U.S. Republican Party

Historical evolution

The Civil War and the Domination Period

Abraham Lincoln’s victory in the election in 1860 began the Republican dominance period, during which the Republican Party relied on the industrial northeast The Ministry of Agriculture and the Midwest of Agriculture have controlled American politics for decades. The Republican Party is still proud to call itself "Lincoln's Party." Lincoln successfully united all factions in the Republican Party to support the United States. However, he also opposed those radical Republican factions that demand harsh punishments in the South. In Congress, the Republican Party passed a series of rapid modernization bills, including the state-owned banking system, high tariffs, the levy of income taxes, and various other goods taxes, the issuance of paper money (US bills) that do not require gold and silver restrictions, and huge national debt. , Owner Farms Act, and land grants to subsidize higher education, railway construction, and agricultural development.

At that time, most of the Democrats in the North were the protagonists and continued to support Lincoln. Until the fall of 1862, when Lincoln changed the goal of the war to the complete liberation of slavery, many Democrats began to adopt an anti-war attitude. With the exception of Kentucky, all Republican State Party Headquarters supported the goal of abolishing slavery. The Republican Party also successfully accused the North’s anti-war Democrats as traitors who sympathized with the division of the South, and won the support of most of the Democrats who were fighting, allowing them to maintain the majority status in 1862. Lincoln continued to win the overwhelming victory in the 1864 election. Sexual victory.

In the post-civil war reconstruction period (1865-1877), how to deal with the surrendered states and liberated slaves in the South became the main issue. In 1864, the Republican Party took control of Congress and demanded more drastic action to fight slavery and avenge the division of the South. Lincoln reluctantly contained them, but after Lincoln's death, President Andrew Johnson split with the radical Republicans in 1866 because of this. As a result, in the congressional elections of 1866, the radical Republicans won an overwhelming victory, thus completely controlling the entire reconstruction period, making Johnson unable to block legislation with his veto power. The radical Republicans imposed many harsh bills on the South in retaliation for the separation of the South.

In the election of 1868, Ulysses Grant supported the radical reconstruction plan of the South, granting all free people equal citizenship and voting rights in the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution; most importantly Yes, Grant is a veteran and hero of the war, which makes him quite popular. Due to the excessive expansion of the Republican Party, serious factional strife and corruption will inevitably arise. After the war, the federal government's army has been stationed in the south to prevent re-separation. In 1872, the liberals within the Republican Party broke out in conflict. They believed that the war was over and the army should be withdrawn as soon as possible. The economic depression that broke out in 1873 gave the Democratic Party a chance to reverse the situation and retake the House of Representatives. The reconstruction period finally ended with the election of 1876, when the Republican candidate Rutherford Burchad Hayes promised to withdraw the federal troops still stationed in the three southern states. After the army withdrew, the southern region firmly supported the Democratic Party for the next century, and became the Democratic Party’s largest vote in every presidential and congressional election. It didn't begin to change until 1964.

The Gilded Period

During this period, the Republican Party split into "orthodox" and "hybrid" schools. They struggled for the appointment of government posts and the reform of civil servants, but in their policies The above is not much different. In 1884, the reformists in the Republican Party considered James G. Bryan to be quite corrupt and refused to support him. They changed to support the Democratic Party's Grover Cleveland, which enabled the Democratic Party to retake the White House; most of these Republicans were in 1888. Returned to the Republican Party.

With the economic prosperity and development of the North after the war, various industries, railways, mining, and many large cities have grown rapidly, and the agricultural development has also been prosperous. The Republican Party has also continued to pass many bills to maintain the rapid economic growth. Grow. The Democratic Party has been controlled by conservative Democrats who support business, and did not change until 1896. The Republican Party at this time usually supports large companies, hard currencies (such as the gold standard), high tariffs, and generous pensions for Union veterans in the Civil War. However, in 1890, the Republicans had to agree to pass the Sherman Antitrust Act and the Interstate Commerce Commission, which regulates rail transportation, to resolve complaints from small business owners and farmers, and to pass civil service reforms. The bill eliminates most of the political power to designate public office under the consensus of the two parties. The high-tariff bill passed under the leadership of William McKinley in 1890 hit the Republican Party hard and gave the Democratic Party an overwhelming victory in the congressional elections that year. In this period, foreign policy was rarely the main issue of the two parties' attention (except for the merger of Hawaii, the Republican Party supported it and the Democratic Party opposed it), and more often focused on cultural issues. The Republican Party supported the Pietist Protestant sect (Wayley Zong, Congregational Church, Presbyterian Church, and Scandinavian Lutheran) support the promulgation of Prohibition. This angered some Republicans who opposed prohibition, especially German Americans, and made them support the Democrats in 1890-1892.

