024. Retrieved June 2, 2024.
- ^ Myre, Greg (April 24, 2024). "Biden signs $95 billion military aid package for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan". NPR. Archived from the original on June 2, 2024. Retrieved June 2, 2024.
- ^ a b Suss, Joel; Xiao, Eva; Burn-Murdoch, John; Murray, Clara; Vincent, Jonathan (November 9, 2024). "Poorer voters flocked to Trump — and other data points from the election". Financial Times. Retrieved November 12, 2024.
In contrast to 2020, the majority of lower-income households or those earning less than $50,000 a year voted for Trump this election. Conversely, those making more than $100,000 voted for Harris, according to exit polls.
- ^ "Faith on the Hill: The religious composition of the 116th Congress". Pew Research Center. January 3, 2019. Archived from the original on February 18, 2021. Retrieved May 18, 2020.
- ^ Andre, Michael; et al. (November 3, 2020). "National Exit Polls: How Different Groups Voted". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on November 10, 2020. Retrieved December 5, 2020.
- ^ "An inaugural first: Obama acknowledges 'non-believers'". USA Today. January 22, 2009. Archived from the original on April 1, 2010. Retrieved August 22, 2017.
- ^ "Party identification among religious groups and religiously unaffiliated voters". Pew Research Center. April 9, 2024. Retrieved May 27, 2024.
- ^ "Who are today's union workers?". Economic Policy Institute. April 21, 2021. Retrieved October 17, 2024.
- ^ Badger, Emily; Gebeloff, Robert; Bhatia, Aatish (October 26, 2024). "They Used to Be Ahead in the American Economy. Now They've Fallen Behind". The New York Times. Retrieved October 26, 2024.
- ^ "4. Age, generational cohorts and party identification". Pew Research Center. April 9, 2024. Archived from the original on August 3, 2024. Retrieved August 3, 2024.
- ^ "Unmarried Women in the 2004 Presidential Election" Archived January 1, 2016, at the Wayback Machine (PDF). Report by Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research, January 2005. p. 3: "The marriage gap is one of the most important cleavages in electoral politics. Unmarried women voted for Kerry by a 25-point margin (62 to 37 percent), while married women voted for President Bush by an 11-point margin (55 percent to 44 percent). Indeed, the 25-point margin Kerry posted among unmarried women represented one of the high water marks for the Senator among all demographic groups."
- ^ "Republicans should worry that unmarried women shun them". The Economist. December 14, 2013. Archived from the original on January 15, 2018. Retrieved September 18, 2019.
- ^ McDonnell, Meg T. (December 3, 2012). "The Marriage Gap in the Women's Vote". Crisis Magazine. Archived from the original on October 31, 2014. Retrieved December 11, 2014.
- ^ Goldenberg, Suzanne (November 9, 2012). "Single women voted overwhelmingly in favour of Obama, researchers find". The Guardian. Archived from the original on December 31, 2014. Retrieved December 11, 2014.
- ^ Junn, Jane; Masuoka, Natalie (2020). "The Gender Gap Is a Race Gap: Women Voters in US Presidential Elections". Perspectives on Politics. 18 (4): 1135–1145. doi:10.1017/S1537592719003876. ISSN 1537-5927.
- ^ "White Female Voters Continue to Support the Republican Party". The Atlantic. November 14, 2016. Archived from the original on December 15, 2023. Retrieved January 30, 2021.
- ^ a b "The long goodbye". The Economist. November 11, 2010. Retrieved February 20, 2023.
In 1981 Republicans took control of the Senate for the first time since 1953, but most Southern elected officials remained white Democrats. When Republicans took control of the House in 1995, white Democrats still comprised one-third of the South's tally. ... white Southern Democrats have met their Appomattox: they will account for just 24 of the South's 155 senators and congressmen in the 112th United States Congress.
- ^ Barabak, Mark Z. "A series on political shifts in the West". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved June 4, 2024.
- ^ Sullivan, Brianna; Hays, Donald; Bennett, Neil (June 2023). "The Wealth of Households: 2021 / Current Population Reports / P70BR-183" (PDF). United States Census Bureau. p. 5 (Figure 2). Archived (PDF) from the original on May 24, 2024.
- ^ a b Silver, Nate (November 22, 2016). "Education, Not Income, Predicted Who Would Vote For Trump". FiveThirtyEight.
- ^ Ruffini, Patrick (November 4, 2023). "The Emerging Working-Class Republican Majority". POLITICO. Archived from the original on November 14, 2023. Retrieved December 26, 2023.
- ^ "National Exit Poll". CNN. Archived from the original on June 5, 2010. Retrieved January 28, 2013.
