Democratic Party

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 and is one of the world's oldest active political parties. It initially supported expansive presidential power, the institution of slavery, agrarianism, and geographical expansionism, while opposing a national bank and high tariffs. It split in 1860 over slavery and won the presidency only twice 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 Franklin D. Roosevelt was elected president in 1932, the Democratic Party has promoted a liberal platform that includes support for Social Security and unemployment insurance. The New Deal attracted strong support for the party from recent European immigrants but diminished the party's pro-business wing. From late in Roosevelt's administration through the 1950s, a minority in the party's Southern wing joined with conservative Republicans to slow and stop progressive domestic reforms. Following the Great Society era of progressive legislation under Lyndon B. Johnson, who was often able to overcome the conservative coalition in the 1960s, the core bases of the parties shifted, with the Southern states becoming more reliably Republican and the Northeastern states becoming more reliably Democratic. The party's labor union element has become smaller since the 1970s, and as the American electorate shifted in a more conservative direction following the presidency of Ronald Reagan, the election of Bill Clinton marked a move for the party toward the Third Way, moving the party's economic stance toward market-based economic policy. Barack Obama oversaw the party's passage of the Affordable Care Act in 2010. During Joe Biden's presidency, the party has adopted an increasingly progressive economic agenda.

On social issues, it advocates for abortion rights, expansion of the franchise, LGBT rights, action on climate change, and the legalization of marijuana.

On economic issues, the party favors healthcare reform, universal child care, paid sick leave, and supporting unions.

In foreign policy, the party supports liberal internationalism.

19th Century

While anti-slavery Democrats existed, the mainstay of Democrats were pro-slavery during the 19th century. In 1854, anti-slavery Democrats left the party and joined Northern Whigs to form the Republican Party.Template:Ref

20th Century

Following the American Civil War, the Democratic Party opposed civil rights for African-Americans.Template:Ref

21st Century

Greg Gutfield argues that the Democratic Party isn't so much losing Black and Hispanic voters but is rather losing Black and Hispanic men. He goes on to argue that the party is increasingly comprised of awfuls.Template:RefTemplate:Ref

Awfuls is an acronym for affluent white female urban liberals.

The term awfuls was originally coined by Greg Gutfield to refer to affluent white female liberals. Together these terms make the initialism AWFL from which he called them awfuls.

Later others added urban for the u, completing the acronym.

Gutfield and others argue that awfuls principally drive woke.

The use of the term liberal here means progressive liberal which is consistent with usage of the term in the United States. Other Anglosphere countries often use liberal to refer to classical liberal.

Awfuls are the principle beneficiaries of DEI programs.

They are also significantly more lonely than conservative women.

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During the 21st century, the party has become increasingly hostile to men and masculinity, resulting in growing numbers of men abandoning the party.Template:RefTemplate:RefTemplate:RefTemplate:RefTemplate:RefTemplate:Ref

Following its loss during the 2024 presidential election, there is apparently greater recognition of this phenomenon within the party.

External Links

• Encyclopedia BritannicaTemplate:RefTemplate:Ref

Wikipedia

This article contains information imported from the English Wikipedia. In most cases the page history will have details. If you need information on the importation and have difficulty obtaining it please contact the site administrators.

Wikipedia shows a strong woke bias. Text copied over from Wikipedia can be corrected and improved.

References

This page contains information generated by Ollama. The information was reviewed, and may have been altered, by a human editor before being added to the Featured category. As of July 2026 information generated by AI is not subject to copyright and is thus in the public domain. This page is pending human review.