From 1860 to 1912, the Republican Party has always used the involvement of the Democratic Party and "wine, Catholicism, and rebellion" to gain support. Wine means the interests of the Democratic Party and the wine industry and the tavern industry. The Lower Republican Party adopts a firm stance of prohibition. "Catholic" refers to the connection between the Democratic Party and Catholics. Irish Catholics are the main member base of the Democratic Party in metropolitan areas, and the Republican Party vigorously accuses them of political corruption. "Rebellion" refers to the Confederate States that tried to separate the United States in 1861, and the Northern Democrats who sympathized with them.

The increase in population is more beneficial to the Democratic Party. The large number of German and Irish immigrants who come here mostly support the Democratic Party and surpass the Republican Party, which is dominated by British and Scandinavian immigrants. In the 1880s, the performance of the two parties in elections began to get closer. The Democrats usually lost, but won the presidential elections in 1884 and 1892. As the ruling Democratic Party experienced a severe economic recession between 1893-1897, coupled with violent strikes in coal mines and railroads, the Republican Party took the opportunity to win the most glorious victory in history in the 1894 congressional election.

The Progressive Period

The election of William McKinley in 1896 symbolized the beginning of a new era of Republican hegemony, and is sometimes regarded as an election for the reorganization of the voter structure. The Republican Party controlled the 28-year presidency for the next 36 years, with only two exceptions. He promised that the high tariff policy would end the economic panic since 1893, and accused the Democratic candidate William Jennings Bryan's policy of free coinage of silver coins would cause economic downturn. McKinley relied heavily on the support of finance, railways, industry, and the middle class, and shaped the Republican Party as a political party of business people to attract the support of a large number of business groups and was elected president with an overwhelming victory. McKinley was also the first president to propose pluralism, advocating that all ethnic and religious groups would benefit from his policies.

Theodore Roosevelt was the most prominent president of this period. He promised to inherit McKinley’s policy, but after being re-elected in 1904, he began to change his policy, attacking the interests of big companies and enacting antitrust laws. He made only moderate progress in railway legislation and the food cleansing bill, but got even greater victory in court, successfully dissolving Standard Oil and other monopolies, but failed to pass the major fair trade bill during his tenure. In 1908, Roosevelt nominated his Secretary of War William Howard Taft to stand for election and succeeded as president. Although Taft’s policies were more conservative than Roosevelt, the antitrust laws and antitrust policies he passed during his tenure were not. More than Roosevelt. The issue of tariffs has always been a point of disagreement within the Republican Party. Roosevelt tried to delay this issue, but Taft had to face it when he left office. Conservatives in the east wanted to impose high tariffs on foreign processed products (especially wool), but China The West hopes to reduce tariffs. The differences between conservatives and progressives in the Republican Party were finally out of control. In the 1912 presidential election, Roosevelt personally formed the Progressive Party as the third party candidate. In the end, he won more votes than Taft, but because The split of the Republican votes resulted in the Democratic candidate Woodrow Wilson standing out and becoming the only Democratic president during the Republican dominance period.

The Republican Party accepts the policies of the progressive period at the state and local levels, trying to promote reforms in the metropolitan area. The Republicans controlled the entire presidency of the 1920s, implemented policies that violated the League of Nations, high tariffs, and maintained the interests of business groups. Warren Gamaliel Harding, Calvin Coolidge, and Herbert Hoover were elected presidents in 1920, 1924, and 1928, respectively.

Although the Republican Party gained good support among the Catholic population in the metropolitan area from 1920 to 1924, it could not continue in the 1928 election. By 1932, the metropolitan area began to transform into a major town for the Democratic Party. Up. In October 1929, the collapse of the Wall Street stock market began a series of economic panics. Hoover tried his best to ease the widespread economic recession, but the situation still did not improve. In the end, the Democrats won a major victory in the midterm elections in 1930, becoming the first time since Wilson had similar seats to the Republicans in Congress.

Anti-New Deal Coalition

In 1932, Hoover was defeated by Franklin Delano Roosevelt. The New Deal Coalition formed by Roosevelt then dominated American politics in the mid-20th century. The Democratic Party also gained majority status in both houses. After Roosevelt came to power in 1933, various New Deal bills were passed in Congress at an alarming speed. In the 1934 midterm elections, the Republicans lost another 10 Senate seats, making the Senate Republican and Democrat seats a gap of 25:71, and the number of Republicans in the House of Representatives was reduced to a similar proportion. The Republican Party heavily criticized Roosevelt's "Second Wave of New Deal", believing that it was a policy of class struggle and socialism, but the Republican Party was unable to stop it. Alf Landon, the governor of Kansas, ran for president on behalf of the Republican Party in 1936. Landon took the middle course and supported most of the New Deal plans, but Roosevelt still won overwhelming victories in 46 states. The Republican Party has only 16 senators and 88 congressmen left in Congress to check and balance Roosevelt’s New Deal. Roosevelt also isolated many conservative Democrats, especially after he tried to change the Supreme Court seats.

