Democratic Party (United States)

Democratic Party
U.S. Vice President		Kamala Harris
Senate Majority Leader	Chuck Schumer
House Minority Leader	Hakeem Jeffries
Founders	Andrew Jackson Martin Van Buren
Founded	January 8, 1828; 196 years ago (1828-01-08) Caucuses	Problem Solvers Caucus Blue Dog Coalition New Democrat Coalition Congressional Progressive Caucus
Colors	Blue
Senate	47 / 100[c]
House of Representatives	212 / 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.org
Politics of the United States Political parties Elections

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.

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.^[14][15][16] It initially supported expansive presidential power,^[17] the interests of slave states,^[18] agrarianism,^[19] and geographical expansionism,^[19] while opposing a national bank and high tariffs.^[19] It split in 1860 over slavery 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 supported progressive reforms and opposed imperialism, with Woodrow Wilson winning the White House in 1912 and 1916.

Since

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.^[56][57] That party died out before the modern Democratic Party was organized;^[58] the Jeffersonian party also inspired the Whigs and modern Republicans.^[59] Historians argue that the modern Democratic Party was first organized in the late 1820s with the election of war hero Andrew Jackson^[16] of Tennessee, making it the world's oldest active political party.^[15] It was predominately built by Martin Van Buren, who assembled a wide cadre of politicians in every state behind Jackson.^[14][16]

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.^[60]

The Democratic Party evolved from the

Before 1860, the Democratic Party supported expansive presidential power,^[17] the interests of slave states,^[18] agrarianism,^[19] and expansionism,^[19] while opposing a national bank and high tariffs.^[19]

The Democratic-Republican Party split over the choice of a successor to President James Monroe.^[64] The faction that supported many of the old Jeffersonian principles, led by Andrew Jackson and Martin Van Buren, became the modern Democratic Party.^[65] 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.^[66]

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.^[67]

Opposing factions led by

The Democrats split over slavery, with Northern and Southern tickets in the

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.^[75]

The Democrats took control of the House in 1910, and

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.^[78]

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.^[79] The opponents, who stressed opposition to unions, support for business and low taxes, started calling themselves "conservatives".^[80]

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.^[81] From the 1930s to the mid-1960s, the liberal New Deal coalition usually controlled the presidency while the conservative coalition usually controlled Congress.^[82]

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.^{[83][84][85][42]} 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.^[86][87][88]

John F. Kennedy, the 35th president (1961–1963)

Lyndon B. Johnson, the 36th president (1963–1969)

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.^[89]

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.^{[90][85][42][87]}

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.^[91]

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

Barack Obama, the 44th president (2009–2017)

Joe Biden, the 46th president (2021–present)

In the wake of the 2001

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. 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.^{[99][100][101]} In December 2019, Democrats in the House of Representatives impeached Trump, although he was acquitted in the Republican-controlled Senate.^[102]

In November 2020, Democrat

In the 2022 midterm elections, Democrats dramatically outperformed historical trends and a widely anticipated red wave did not materialize.^[110][111] The party only narrowly lost its majority in the U.S. House and expanded its majority in the U.S. Senate,^{[112][113][114]} along with several gains at the state level.^{[115][116][117][118]}

In July 2024, after a series of

Name and symbols

It has been suggested that mascots be split out into another article. (Discuss) (August 2024)

"A Live Jackass Kicking a Dead Lion" by Thomas Nast, Harper's Weekly, January 19, 1870

The donkey party logo remains a well-known symbol for the Democratic Party despite not being the official logo of the party.

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^[123] and became the official name in 1844.^[124] Members of the party are called "Democrats" or "Dems".

The most common mascot symbol for the party has been the donkey, or jackass.^[125] 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.^[126] 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.^[129] The rooster was also adopted as an official symbol of the national Democratic Party.^[130] 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."^[131] The words "White supremacy" were replaced with "Democrats" in 1966.^[132][127] In 1996, the Alabama Democratic Party dropped the rooster, citing racist and white supremacist connotations linked with the symbol.^[128] The rooster symbol still appears on Oklahoma, Kentucky, Indiana, and West Virginia ballots.^[129] In New York, the Democratic ballot symbol is a five-pointed star.^[133]

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.^[134]

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.^[136][137]

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.

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.^[138]

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.^[139]

In addition, state-level party committees operate in the territories of

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.^[140]

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.

