Republican Party (United States)

=== Economic policies ===
Republicans believe that [[free market]]s and individual achievement are the primary factors behind economic prosperity.<ref>{{Cite journal|title=The grand old party – a party of values?|first1=Patrick|last1=Mair|first2=Thomas|last2=Rusch|first3=Kurt|last3=Hornik|date=November 27, 2014|journal=SpringerPlus|volume=3|pages=697|doi=10.1186/2193-1801-3-697|doi-access=free |pmid=25512889|pmc=4256162}}</ref> Reduction in income taxes is a core component of Republicans' fiscal agenda.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.russellsage.org/news/how-tax-cuts-became-central-republican-party|title=How Tax Cuts Became Central to the Republican Party|website=www.russellsage.org}}</ref> 

====Taxes====
Tax cuts have been at the core of Republican economic policy since 1980.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2019-01-18/republicans-fell-in-love-with-tax-cuts-thanks-to-reagan|website=www.bloomberg.com|title=Why Republicans Fell in Love With Tax Cuts|last=Fox|first=Justin|date=January 18, 2019}}</ref> At the national level and state level, Republicans tend to pursue policies of tax cuts and deregulation.<ref name="Grumbach-2021">{{Citation |last1=Grumbach |first1=Jacob M. |title=The Political Economies of Red States |date=2021 |work=The American Political Economy: Politics, Markets, and Power |pages=209–244 |editor-last=Hertel-Fernandez |editor-first=Alexander |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1316516362 |last2=Hacker |first2=Jacob S. |last3=Pierson |first3=Paul |editor2-last=Hacker |editor2-first=Jacob S. |editor3-last=Thelen |editor3-first=Kathleen |editor4-last=Pierson |editor4-first=Paul |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/american-political-economy/political-economies-of-red-states/BEE22FE6AAB57A14FF10F807E02116BB |access-date=November 10, 2021 |archive-date=November 23, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211123114921/https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/abs/american-political-economy/political-economies-of-red-states/BEE22FE6AAB57A14FF10F807E02116BB |url-status=live}}</ref> Modern Republicans advocate the theory of [[supply side economics|supply-side economics]], which holds that lower tax rates increase economic growth.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.economist.com/node/21530093|newspaper=[[The Economist]]|title=Diving into the rich pool|date=September 24, 2011|access-date=January 13, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120112210317/http://www.economist.com/node/21530093|archive-date=January 12, 2012|url-status=live}}</ref> Many Republicans oppose [[progressive taxation|higher tax rates for higher earners]], which they believe are unfairly targeted at those who create jobs and wealth. They believe private spending is more efficient than government spending. Republican lawmakers have also sought to limit funding for tax enforcement and [[Revenue service|tax collection]].<ref name="How the IRS Was Gutted">{{cite web|url=https://www.propublica.org/article/how-the-irs-was-gutted|title=How the IRS Was Gutted|last=Paul Kiel|first=Jesse Eisinger|date=December 11, 2018|website=ProPublica|access-date=December 11, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181211132205/https://www.propublica.org/article/how-the-irs-was-gutted|archive-date=December 11, 2018|url-status=live}}</ref> 

As per a 2021 study that measured Republicans' congressional votes, the modern Republican Party's economic policy positions tend to align with business interests and the affluent.<!--A version of this sentence was added per the RfC at [[Talk:Republican Party (United States)#RfC: Affluent interests and business interests]]. Do not remove without consensus.--><ref name=":2">{{Cite journal|last1=Grossmann|first1=Matt|last2=Mahmood|first2=Zuhaib|last3=Isaac|first3=William|date=2021|title=Political Parties, Interest Groups, and Unequal Class Influence in American Policy|url=https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/711900|journal=The Journal of Politics|volume=83|issue=4|pages=1706–1720|doi=10.1086/711900|s2cid=224851520|issn=0022-3816|access-date=January 13, 2022|archive-date=October 29, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211029170940/https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/711900|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Bartels|first=Larry M.|url=https://muse.jhu.edu/book/64558|title=Unequal Democracy: The Political Economy of the New Gilded Age|edition=2nd|date=2016|publisher=Princeton University Press|isbn=978-1400883363|access-date=January 13, 2022|archive-date=November 5, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211105222439/https://muse.jhu.edu/book/64558|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Rhodes|first1=Jesse H.|last2=Schaffner|first2=Brian F.|date=2017|title=Testing Models of Unequal Representation: Democratic Populists and Republican Oligarchs?|url=http://www.nowpublishers.com/article/Details/QJPS-16077|journal=Quarterly Journal of Political Science|volume=12|issue=2|pages=185–204|doi=10.1561/100.00016077|access-date=January 13, 2022|archive-date=October 29, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211029183431/https://www.nowpublishers.com/article/Details/QJPS-16077|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Lax|first1=Jeffrey R.|last2=Phillips|first2=Justin H.|last3=Zelizer|first3=Adam|date=2019|title=The Party or the Purse? Unequal Representation in the US Senate|url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/american-political-science-review/article/abs/party-or-the-purse-unequal-representation-in-the-us-senate/286BFEAA039374759DE14D782A0BB8DD|journal=American Political Science Review|language=en|volume=113|issue=4|pages=917–940|doi=10.1017/S0003055419000315|s2cid=21669533|issn=0003-0554|access-date=January 13, 2022|archive-date=October 29, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211029000457/https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/american-political-science-review/article/abs/party-or-the-purse-unequal-representation-in-the-us-senate/286BFEAA039374759DE14D782A0BB8DD|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last1=Hacker|first1=Jacob S.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Kqu6DwAAQBAJ|title=Let them Eat Tweets: How the Right Rules in an Age of Extreme Inequality|last2=Pierson|first2=Paul|date=2020|publisher=Liveright Publishing|isbn=978-1631496851|language=en}}</ref>