In early 1938, there was another severe economic recession in the United States. Major strikes spread throughout the United States. Roosevelt did not succeed in removing conservative judges from the Supreme Court. The Republican Party won the House of Representatives in the 1938 congressional election. 75 seats were regained. Conservative Democrats-mostly from the South, joined the Republican Party to form the Conservative Coalition, and dominated the domestic issues of Congress until 1964. From 1939 to 1941, there were differences within the Republican Party on whether to support Britain and its position on World War II. Interventionists such as Henry Lewis Stimson advocated supporting Britain, while isolationists strongly opposed the United States' participation in the war. The anti-war forces of the Republican and Democratic parties formed the America First Committee to prevent the United States from participating in the war. In 1940, the unknown Wendell Willkie (Wendell Willkie) stood out at the National Convention to represent the Republican Party. He criticized Roosevelt’s New Deal for inefficiency and also criticized Roosevelt’s campaign for ruining the re-election of the US president. Three-term tradition. The Pearl Harbor incident ended the debate between interventionism and isolationism. The Republican Party regained more seats in the midterm elections of 1942, finally balancing the Democratic Party’s long-standing majority status. With the economic boom that came from military production during the war, the Conservative Alliance stopped most of the New Deal plans.

As a minority party, the Republican Party at this time had two factions: the “left-wing” faction supported the majority of the New Deal, but advocated that it must be implemented more effectively. The “right-wing” faction opposed the New Deal from the very beginning, and was able to withdraw many of the New Deal measures in cooperation with the Southern conservative Democrats in the 1940s. The left wing of the Republican New Deal is led by Thomas Dewey, with the Northeast as its main base. The conservatives who oppose the New Deal are mainly in the west and southeast. The voter structure in the West began to diverge during this period, and the South remained the Democratic Party’s stable vote. Dewey is not opposed to the New Deal policy, but requires more effective measures to be adopted, advocating a policy of accelerating economic growth, and opposing political corruption. At the beginning of the war he was also more willing to support Britain than conservatives.

In 1944, Roosevelt, whose health had gradually deteriorated, still defeated Dewey and became the only president in history to be re-elected for four terms. However, Dewey still became the Republican candidate in 1948. After Roosevelt died in office in 1945, Harry S. Truman succeeded him as president. With the end of the war, unstable labor organizations launched many strikes in 1946, and the resulting chaos also helped the Republican election. The Republican Party criticized Truman's policy mistakes during his tenure and won the majority position in the first congressional election since 1928. Under the leadership of the Republican Party, the Taft-Hartley Act was passed in 1947 to balance the power of labor unions. This act became an issue in many industrial states in the 1940s and 1950s, but unions never It can be successfully abolished.

In 1948, the Republican Party split into left and right factions. Truman boldly convened a Republican-controlled Congress in July and sent out a bunch of bills that he expected to cause serious trouble for Republican congressmen. In the end, as expected, the Republican Congress was deadlocked and made no progress. Truman took the opportunity to criticize them as "useless" across the country. Then in the 1948 presidential election, Truman defeated Thomas Dewey and was re-elected, and the Democrats also regained Congress.

Eisenhower to Nixon

After World War II, conservative isolationists opposed joining the United Nations and were not interested in preventing the expansion of communism around the world. NATO commander and World War II general Dwight Eisenhower defeated the isolationist faction in the party and was elected president in 1952, breaking the 20-year period when the Democratic Party occupied the White House. However, at this time, the Republican Party did not have much disagreement on domestic issues. Eisenhower was a rather special president in history because he used to delegate party affairs (control of the National Committee and the position of spokesperson) to Nixon. Eisenhower did not try to eliminate the New Deal policy, but instead tried to expand the social welfare system and expand the interstate highway. The defeat of Richard Nixon, who represented the liberals in the Republican Party, in the 1960 presidential election caused the liberals to decline. In 1964, the conservative Barry Goldwater defeated Nelson Rockefeller at the nomination conference. Gao Huade strongly opposed the New Deal and the United Nations, but at the same time opposed isolationism and the Cold War containment policy, and advocated a tougher anti-communist foreign policy. Gao Huade was defeated by Lyndon Johnson in a landslide victory in the presidential election. In the same year, many senior Republican congressmen also lost the election, but this year's election marked the beginning of the rise of the Republican conservatives. Gao Huade attributed his failure to the popular sympathy of John F. Kennedy's assassination a year ago.

The New Deal Coalition collapsed in the 1960s due to severe urban riots, the Vietnam War, and many southern conservatives’ opposition to racial mixing and the civil rights movement. It was also because Lyndon Johnson imitated the New Deal’s "big society" "The failure of the Great Society policy. Nixon defeated Hubert Humphrey in the 1968 election campaign and was re-elected in 1972 with a landslide victory in 49 states. At the same time, the Democratic Party also began to hold power from the left. Nixon was forced to step down in 1974 due to the Watergate scandal. Gerald Ford, who took over, chose to pardon Nixon completely. This allowed the Democratic Party to hype the issue and won a major victory in the 1974 congressional election. Ford's support. The degree has not recovered, and almost lost to Ronald Reagan at the 1976 nomination conference. The impact of the Watergate case and the difficult economic situation of the United States at that time enabled the Democratic nominee Jimmy Carter to defeat Ford and become president in 1976.

