The Republican Party is one of two large political parties in the United States. The other is the Democratic Party . The US also has some smaller political parties known as “third parties.” Members of the Republican Party are known as Republicans.
Republicans are sometimes called ‘the right’, ‘right-wing’, or ‘conservatives’. The Republican Party itself is also known as the GOP, which stands for “Grand Old Party.” The symbol of the Republican party is the elephant. A state where more people vote for Republicans than Democrats is sometimes called a ‘red state’.
(Source: Republican Party (US), via Wikimedia Commons.)
Every four years the party holds a National Convention (a big meeting) where they agree on the person they want to run for President. This person is called their “candidate” for President. There have been 18 Republican presidents. The most recent one is Donald Trump, who was elected in 2016.
Not all Republicans believe in all of the same things, but generally these are some things many Republicans agree on:
- The government should lower taxes, especially on rich people and big businesses.
- The government should spend less money on services for citizens, such as education, health care, and support for poor people.
- The government should spend more money on the military (the army and navy, for example) and on weapons.
- The government should not control guns, pollution, or other possibly unsafe things because businesses and people can decide for themselves.