WASHINGTON — The Democratic Party holds a center-left political position, championing a platform that includes healthcare reform, paid family leave and strong support for labor unions. Those priorities reflect a consistent push for a larger government role in social welfare and economic regulation, a contrast with the Republican emphasis on reduced government involvement.
On social issues, the party advocates for abortion rights, stricter gun control and the protection of LGBTQ rights. Democrats also prioritize action on climate change, marijuana legalization and a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants, positions paired with a liberal internationalist foreign policy.
Globally, the party supports aid to Ukraine and takes firm positions against both China and Russia, reflecting a commitment to international cooperation and the promotion of democratic values abroad.
Founded in 1828, the Democratic Party is the world's longest continuously active political party. Its early platform centered on Jacksonian democracy, agrarian interests and geographical expansionism, while opposing a national bank and high tariffs.
Democrats won six of eight presidential elections between 1828 and 1856. The party fractured in 1860 over slavery, after which it remained dominated by agrarian interests while Republicans aligned with big business during the Gilded Age.
From 1860 to 1908, Democrats won the presidency just twice, though they carried the popular vote two additional times. During the Progressive Era, factions within the party began backing reforms, leading to Woodrow Wilson's elections in 1912 and 1916.
Franklin D. Roosevelt's 1932 victory, built on a sharp response to the Great Depression, reshaped the party. His New Deal programs forged a broad coalition of white Southerners, Northern workers, labor unions, African Americans, Catholic and Jewish communities, progressives and liberals.
A conservative minority within the Southern wing began aligning with Republicans in the late 1930s to block further progressive domestic reforms. After the Civil Rights Movement and Lyndon B. Johnson's Great Society programs of the 1960s, many white Southerners moved to the Republican Party, while Northeastern states became reliably Democratic.
The party's labor base weakened after the 1970s as deindustrialization hollowed out union membership. In the 1980s, Democrats lost many white working-class voters to Ronald Reagan. Bill Clinton's 1992 election marked a move toward centrism and the Third Way, with more market-oriented economic policies.
President Barack Obama signed the Affordable Care Act in 2010, a party-line achievement that expanded access to health insurance and remains the party's signature domestic legislation of that era.
Since 2016, support for progressivism and democratic socialism has grown within the party's ranks, continuing to shape its policy agenda.
The Republican Party, by contrast, generally advocates for a smaller government role in the economy, supports a strong national defense and, on social matters, has historically opposed legal recognition of equal rights for gay and lesbian individuals and favored organized prayer in public schools.