The South turned to the Republican Party

Nearly a century after the reconstruction period, the white people in the South of the United States firmly supported the Democratic Party. The Democratic Party’s power in the South is so strong that this area is called "Solid South." The Republican Party was able to control some areas close to the Appalachian Mountains and sometimes tried to run for state officials in border states. Before 1964, Southern Democrats regarded their party as the defender of the Southern way of life, including respect for state power and an understanding of traditional Southern values. They constantly warned against the liberals and Republicans in the North who tried to interfere with the policies of the South and were hostile to those civil rights activists who they regarded as "outside troublemakers." Therefore, it is difficult for the Republican Party to gain support in the South.

However, starting in 1964, the Democratic Party’s consolidated position in the South began to waver. The long-term reason for this change is that the South has begun to become more and more similar to other parts of the United States, and it is unable to maintain racial separation for a long time. Modernization has brought a large number of factories, companies, and metropolises, as well as millions of immigrants from the north, and the level of education has gradually improved. At the same time, the traditional cotton and tobacco industries in the south began to wither, and farmers began to move to factories in large cities and towns. The reason for the short-term change was the civil rights movement in the 1960s. The civil rights movement caused great controversy among southern whites. Many people criticized it as an interference in the rights of local states. With the gradual removal of obstacles to political transformation, traditional Southerners joined the emerging middle class, while immigrants from the North began to lean toward the Republican Party. Therefore, the racial union policy finally caused political changes in the South. At the same time, those blacks who have been given the right to vote firmly support the Democratic candidates, with a rate as high as 85-90%.

The Reagan Revolution

The elections of Ronald Wilson Reagan in 1980 and 1984 became a major watershed in American politics. In 1980, because the Democratic Party had lost the support of most socio-economic classes, the Reagan Alliance formed by Reagan controlled the entire 1980s. In 1984, Reagan won nearly 60% of the votes in the general election and won the electoral college votes in 49 states. The Democratic nominee Walter Mundell only won his home state of Minnesota and the District of Columbia, making Reagan a record With a record of 525 electoral votes (538 in total), even in Minnesota, Mundell only surpassed Reagan by 3,761 votes, meaning that Reagan was almost about to set a historical record of winning all fifty states.[1] .

Political commentators tried to explain why Reagan gained such a huge support. They used "Reagan Democrats" to describe those Democrats who chose to vote for Reagan. The Reagan Democrats were supporters of the Democratic Party before the 1980s, but in 1980 and 1984 (and George Herbert Walker Bush in 1988) they chose to vote for the Republican Party, which allowed them to win an overwhelming victory. . Most of these Reagan Democrats were blue-collar, lived in areas traditionally belonged to the Democratic Party, and were attracted by Reagan's social conservatism on issues such as abortion and a strong foreign policy. They stopped supporting the Republican Party in 1992 and 1996, which made them a special phenomenon in the 1980s.

Reagan completely changed American politics. He lowered income tax by 25%, reduced many harsh taxes, and at the same time solved the economic stagflation that had been spreading since the 1970s, and curbed severe inflation and economic recession. With the support of the two parties, Reagan continued to deregulate commerce, eliminating almost all control policies left over from the New Deal, except for social welfare. Also with the support of the two parties, Reagan completely reformed the social welfare system so that the budget spent in the next 25 years would not exceed government control, and solved the financial crisis that was about to erupt due to this. Reagan said that these policies were the main reason for the robust recovery of the US economy in 1983 and 1984. Reagan always emphasized that he was skeptical of the federal government’s ability to deal with issues, especially in economic issues.

In foreign policy, Reagan’s hard-line style did not win both parties’ Support. Most Democrats strongly opposed Reagan's assistance to the Nicaraguan anti-communist guerrillas (Contras), and also opposed Reagan's support for dictatorial anti-Communist governments in Guatemala and Honduras. Reagan's tough policy against the Soviet Union caused great concern among Democrats who wanted to abolish nuclear weapons. However, Reagan succeeded in increasing the military budget and launching the Active Strategic Defense Program (SDI) known as "Star Wars" to overwhelm the Soviet military. Balance. When the reformist Soviet leader Gorbachev took power, many conservative Republicans were unbelievable about the gradual development of friendship between him and Reagan. Gorbachev ended the arms race with the United States in an attempt to save the Soviet Union's communism, and (1989) relaxed control of Eastern Europe. Communism in the Soviet Union finally collapsed in 1991. Reagan's successor, George Herbert Walker Bush, tried to avoid showing off the mood that the United States had won the Cold War, so as not to undermine relations with Russia, but the United States clearly felt that it was due to Reagan's tough policies over the years helped them win the Cold War. As the most fierce critic of Reagan admitted: "His greatest achievement is to restore the Americans’ self-esteem towards themselves and their government, especially after the Vietnam War, the Watergate case, and the Iranian hostage crisis. After defeat and several other incompetent presidents.” [2] However, it is quite ironic that the American people’s restoration of confidence in their own government happened during the term of a presidency in which I did not trust the government system so much.