- ^ Suls, Rob (September 15, 2016). "Educational divide in vote preferences on track to be wider than in recent elections". Pew Research Center.
- ^ Kurtzleben, Danielle (September 24, 2014). "White high school dropouts are wealthier than Black or Latino college graduates". Vox.
- ^ a b Brownstein, Ronald. "Republicans and Democrats increasingly really do occupy different worlds". CNN. Archived from the original on October 24, 2018. Retrieved October 24, 2018.
On the one hand, non-college whites almost always expressed more conservative views than did either non-whites or whites with a college degree living in the same kind of geographic area.
- ^ Teixeira, Ruy (November 6, 2022). "Democrats' Long Goodbye to the Working Class". The Atlantic. Archived from the original on January 7, 2023. Retrieved November 8, 2022.
As we move into the endgame of the 2022 election, the Democrats face a familiar problem. America's historical party of the working class keeps losing working-class support. And not just among White voters. Not only has the emerging Democratic majority I once predicted failed to materialize, but many of the non-White voters who were supposed to deliver it are instead voting for Republicans... From 2012 to 2020, the Democrats not only saw their support among White working-class voters — those without college degrees — crater, they also saw their advantage among non-White working-class voters fall by 18 points. And between 2016 and 2020 alone, the Democratic advantage among Hispanic voters declined by 16 points, overwhelmingly driven by the defection of working-class voters. In contrast, Democrats' advantage among White college-educated voters improved by 16 points from 2012 to 2020, an edge that delivered Joe Biden the White House.
- ^ Enten, Harry (November 29, 2016). "Even Among The Wealthy, Education Predicts Trump Support". FiveThirtyEight.
First, it's clear from the exit polls that for white voters, every bit of extra education meant less support for Trump. ... Second, education matters a lot even when separating out income levels. ... Third, Trump saw little difference in his support between income levels within each education group.
- ^ "National Results 2020 President exit polls". CNN. Retrieved December 4, 2020.
- ^ "Election Polls -- Vote by Groups, 1960-1964". Gallup. Archived from the original on July 26, 2011. Retrieved June 30, 2021.
- ^ "1976 Presidential General Election Data - National". Archived from the original on August 14, 2020. Retrieved March 18, 2013.
- ^ "CNN.com Election 2004". CNN. Archived from the original on May 14, 2007. Retrieved January 2, 2018.
- ^ John Ashworth, "Agrarians" & "aristocrats": Party political ideology in the United States, 1837–1846(1983)
- ^ Susan Dunn, Roosevelt's Purge: How FDR Fought to Change the Democratic Party (2010) pp. 202-213.
- ^ a b Kane, Paul (January 15, 2014). "Blue Dog Democrats, whittled down in number, are trying to regroup". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on January 16, 2014. Retrieved July 23, 2014.
Four years ago, they were the most influential voting bloc on Capitol Hill, more than 50 House Democrats pulling their liberal colleagues to a more centrist, fiscally conservative vision on issues such as health care and Wall Street reforms.
- ^ Patterson, James T. (1967). Congressional Conservatism and the New Deal. University Press of Kentucky. pp. vii–viii. ISBN 9780813164045.
- ^ Cohn, Nate (April 23, 2014). "Southern Whites' Loyalty to GOP Nearing that of Blacks to Democrats". The New York Times.
- ^ Kilgore, Ed (November 9, 2018). "A Different Kind of Democratic Party Is Rising in the South". New York Magazine. Retrieved November 9, 2018.
- ^ "National Results 2020 President exit polls". CNN. Retrieved December 4, 2020.
- ^ Gilberstadt, Hannah; Daniller, Andrew (January 17, 2020). "Liberals make up the largest share of Democratic voters, but their growth has slowed in recent years". Pew Research Center. Archived from the original on January 17, 2020. Retrieved June 12, 2020.
- ^ Brownstein, Ronald (May 9, 2019). "The Democrats' Coalition Could Fundamentally Change by 2020". The Atlantic. Archived from the original on March 23, 2020. Retrieved March 13, 2020.
- ^ "Inside Obama's Sweeping Victory". Pew Research Center. November 5, 2008. Archived from the original on July 15, 2017. Retrieved July 11, 2017.
- ^ "National Results 2020 President exit polls". www.cnn.com. Archived from the original on May 31, 2022. Retrieved November 27, 2020.
- ^ "CNN. (2006). Exit Poll". Archived from the original on February 13, 2018. Retrieved July 11, 2007.
- ^ Gidron, Noam; Ziblatt, Daniel (May 11, 2019). "Center-Right Political Parties in Advanced Democracies". Annual Review of Political Science. 22 (1): 17–35. doi:10.1146/annurev-polisci-090717-092750. ISSN 1094-2939. S2CID 182421002.
