Democratic Party (United States)

Democratic Party (United States)

The Democratic Party is a liberal political party in the United States. Sitting on the center to center-left of the political spectrum, it is the world’s oldest active political party, having been founded in 1828. Its main rival is the conservative Republican Party, and since the 1850s both have dominated American politics.

It initially supported Jacksonian democracy, agrarianism, and geographical expansionism, while opposing a national bank and high tariffs. Democrats won six of the eight presidential elections from 1828 to 1856, losing twice to the Whigs. In 1860, the party split into Northern and Southern factions over slavery. The party remained dominated by agrarian interests, contrasting with Republican support for the big business of the Gilded Age. Democratic candidates won the presidency only twice[b] between 1860 and 1908 though they won the
popular vote two more times in that period. During the Progressive Era, some factions of the party supported progressive reforms, with Woodrow Wilson being elected president in 1912 and 1916.

In 1932, Franklin D. Roosevelt was elected president after campaigning on a strong response to the Great Depression. His New Deal programs created a broad Democratic coalition which united White southerners, Northern workers, labor unions, African Americans, Catholic and Jewish communities, progressives, and liberals. From the late 1930s, a conservative minority in the party’s Southern wing joined with Republicans to slow and stop further progressive domestic reforms.[13] After the civil rights movement and Great Society era of progressive legislation under Lyndon B. Johnson, who was often able to overcome the conservative coalition in the 1960s, many White southerners switched to the Republican Party as the Northeastern states became more reliably Democratic.[14][15] The party’s labor union element has weakened since the 1970s amid deindustrialization, and during the 1980s it lost many White working-class voters to the Republicans under Ronald Reagan. The election of Bill Clinton in 1992 marked a shift for the party toward centrism and the Third Way, shifting its economic stance toward market-based policies.[16][17][18] Barack Obama oversaw the party’s passage of the Affordable Care Act in 2010.[19][20]

In the 21st century, the Democratic Party’s strongest demographics are urban voters, college graduates (especially those with graduate degrees), African Americans, women, younger voters, irreligious voters, the unmarried and LGBTQ people.[21] On social issues, it advocates for abortion rights,[22] gun control,[23] LGBTQ rights,[24] action on climate change,[25] and the legalization of marijuana. On economic issues, the party favors healthcare reform, paid sick leave, paid family leave and supporting unions.[26][27][28][29][30] In foreign policy, the party supports liberal internationalism as well as tough stances against China and Russia.

Political positions

The Democratic Party is widely described in American sources as either a centrist,[134] or a center-left political party.[135] Analysts including Harold Meyerson and William Galston note that many of its mainstream policy positions and prominent factions would be classified as centrist by international standards, in particular those of Europe, and they are often seen as more comparable to liberal-centrist parties (for example parties associated with ALDE/Renew or the UK Liberal Democrats) than to traditional social-democratic parties; the party also contains distinct left-wing subgroups (such as the “Squad”) alongside more centrist coalitions within its broad electoral coalition.[136][137][138] Political scientists Robert C. Sinclair and R. Jeffrey Melton described the Democratic Party as “slightly to the right of the largest Canadian party, the center-left Liberal Party”.[139]

The 21st century Democratic Party is unique and differs from other parties of similar profile in its ideological orientation, in part due to its heterogenous demographic composition. In particular, the Democratic Party’s ideology derives from being supported by both racial minorities, particularly African Americans, as well as White voters with high educational attainment.[140][141]

Its voting demographics are heavily educationally and racially-polarized, but not income polarized.[142] The Democratic Party is weakest among White voters without college degrees in the 21st century.[143] Higher educational attainment is strongly correlated with higher income and wealth, and also strongly correlated with increased ideological support for the Democratic Party’s positions among White voters.[144] Ideologically, the Democratic Party is more diverse than the Republican Party, according to data collected by Gallup.[145]

This derives in part from unique regional characteristics of the United States, particularly the Southern United States. Racial polarization is extremely high in the Southern United States, with Black Southerners almost entirely voting for the Democratic Party, and White Southerners almost entirely voting for the Republican Party.[146][147] Also, White Southerners with college degrees are strongly Republican, unlike in most of the rest of the country.[148] African Americans continue to have the lowest incomes of any racial group in the United States.[133]
The Democratic Party’s contemporary liberalism has its origins in the Puritans of New England, with their emphasis on education and science dating back to the colonial era and the Scientific Revolution. This liberalism is older than the classical liberalism or social democracy of the 19th century.[149]

The Democratic Party’s social positions derive from those of the New Left, that is cultural liberalism. These include feminism, LGBT rights, drug policy reforms, and environmentalism.[150][151][152][153] The party’s platform favors a generous welfare state and a greater measure of social and economic equality.[154] On social issues, it advocates for the continued legality of abortion,[22] the legalization of marijuana,[155] and LGBT rights.[24]