The Republican Congress

George Herbert Walker Bush lost to Democrat Bill Clinton in the 1992 election. In the 1994 Congressional elections, the Republican Party regained its majority status in the Senate and House of Representatives. This is the first time since 1952 that the Republican Party has dominated the two houses. In the next ten years, the Republican Party’s majority status was only briefly broken during the 2001-2002 Senate session, and it was maintained until 2006. This election to recapture the Congress gave the Republican Party an advantage in the legislature, because the Democratic Party had firmly controlled the two houses for 40 years before 1995, except for the Senate from 1981 to 1987, which was controlled by the Republican Party.

In the 1994 election, the political views put forward by the Republican congressional candidates included a series of major reforms to the government, such as the budget balance bill and welfare system reform. The Republican Party named this series of political views the "Contract With America" ​​movement, which served as the main axis of the propaganda of the election that year. After the election victory, the Republican Party successfully passed some of these bills, but was defeated in other bills, such as congressional term limits. Democratic President Bill Clinton opposed some of the Republican policies on social issues, but accepted the welfare system reform and the bill to balance the federal budget. This has caused the US welfare system to undergo a large-scale transformation. Conservatives support this, while liberals vigorously oppose it. In 1995, a budget struggle between the Republicans and the Clinton administration caused the federal government to temporarily paralyze, but the negative effects of the incident allowed Clinton to be re-elected in the 1996 presidential election, defeating the Republican-nominated Senate leader Bob · Dole (Bob Dole).

Eight years of anti-terrorism

In the 2000 election, George Walker Bush defeated the Democratic nominated Vice President Albert Gore. This is the Republican party since 1952. For the first time, he controlled the White House and both houses at the same time. Bush lost to Gore by 543,816 votes in the general election, but won because of the Electoral College system, becoming the first president of the United States to lose the general election but win the Electoral College election since 1888.

Because of the September 11 attacks in 2001, Bush launched a series of wars on terrorism, including the invasion of Afghanistan, the enactment of the USA PATRIOT Act, and the invasion of Iraq. In November 2001, the radical Afghan Islamic Taliban regime was eradicated by the United States (Osama bin Laden was killed in 2011) in March 2003, after a series of lengthy diplomatic attempts at the United Nations failed. Bush chose to invade Iraq with the allies.

The Republican Party performed well in the 2002 midterm elections. After being positively affected by the early days of the Iraq War, the Republican Party consolidated its advantage in the House of Representatives while regaining its majority position in the Senate. Bush faced no opponents during the nomination process in the 2004 election and defined his political views as "a safer world and a more hopeful America." Bush demonstrated his confidence in winning the war on terror, and advocated that he should establish an "ownership society", emphasizing personal responsibility, economic freedom, and property ownership, and at the same time establishing a competitive world. Advanced economic system.

The Bush Administration

On November 2, 2004, Bush won the re-election election. This time Bush won 62 million popular votes, which is 3 million more than the Democratic Party's John Kerry. Bush's 286 Electoral College votes were also higher than Kelly's 251. While Bush was re-elected, the Republican Party also increased some seats in both houses of Congress. Bush once told reporters: "I earned capital in the election campaign-political capital, and now I plan to spend this capital in my style." He announced his policy plan in January 2005, but with His public recognition in the polls gradually declined, and his troubles gradually began. He worked hard to increase the system of personal savings accounts in the welfare system, and at the same time proposed large-scale tax amendments, but both of these bills were postponed. He successfully assigned many conservatives to the most important government positions, with Condoleezza Rice as Secretary of State, John Glover Roberts as Chief Justice, Ben Bernanke as Chairman of the Federal Reserve System, and so on. He successfully launched a new wave of tax cuts and blocked other possible tax increase channels. In 2006, Bush strongly defended his Iraq policy, arguing that the United States is moving towards victory. He also successfully extended the U.S. Patriotic Law, claiming that this bill protects the United States from a new wave of attacks after the September 11 incident in 2001.

In September 2005, Hurricane Katrina destroyed New Orleans and a large area around it. The Bush administration’s response to disaster relief was criticized for not being quick and adequate. The Federal Emergency Response Center (FEMA ) Was also forced to resign. Several members of Congress, including the Republican Speaker of the House of Representatives, were accused of fraudulent conduct in the election fundraising, and the Democrats took the opportunity to hype the issue. In the November 2005 election, the Republican Mayor Michael Bloomberg was re-elected with a landslide victory, becoming the Republican Party’s fourth consecutive victory in New York City, which has always been a major Democratic city.