====Spending====
Republicans frequently advocate in favor of [[fiscal conservatism]] during Democratic administrations; however, the party has a record of increasing federal debt during periods when it controls the government (the implementation of the Bush tax cuts, Medicare Part D and the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 are examples of this record).<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/01/us/politics/tax-cuts-deficit-debt.html|title=Debt Concerns, Once a Core Republican Tenet, Take a Back Seat to Tax Cuts|last=Appelbaum|first=Binyamin|date=December 1, 2017|work=[[The New York Times]]|access-date=December 2, 2017|issn=0362-4331|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171202005246/https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/01/us/politics/tax-cuts-deficit-debt.html|archive-date=December 2, 2017|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory/republicans-fought-budget-debt-now-embrace-51528700|title=Why Republicans who once fought budget debt now embrace it|publisher=[[ABC News]]|access-date=December 2, 2017|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171202203156/https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory/republicans-fought-budget-debt-now-embrace-51528700|archive-date=December 2, 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/04/05/is-there-a-fiscal-crisis-in-the-united-states/|title=Is There a Fiscal Crisis in the United States?|last=Johnson|first=Simon|work=Economix Blog|date=April 5, 2012 |access-date=December 2, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180621221245/https://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/04/05/is-there-a-fiscal-crisis-in-the-united-states/|archive-date=June 21, 2018|url-status=live}}</ref> Republican administrations have, since the late 1960s, sustained or increased previous levels of government spending.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Milkis|first1=Sidney M.|last2=King|first2=Desmond|last3=Jacobs|first3=Nicholas F.|date=2019|title=Building a Conservative State: Partisan Polarization and the Redeployment of Administrative Power|journal=Perspectives on Politics|volume=17|issue=2|pages=453–469|doi=10.1017/S1537592718003511|issn=1537-5927|doi-access=free}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|date=November 12, 2014|title=The Rise in Per Capita Federal Spending|url=https://www.mercatus.org/publications/government-spending/rise-capita-federal-spending|access-date=August 30, 2020|website=Mercatus Center|archive-date=December 14, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211214020934/https://www.mercatus.org/publications/government-spending/rise-capita-federal-spending|url-status=live}}</ref>

====Entitlements====
Republicans believe individuals should take responsibility for their own circumstances. They also believe the private sector is more effective in helping the poor through [[Charity (practice)|charity]] than the government is through welfare programs and that social assistance programs often cause government dependency.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Konczal|first=Mike|date=March 24, 2014|title=The Conservative Myth of a Social Safety Net Built on Charity|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2014/03/the-conservative-myth-of-a-social-safety-net-built-on-charity/284552/|url-status=live|access-date=December 30, 2021|website=[[The Atlantic]]|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220503030317/https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2014/03/the-conservative-myth-of-a-social-safety-net-built-on-charity/284552/|archive-date=May 3, 2022}}</ref> As of November 2022, all 11 states that had not expanded Medicaid had Republican-controlled [[State legislature (United States)|state legislatures]].<ref name=KaiserMedicaid>{{cite web|title=Status of State Medicaid Expansion Decisions: Interactive Map|url=https://www.kff.org/medicaid/issue-brief/status-of-state-medicaid-expansion-decisions-interactive-map|publisher=[[Kaiser Family Foundation]]|date=November 9, 2022|access-date=February 26, 2023|archive-date=June 24, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220624102415/https://www.kff.org/medicaid/issue-brief/status-of-state-medicaid-expansion-decisions-interactive-map/|url-status=live}} Scroll down for state by state info.</ref>