- ^ Grossman, Matt; Hopkins, David A. (2016). Asymmetric Politics: Ideological Republicans and Group Interest Democrats. Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780190626594.001.0001. ISBN 978-0-19-062659-4. Archived from the original on November 28, 2021. Retrieved November 10, 2021.
- ^ Lelkes, Yphtach; Sniderman, Paul M. (2016). "The Ideological Asymmetry of the American Party System". British Journal of Political Science. 46 (4): 825–844. doi:10.1017/S0007123414000404. ISSN 0007-1234.
- ^ Jones, Jeffrey M. (February 22, 2019). "Conservatives Greatly Outnumber Liberals in 19 U.S. States". Gallup. Retrieved December 27, 2021.
- ^ "Exit Polls". CNN Politics. Archived from the original on November 14, 2018. Retrieved July 4, 2020.
- ^ Judis, John B. (July 11, 2003). "The trouble with Howard Dean". Salon. Salon.com. Archived from the original on September 21, 2012. Retrieved July 19, 2007.
- ^ a b "Pew Research Center. (May 10, 2005). Beyond Red vs. Blue, p. 1 of 8". May 10, 2005. Archived from the original on July 31, 2012. Retrieved July 12, 2007.
- ^ "The big divide among 2020 Democrats over trade — and why it matters". Vox. Vox.com. February 18, 2019. Archived from the original on May 8, 2019. Retrieved May 10, 2019.
- ^ Lipka, Michael; Smith, Gregory A. (January 31, 2020). "Among Democrats, Christians lean toward Biden, while 'nones' prefer Sanders". Pew Research Center. Archived from the original on February 11, 2021. Retrieved November 16, 2020.
- ^ Kurtz, Howard (March 29, 2005). "College Faculties A Most Liberal Lot, Study Finds". The Washington Post. Washingtonpost.com. Archived from the original on June 4, 2012. Retrieved July 2, 2007.
- ^ "DLC: The New American Choice Resolutions". Democratic Leadership Council. Archived from the original on January 11, 2014. Retrieved February 25, 2013.
- ^ Alvarez, R. Michael, and Jonathan Nagler. "Economics, Entitlements, and Social Issues: Voter Choice in the 1996 Presidential Election." American Journal of Political Science 42, no. 4 (1998): 1361.
- ^ Yglesias, Matthew (July 26, 2016). "Bill Clinton is still a star, but today's Democrats are dramatically more liberal than his party". Vox. Retrieved May 31, 2022.
- ^ Dumain, Emma (May 12, 2015). "20 years in, Blue Dogs not ready to roll over". rollcall.com.
- ^ "History". ross.house.gov/BlueDog/. Blue Dog Coalition. Archived from the original on April 5, 2012. Retrieved April 10, 2012.
- ^ Bendavid, Naftali (July 28, 2009). "'Blue Dog' Democrats hold health care overhaul at bay". The Wall Street Journal.
- ^ "Democratic Leadership Council will fold". Politico. February 7, 2011. Archived from the original on June 26, 2015. Retrieved September 18, 2011.
- ^ a b "Members – New Democrat Coalition". Archived from the original on September 7, 2016.
- ^ Hale, Jon F. (January 1, 1995). "The Making of the New Democrats". Political Science Quarterly. 110 (2): 207–232. doi:10.2307/2152360. JSTOR 2152360.
- ^ "New Democrat Coalition". Archived from the original on March 8, 2022. Retrieved March 11, 2022.
- ^ "Obama: 'I am a New Democrat'". Politico.com. March 10, 2009. Archived from the original on April 19, 2017. Retrieved April 16, 2017.
- ^ "Progressivism". Columbia Encyclopaedia. 2007. Archived from the original on June 29, 2008. Retrieved January 19, 2015.
- ^ "Important Examples of Progressive Reforms". University of Michigan. Archived from the original on February 12, 2015. Retrieved April 2, 2014.
- ^ "Elizabeth Warren's 11 Commandments of Progressivism". National Journal. Archived from the original on October 20, 2014. Retrieved October 22, 2014.
- ^ McPherson, Lindsey (November 29, 2018). "Jayapal Joins Pocan As Co-Chair of Congressional Progressive Caucus". rollcall.com. Archived from the original on January 21, 2019. Retrieved January 20, 2019.
- ^ "Caucus Members". Congressional Progressive Caucus. Retrieved March 21, 2023.
- ^ Prokop, Andrew (October 21, 2024). "The big political shift that explains the 2024 election". Vox. Retrieved October 21, 2024.