In 2006, the Republican Party selected Representative John Boehner of Ohio as the leader of the House of Representatives and Mitch McConnell of Kentucky as the Senate Leader.

In November 2006, the Democratic Party defeated the Republican Party in the midterm elections, allowing the Democratic Party to regain the majority status in both houses.

Previous U.S. Presidential Election (Republican Party)

[1]. Assassinated

[2]. Once joined the Democratic Party Andrew Johnson, who served as the Vice President as a Republican Party member, inherited Lincoln as President of the United States in 1865 according to the system at the time.

[3]. Died while in office without being replaced

[5]. Resignation

Andrew Johnson

1872

31st term

竞选纲领

共和党没有固定的政纲，只有适应每次大选需要的竞选纲领。共和党党员多数是不固定的，凡在选举中投票选举该党总统候选人的选民都被认为是该党党员。共和党全国代表大会每四年举行一次，主要工作是推选该党总统、副总统候选人，通过党的竞选纲领，选举党的主席。共和党的常设最高机构是全国委员会，由主席领导，每年召开两次会议。各州有党的州委员会，县、市和基层选区均设地方委员会和选区委员会。共和党全国委员会现任主席是迈克尔·斯蒂尔。共和党的标记是象。

意识形态

共和党是由许多不同的非正式派系所组成的，这些派系也经常会互相重叠、但不一定会同意彼此的立场。举例而言，共和党内有财政保守主义派、福音教派、社会保守主义派、自由意志主义派、古保守主义派、新保守主义派、右派民粹主义派、以及中间温和派（有时又称为“只有头衔的共和党人”-Republican In NameOnly）、以及支持LGBT权利的“木屋共和党人”（Log Cabin Republicans）。

与民主党相较，共和党在社会议题上倾向保守主义，在经济上则接近于自由意志主义，并且与华尔街（大企业）和商业街（地区的小型商行）都有紧密的关系，但很少获得工会团体的支持。共和党支持较低的税赋、在经济议题上主张限制政府规模、并且支持商业发展；而在一些社会议题如堕胎上共和党则支持政府介入。然而，南部的流派则反映出福音教派和基本教义派的宗教理念，较少关注经济的议题，但却更注重道德的议题，反对堕胎和同性恋。不过，美国西部也有着稳固的福音教派共和党势力，而且在事实上，经济自由意志主义和社会保守主义这两种派系不一定是互相排斥的，他们在共和党内往往是互相重叠的。

组织架构

共和党全国委员会（Republican National Committee,RNC）负责组织协调共和党的竞选活动并推展共和党的政策。当总统是共和党籍时，RNC的主席是由总统亲自指派，当共和党在野时则由各地的州党部选出。总统乔治·沃克·布什在2005年1月指派了肯·梅尔曼（KenMehlman）担任全国委员会的主席。在总统选举中，全国委员会则需负责监督全国代表大会的进行过程，包括了筹款和选举战略的协调。在各州的党部和主要城市、郡、和行政区域也都有类似的委员会，但规模都比全国委员会要来的小。

共和党在众议院和参议院都有强大的筹款和选举战略委员会。共和党众议院全国委员会（National Republican CongressionalCommittee）负责协助众议院的选举，而共和党参议院全国委员会（National Republican SenatorialCommittee）负责协助参议院的选举。两个委员会在逐年选举中都单独募集了超过$1亿元的资金，并且在招募有潜力的州长候选人上占有重要角色。共和党州长联盟（Republican GovernorsAssociation）便是一个仅以讨论州长候选人为主、不负责募款的团体。整体来说在共和党每一个架构上，民主党都有类似的组织。

奉行政策

经济政策

共和党强调私人企业和个人决策对于促进经济繁荣的重要性，他们支持一个对商业有利的自由市场政策、经济自由主义、并且限制政府规模和政府管制。不过在近年来，一些人也指出2006年美国高昂的预算赤字，批评共和党不再是财政保守的政党了。

当前大多数共和党人抱持的经济理论是罗纳德·威尔逊·里根所提出的里根经济学。这个理论主张减少所得税率会增加GDP成长，额外的成长也因此会替政府带来更多额外的收入。这个理论也反映在共和党对于减税的长期支持上，减税自从1920年代以来便一直是共和党的主要政见。共和党人相信自从2001年以来的一连串减税促长了美国经济发展。许多共和党人也认为所得税是注定效率低落的，同时也反对等级税制，认为那是劫富济贫的制度，不公平的惩罚制造了更多工作机会和财富的人。

共和党人同意应该有一个“安全网络”以协助那些较贫穷的人口；不过，他们支持的政策通常都开销较少、较依靠于私人的募款、同时对于参与资格也有较严格限制。共和党人强烈支持1996年的福利制度改革，以此提高接受福利制度补助的资格门槛、并且成功的使许多之前依赖福利补助的人口开始寻找工作。