The party's platform blends

• Expand Social Security and safety-net programs.^[142]
• Increase the capital gains tax rate to 39.6% for taxpayers with annual income above $1 million.^[143]
• Cut taxes for the working and middle classes as well as small businesses.^[144]
• Change tax rules to discourage shipping jobs overseas.^[144]
• Increase federal and state minimum wages.^[145]
• Modernize and expand access to public education and provide universal preschool education.^[146]
• Support the goal of universal health care through a public health insurance option or expanding Medicare/Medicaid.^[147]
• Increase investments in infrastructure development^[148] as well as scientific and technological research.^[149]
• Offer tax credits to make clean energy more accessible for consumers and increase domestic production of clean energy.^[150]
• Uphold labor protections and the right to unionize.^[151][152]
• Reform the student loan system and allow for refinancing student loans.^[153]
• Make college more affordable.^[145][154]
• Mandate equal pay for equal work regardless of gender, race, or ethnicity.^[155]

Social policy

• Decriminalize or legalize marijuana.^[145]
• Uphold
  network neutrality.^[156]
• Implement campaign finance reform.^[157]
• Uphold
  voting rights and easy access to voting.^[158][159]
• Support same-sex marriage and ban conversion therapy.^[145]
• Allow legal access to abortions and women's reproductive health care.^[148]
• Reform the immigration system and allow for a pathway to citizenship.^[148]
• Expand background checks and reduce access to assault weapons to address gun violence.^[148]
• Improve privacy laws and curtail government surveillance.^[148]
• Oppose torture.^[160][161]
• Abolish capital punishment.^[162]
• Recognize and defend Internet freedom worldwide.^[144]

The

Since the 1990s, the party has at times supported centrist economic reforms that cut the size of government and reduced market regulations.^[168] The party has generally rejected both laissez-faire economics and market socialism, instead favoring Keynesian economics within a capitalist market-based system.^[169]

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.^[170] 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".^[171] They oppose the cutting of social services, such as Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid,^[172] 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.^[173]

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.^[174]

In 2017, Senate Democrats introduced the Raise the Wage Act which would raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2024.^[175] In 2021, Democratic president Joe Biden proposed increasing the minimum wage to $15 by 2025.^[176] In many states controlled by Democrats, the state minimum wage has been increased to a rate above the federal minimum wage.^[177]

Democrats call for "affordable and quality health care" and favor moving toward

Democrats and Republicans have diverged on the seriousness of the threat posed by climate change, with Democrats' assessment rising significantly in the mid-2010s.^[181]

The sharp divide over the existence of and responsibility for global warming and climate change falls largely along political lines. Overall, 60% of those surveyed said oil and gas companies were "completely or mostly responsible" for climate change.^[182]

Opinion about human causation of climate change increased substantially with education among Democrats, but not among Republicans.^[183] Conversely, opinions favoring becoming carbon neutral declined substantially with age among Republicans, but not among Democrats.^[183]

A broad range of policies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions has been proposed. Democrats' support for such policies consistently exceeds that of Republicans.^[184]

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.^[186] The Democratic Party is substantially more likely than the Republican Party to support environmental regulation and policies that are supportive of renewable energy.^[187][188]

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".^[189]

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.^[190]

Democrats have supported increased domestic

During his presidency, Joe Biden enacted the

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.^[196]

During the

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.^[199] 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.^[200][201]

In the 1990s, the Clinton administration and a number of prominent Democrats pushed through a number of agreements such as the

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."^{[206][207][208]}

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.

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.^[209] 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.^[210]

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.^[211]

The party is very supportive of improving voting rights as well as election accuracy and accessibility.^[212] 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.^[157]

The Democratic position on abortion has changed significantly over time.^[213][214] During the late 1960s and early 1970s, Republicans generally favored legalized abortion more than Democrats,^[215] although significant heterogeneity could be found within both parties.^[216] 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.^{[213][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.^[217]

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."^[218]

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.

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.^[222][223] Opposition to immigration has increased in the 2020s, with a majority of Democrats supporting increasing border security.^[224][225]

The Democratic position on

The 2004 Democratic National Platform stated that marriage should be defined at the state level and it repudiated the Federal Marriage Amendment.^[232] 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".^[233][234] The 2012 platform included support for same-sex marriage and for the repeal of DOMA.^[46]

On May 9, 2012,

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".[148]

Also, it declares that regarding the status of the

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.^[247] 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.^[248] According to a 2023 Pew Research Center poll, 20% of Democrats owned firearms, compared to 32% of the general public and 45% of Republicans.^[249]

The Democratic Party's 2020 platform states its opposition to the death penalty.

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.^[251] Obama has stated that he thinks the "death penalty does little to deter crime" and that it is used too frequently and too inconsistently.^[252] In June 2016, the Democratic Platform Drafting Committee unanimously adopted an amendment to abolish the death penalty.^[253]

Many Democrats are opposed to the

Torture became a divisive issue in the party after Barack Obama was elected president.[255]

The Democratic Party believes that individuals should have a

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",^[250] and believe that government should not regulate consensual noncommercial sexual conduct among adults as a matter of personal privacy.^[258]

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.^[259]

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%.^[260]

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

Democrats in the House of Representatives and in the Senate near-unanimously voted for the

During the 2020 Presidential Election, then-candidate Joe Biden promised to "end the forever wars in Afghanistan and the Middle East."^[269] 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.^[270] The last troops left in August, bringing America's 20-year-long military campaign in the country to a close.^[271] According to a 2023 AP-NORC poll, a majority of Democrats believed that the War in Afghanistan was not worth it.^[272]