- ^ Weigel, David (October 15, 2024). "No matter who wins, the US is moving to the right". Semafor. Retrieved October 24, 2024.
- ^ Levitz, Eric (October 22, 2024). "If Harris loses, expect Democrats to move right". Vox.
Further reading
- 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. 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 Wikipedia Library.
- Andelic, Patrick. Donkey Work: Congressional Democrats in Conservative America, 1974–1994 (2019) online
- Baker, Jean H. Affairs of party: The political culture of northern Democrats in the mid-nineteenth century (Fordham UP, 1998).
- Bass Jr, Harold F. Historical dictionary of United States political parties (Scarecrow Press, 2009).
- Black, Merle (2004). "The transformation of the southern Democratic Party". Journal of Politics. 66 (4): 1001–1017. doi:10.1111/j.1468-2508.2004.00287.x. S2CID 154506701.
- Burner, David. The Politics of Provincialism: The Democratic Party in Transition, 1918–1932 (Knopf, 1968).
- Congressional Quarterly. National Party Conventions, 1831–2000 (2001).
- Congressional Quarterly. Presidential Elections 1789–2008 (10th edition, 2009)
- Craig, Douglas. "Newton D. Baker and the Democratic Malaise, 1920–1937." Australasian Journal of American Studies (2006): 49–64. in JSTOR Archived August 19, 2018, at the Wayback Machine
- Dowe, Pearl K. Ford, et al. Remaking the Democratic Party: Lyndon B. Johnson as a Native-Son Presidential Candidate (University of Michigan Press, 2016).
- Feller, David. "Politics and Society: Toward a Jacksonian Synthesis" Journal of the Early Republic 10#2 (1990), pp. 135–161 in JSTOR
- Finkelman, Paul, and Peter Wallenstein, eds. The encyclopedia of American political history (CQ Press, 2001).
- Frymer, Paul. Black and blue: African Americans, the labor movement, and the decline of the Democratic party (Princeton UP, 2008).
- Gerring, John. "A chapter in the history of American party ideology: The nineteenth-century Democratic Party (1828–1892)." Polity 26.4 (1994): 729–768. online Archived February 2, 2017, at the Wayback Machine
- Gillon, Steven M. (1992). The Democrats' Dilemma: Walter F. Mondale and the Liberal Legacy. New York: Columbia University Press. ISBN 9780231076302. online
- Greene, Jack B. Encyclopedia of American Political History (1983)
- Hilton, Adam. True Blues: The Contentious Transformation of the Democratic Party (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2021), since 1972.
- Kazin, Michael. What It Took to Win: A History of the Democratic Party (2022) online
- Kazin, Michael. ed. The Princeton Encyclopedia of American Political History (2 vol. Princeton UP, 2009)
- Kazin, Michael. ed. The Concise Princeton Encyclopedia of American Political History (Princeton UP, 2011)
- Landis, Michael Todd. Northern Men with Southern Loyalties: The Democratic Party and the Sectional Crisis. (Cornell UP, 2014).
- Lawrence, David G. The collapse of the democratic presidential majority: Realignment, dealignment, and electoral change from Franklin Roosevelt to Bill Clinton. (Westview Press, 1997).
- McGuire, John Thomas (2014). "Beginning an 'Extraordinary Opportunity': Eleanor Roosevelt, Molly Dewson, and the expansion of women's boundaries in the Democratic Party, 1924–1934". Women's History Review. 23 (6): 922–937. doi:10.1080/09612025.2014.906841. S2CID 146773549.
- Maisel, L. Sandy, and Jeffrey M. Berry, eds. The Oxford handbook of American political parties and interest groups (Oxford UP, 2010).
- Maisel, L. Sandy, and Charles Bassett, eds. Political parties & elections in the United States: an encyclopedia (2 vol, Garland, 1991)
- Mieczkowski, Yanek, and Mark C Carnes. The Routledge historical atlas of presidential elections (2001).
- Neal, Steven. Happy Days are Here Again: The 1932 Democratic Convention, the Emergence of FDR—and how America was Changed Forever (HarperCollins, 2010).
- Remini, Robert V. Martin Van Buren and the making of the Democratic Party (Columbia UP, 1961).
- Savage, Sean J. Roosevelt: The Party Leader, 1932–1945 (U Press of Kentucky, 2015).
- Savage, Sean J. JFK, LBJ, and the Democratic Party (SUNY Press, 2012).
- Savage, Sean J. Truman and the Democratic Party (U Press of Kentucky, 2015).
- Woods, Randall B. Prisoners of Hope: Lyndon B. Johnson, the Great Society, and the Limits of Liberalism (Basic Books, 2016).