共和党反对一个仅由政府主导的全民健保制度—例如那些在加拿大和欧洲大多数国家的制度，主张一个由当前个人或雇主为基础选择的健保制度，并且仅针对年长者提供医疗保险（Medicare）、对贫穷者提供医疗补助（Medicaid）。共和党在历史上对于福利制度、医疗保险、以及医疗补助计划的态度并不一致，所有这些方案共和党都曾经加以反对或支持。国会里的共和党人和布什政府支持削减医疗补助的成长率，而在另一方面，国会里的共和党人却也支持扩展医疗保险，支持从2006年开始对年长者提供新一批的药品补助计划。共和党通常反对工会，并且支持在地方州和联邦的层次上颁布许多对组织工会不利的法规。共和党通常反对增加最低工资，认为最低工资制度只会增加失业率、并且减少商业的利润罢了。

社会政策

大多数共和党人都反对堕胎，反对合法化同性婚姻、并且支持“以信仰为基础的行动”。他们支持减少福利制度补助、反对政府为了消除歧视而施加的雇佣种族配额，但在是否支持以积极行动（affirmative action）政策来避免妇女和少数族群遭到歧视的议题上则产生分歧。大多数共和党的成员支持死刑以及其他较严格的惩罚措施，共和党通常也强烈支持买卖和拥有枪械的权利。

大多数共和党人支持透过学券制和许可证学校制（charter schools）来增加学生和家长们选择学校的自由，许多人也大力谴责公立学校制度以及教师组成的工会。共和党也要求现存的公立学校制度必须更负责任，最近在2001年颁布的“不让任何孩子落后”（No Child Left Behind）法案便是例子之一。

共和党内的宗教派系通常支持在公立学校组织例行的祷告，并且坚持在教导进化论的同时也应教导创造论或智能设计论。虽然共和党投票支持增加政府对科学研究上的补助，许多共和党人积极的反对联邦政府补助胎儿干细胞研究，因为认为那会采集到并摧毁人类的胚胎（一些人认为那在伦理上是和堕胎一致的）。其他一些人则支持补助仅限成人的干细胞研究。

外交政策

在九一一袭击事件后，共和党在反恐战争上支持新保守主义的政策，包括了2001年入侵阿富汗和2003年入侵伊拉克，并且试图在中东和全世界散布民主。布什政府认为在伊拉克的“非法战斗人员”（Unlawful combatant）不属于日内瓦公约的保护范围，主张日内瓦公约仅只保护主权国家的军队人员，并不适用于盖达等恐怖组织的恐怖份子。

共和党也支持对联合国内部进行改革，以避免类似石油换食品计划的贪污事件再次发生。共和党反对签订京都议定书，认为那个协议只会伤害美国的经济，而且也无法约束中国等大量制造全球暖化的国家。共和党强烈支持自由贸易协议，尤其是北美自由贸易协议（NAFTA）和中美洲自由贸易协议（CAFTA），目前共和党也试图进一步与南美洲国家如巴西、秘鲁、和哥伦比亚达成自由贸易协议。

共和党在如何处置非法移民的问题上产生重大分歧，尤其是针对拉美裔人。布什政府将处理拉美裔人问题作为第一优先的政治目标，但许多共和党的地方党部并没有重视这个议题。在整体上，共和党内的商业团体派系欢迎更多的移民，因为那代表更多便宜的劳工可以雇用；而社会保守主义的派系则反对之。在2006年，白宫支持参议院通过的一个完整的移民改革法案，使得上百万的非法移民最终能取得公民身分，但众议院则没有接受之。虽然这个议题在2006年的选举成为主要关注焦点之一，但民调则显示选民仍更重视一般的经济、政治腐败、伊拉克战争、以及恐怖主义的议题。

选票基础

商业团体

共和党受到各种阶层的商业团体的支持，从“商业街”（地区的小型商行）到“华尔街”（大型企业）都包括在内。

性别

自从1980年以来，共和党在男性选民中受到的支持度要稍微高于女性选民。在2006年的国会选举中，有47%的男性投给共和党，而女性则只有43%。

种族

自从1964年以来，共和党在非裔美国人中受到的支持度相当少，在近年来的全国性选举上只获得不到15%的黑人选票（1984到2004）。共和党曾经提名一些非裔美国人的候选人角逐伊利诺州、俄亥俄州、宾夕法尼亚州、和马里兰州等地的州长或参议员，但到目前还没有成功当选的例子。布什在拉美裔人中受到的支持度则有稍微提高，2000年获得35%、而2004年则获得44%。在2004年，44%的亚裔美国人投给了布什。而在2006年的众议院选举中，共和党赢得51%的白人选民支持、37%的亚裔、和30%的拉美裔，但只获得10%的非裔美国人支持。