Democrats have historically been a stronger supporter of Israel than Republicans.^[273] 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.^[273] In 1948, Democratic President Harry Truman became the first world leader to recognize an independent state of Israel.^[274]

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

The 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine was politically and economically opposed by the Biden Administration, who promptly began an increased arming of Ukraine.^[281][282] In October 2023, the Biden administration requested an additional $61.4 billion in aid for Ukraine for the year ahead,^[283] 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.^{[284][285][286]}

Since the 2010s, the Democratic Party is strongest among urban residents, union workers, college graduates,^[37][38] most ethnic minorities,^[41] the unmarried, and sexual minorities.^[35][42] In the 2020 presidential election, Democrats won the majority of votes from African American, Hispanic, and Asian voters; young voters; women; LGBT voters; urban voters; voters with college degrees; and voters with no religious affiliation.^[287]

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.^{[288][289][290]} Many Democrats without college degrees differ from liberals in their more socially moderate views, and are more likely to belong to an ethnic minority.^{[291][292][293]}

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.^[294] However, the vast majority of white evangelical and Latter-day Saint Christians favor the Republican Party.^[295] The party also receives strong support from non-religious voters.^[296][297]

A major component of the party's coalition has been organized labor. Labor unions supply money, grass roots political organization, and voters for the party. Democrats are more likely to be represented by unions than Republican voters are.^[28] Younger Americans have tended to vote mainly for Democratic candidates in recent years.^[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, the Great Lakes region, most of the Southwestern United States, and the West Coast. The party is also very strong in major cities, regardless of region.^{[36][305][306]}

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.^[308] 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.^[309] 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,^[310] such as John Nance Garner and Howard W. Smith.^[311] 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][312] The party still receives support from African Americans and urban areas in the Southern United States.^[313]

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.^[314][315] In recent exit polls, the Democratic Party has had broad appeal across most socioeconomic and ethnic demographics.^{[316][287][317]} 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.^{[318][319][320]}

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.^[321] 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.^[322]

A large majority of liberals favor moving toward

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.^[13] It was also the fastest growing typological group since the late 1990s to the present.^[323] Liberals include most of academia^[326] and large portions of the professional class.^[37]

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.^[327] Running as a New Democrat, Bill Clinton won the 1992 and 1996 presidential elections.^[328] They are an economically liberal and "Third Way" faction that dominated the party for around 20 years, until the beginning of Obama's presidency.^[310][329] 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.^{[330][331][332]} 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.^[333]

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.^[334][335]

The New Democrat Network supports socially liberal and fiscally moderate Democratic politicians and is associated with the congressional New Democrat Coalition in the House.^[336] Annie Kuster is the chair of the coalition,^[334] and former senator and President Barack Obama was self-described as a New Democrat.^[337]

As of 2021^[update], there have been a total of 16 Democratic presidents.

#	Name (lifespan)	Portrait	State	Presidency start date	Presidency end date	Time in office
7	Andrew Jackson (1767–1845)		Tennessee	March 4, 1829	March 4, 1837	8 years, 0 days
8	Martin Van Buren (1782–1862)		New York	March 4, 1837	March 4, 1841	4 years, 0 days
11	James K. Polk (1795–1849)		Tennessee	March 4, 1845	March 4, 1849	4 years, 0 days
14	Franklin Pierce (1804–1869)		New Hampshire	March 4, 1853	March 4, 1857	4 years, 0 days
15	James Buchanan (1791–1868)		Pennsylvania	March 4, 1857	March 4, 1861	4 years, 0 days
17	Andrew Johnson (1808–1875)		Tennessee	April 15, 1865[f]	March 4, 1869	3 years, 323 days
22	Grover Cleveland (1837–1908)		New York	March 4, 1885	March 4, 1889	8 years, 0 days
24				March 4, 1893	March 4, 1897
28	Woodrow Wilson (1856–1924)		New Jersey	March 4, 1913	March 4, 1921	8 years, 0 days
32	Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882–1945)		New York	March 4, 1933	April 12, 1945[g]	12 years, 39 days
33	Harry S. Truman (1884–1972)		Missouri	April 12, 1945	January 20, 1953	7 years, 283 days
35	John F. Kennedy (1917–1963)		Massachusetts	January 20, 1961	November 22, 1963[g]	2 years, 306 days
36	Lyndon B. Johnson (1908–1973)		Texas	November 22, 1963	January 20, 1969	5 years, 59 days
39	Jimmy Carter (born 1924)		Georgia	January 20, 1977	January 20, 1981	4 years, 0 days
42	Bill Clinton (born 1946)		Arkansas	January 20, 1993	January 20, 2001	8 years, 0 days
44	Barack Obama (born 1961)		Illinois	January 20, 2009	January 20, 2017	8 years, 0 days
46	Joe Biden (born 1942)		Delaware	January 20, 2021	Incumbent	3 years, 233 days

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

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[k]	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	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	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	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

• 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