家庭状态

在最近的选举里，共和党对于那些有育养小孩的、婚姻状态稳定的白人家庭有较高吸引力。未婚和离婚的妇女在2004年则较为支持民主党。

收入

不同收入阶层对于两党的偏好差异其实不大，虽然民主党对于最穷的一部份选民有较高吸引力。在2004年的选举里，布什于最贫穷的20%的人口中获得41%的支持，而在最富有的20%的人口中则获得55%的支持，收入居中的阶层则获得53%。在2006年的众议院选举里，年收入超过$50,000的选民有49%投给共和党，少于之的选民则只有不到38%。

教育

在教育的比较上，共和党在近年来稍微偏离了该党传统的选民倾向。在1988年，老布什获得52%的总票数，在拥有学士学位（但不包含学士以上）的选民中获得62%的支持度。但在2004年小布什则只获得52%的支持。在拥有硕士或硕士以上学位的选民中，老布什于1988年获得50%支持，而小布什则只获得42%。但布什在这个阶层的支持度下跌则被那些只有高中毕业的选民支持度提升所抵销。民主党对那些拥有高于学士学位的选民有较高吸引力（布什只获得44%）。在2006年选举中，共和党获得最多支持的则是学士学位的选民（49%）。

性取向

在2000年、2004年和2006年选举中进行的出口民调指出只有23-25%的同性恋选民投给共和党。在近年来共和党一直反对同性婚姻。

宗教

宗教在两党中都占有极重要的地位，但在过去一个世纪中，政党的宗教组成也有所改变。宗教在1960年前是两党的主要分隔线，天主教徒、犹太教徒、和南方白人新教徒都坚定的支持民主党，而东北部的新教徒则支持共和党。这些分隔线在1968年后大多都消失了。不过在今天，另一种和宗教有关的分界也越来越明显，每周固定上教堂的选民在2004年有61%投给布什，那些仅偶尔上教堂的则只有47%，而那些从不上教堂的则只有36%。 59%的新教徒投给布什，在天主教徒中也获得52%（即使凯利是天主教徒）。自从1980年以来，大多数的福音教派选民都选择支持共和党，之中有70-80%于2000年和2004年投给了布什，70%投给了2006年的共和党国会候选人。虽然美国犹太人传统上有70-80%投给民主党，但自从1980年代以来，相当一部分较保守的、正统的犹太教徒则投给共和党。民主党与非裔美国人的教会有紧密关系，尤其是黑人的浸信会和一部分圣公会，而同时他们对天主教徒的优势则逐渐减少，与共和党的差距大约到达了50-50。主流的教会如卫理宗、长老教会、路德教派、圣公会对于共和党的支持度则已稍微下降至55%（相较1968年前的75%）。他们在那些教会的成员数量也随着时间下降，不过在保守派的福音教派中的支持度则明显上升。

地区

自从1980年来，共和党在地理上的“根据地”（“红色州”）是在美国南部和西部，而在东北部和太平洋沿岸地区的支持度较薄弱。事实上共和党在东北部的州长选举上表现都不错，但在总统选举则表现不佳（除了新罕布夏州除外）。两党在美国中西部自从1854年来一直势均力敌，但自从1990年以来伊利诺州逐渐偏向民主党、而明尼苏达州和威斯康辛州偏向共和党。自从1930年代以来民主党控制了大多数大都会区域，共和党则控制了乡村区域以及大多数的郊区。

南部自从1980年以来都是共和党在总统选战中的重镇，并且在州层级的选举上也逐渐倾向共和党。在2004年布什在南方白人中获得了70%的支持度、凯利只获得30%，南方白人占据了71%的整体南方选民。而在黑人或拉美裔人中态势则颠倒过来，凯利获得70%而布什只获得30%。这些南方选民有三分之一自称他们隶属福音教派，并且之中有80%投给了共和党，不过在2006年这个数字稍微下降至72%。

派别

共和党的结构相当多元，而且众多的派系互相竞争政党政见和提名候选人。所谓的“保守派”在南方最多，主要来自宗教保守主义的支持者。而“温和派”则来自东北新英格兰地区，其势力在以前还曾遍及全国。从1940年代到1970年代之间，这些温和派共和党人以托马斯·杜威、德怀特·艾森豪威尔、理查德·尼克松、纳尔逊·洛克菲勒等人为代表，他们通常支配了党内的总统派系，他们也常被人称为“洛克菲勒共和党人”（RockefellerRepublican）。与其他共和党人相较，温和派较容易接受新政的政策，包括了政府管制和福利，在经济政策上他们也支持保持高税赋以维持预算平衡。自从1970年代以来温和派共和党人势力逐渐下跌，但他们在共和党总统的内阁里仍占有一定职位。直到2008年为止，对于2008年总统选举的得票前三名共和党候选人分别是约翰·麦凯恩（JohnMcCain）、米特·罗姆尼（Mitt Romney）和麦克·赫卡比（Michael Dale Huckabee），其他共和党人如鲁迪·朱利安尼（Rudolph Giuliani）、罗恩·保罗（Ron Paul）则得票较少。几人中以赫卡比为保守派代表人物，保罗为温和派代表人物。