====Labor unions and the minimum wage====
The Republican Party is generally opposed to labor unions.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/gop-debate-republican-trump-union-strikes-b2475831.html|title=What the GOP candidates have said about strikes and unions|date=January 9, 2024|website=The Independent}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/oct/25/republicans-working-class-voter-unions-worker-protections-organize|title=Republicans want working-class voters — without actually supporting workers|first=Steven|last=Greenhouse|date=October 25, 2022|newspaper=The Guardian}}</ref> Republicans believe corporations should be able to establish their own employment practices, including benefits and wages, with the free market deciding the price of work. Since the 1920s, Republicans have generally been opposed by [[Trade union|labor union]] organizations and members. At the national level, Republicans supported the [[Taft–Hartley Act]] of 1947, which gives workers the right not to participate in unions. Modern Republicans at the state level generally support various [[right-to-work laws]].{{efn|Right-to-work laws ban [[union security agreement]]s, which require all workers in a unionized workplace to pay dues or a fair-share fee regardless of whether they are members of the union or not.<ref>{{cite web|title=Employer/Union Rights and Obligations|url=https://www.nlrb.gov/rights-we-protect/employerunion-rights-and-obligations|publisher=National Labor Relations Board|access-date=July 7, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170711175358/https://www.nlrb.gov/rights-we-protect/employerunion-rights-and-obligations|archive-date=July 11, 2017|url-status=live}}</ref>}}{{cn|date=March 2024}}

Most Republicans also oppose increases in the [[minimum wage]], believing that such increases hurt businesses by forcing them to cut and outsource jobs while passing on costs to consumers.<ref>{{cite news |title=House Passes Bill to Raise Minimum Wage to $15, a Victory for Liberals |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/18/us/politics/minimum-wage.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190718143024/https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/18/us/politics/minimum-wage.html |archive-date=July 18, 2019 |url-access=limited |url-status=live |website=[[The New York Times]] |date=July 18, 2019 |access-date=March 12, 2020|last1=Stolberg |first1=Sheryl Gay |last2=Smialek |first2=Jeanna }}</ref>

====Trade====
The Republican Party has taken widely varying views on [[international trade]] throughout its history. At its inception, the Republican Party supported [[Tariffs in United States history|protective tariffs]], with the [[Morrill Tariff]] being enacted during the presidency of Abraham Lincoln.<ref name="Platform">[http://www.cprr.org/Museum/Ephemera/Republican_Platform_1860.html ''Republican Party National Platform, 1860''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230813035120/http://cprr.org/Museum/Ephemera/Republican_Platform_1860.html |date=August 13, 2023 }} Reported from the Platform Committee by Judge Jessup of Pennsylvania and adopted unanimously by the Republican National Convention held at Chicago on May 17, 1860. [[Broadside (printing)|Broadside]] printing by [[Chicago Tribune|''The Chicago Press & Tribune'']], May 1860</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=Coy F. Cross II|title=Justin Smith Morrill: Father of the Land-Grant Colleges|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5NYBqv3E7IMC&pg=PT45|year=2012|publisher=MSU Press|page=45|isbn=9780870139055}}</ref> In the [[1896 United States presidential election|1896 presidential election]], Republican presidential [[William McKinley]] campaigned heavily on high tariffs, having been the creator and namesake for the [[McKinley Tariff]] of 1890.<ref name="Phillips 2003 53"/>

In the early 20th century the Republican Party began splitting on tariffs, with the great battle over the high [[Payne–Aldrich Tariff Act]] in 1910 splitting the party and causing a realignment.<ref>Stanley D. Solvick, "William Howard Taft and the Payne-Aldrich Tariff." ''Mississippi Valley Historical Review'' 50.3 (1963): 424–442 [https://www.jstor.org/stable/1902605 online] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210307035528/https://www.jstor.org/stable/1902605 |date=March 7, 2021 }}</ref> Democratic president [[Woodrow Wilson]] cut rates with the 1913 [[Underwood Tariff]] and the coming of World War I in 1914 radically revised trade patterns due to reduced trade. Also, the new revenues generated by the [[federal income tax]] due to the [[Sixteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution|16th amendment]] made tariffs less important in terms of economic impact and political rhetoric.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Broz|first=J.L.|year=1999|title=Origins of the Federal Reserve System: International Incentives and the Domestic Free-rider Problem|journal=International Organization|volume=5353|issue=1|pages=39–46|doi=10.1162/002081899550805|s2cid=155001158 }}</ref> When the Republicans returned to power [[Emergency Tariff of 1921|in 1921 they again imposed a protective tariff.]] They raised it again with the [[Smoot–Hawley Tariff Act]] of 1930 to meet the [[Great Depression in the United States]], but the depression only worsened and Democrat [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]] became president from 1932 to 1945.<ref>Anthony O’Brien, "Smoot-Hawley Tariff." ''EH. Net Encyclopedia'' (2001) [https://www.eh.net/page/4/?s=crash online] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230816220500/https://www.eh.net/page/4/?s=crash |date=August 16, 2023 }}.</ref>

The [[Reciprocal Tariff Act]] of 1934 marked 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, which included the presidency of Republican president [[Dwight D. Eisenhower]].<ref name="Bailey">{{cite journal|last=Bailey|first=Michael A.|author2=Goldstein, Weingast |title=The Institutional Roots of American Trade Policy|journal=World Politics|date=April 1997|volume=49|issue=3|pages=309–38|doi=10.1353/wp.1997.0007|s2cid=154711958 }}</ref> After World War II, the U.S. promoted the [[General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade]] (GATT) established in 1947, to minimize tariffs and other restrictions, and to liberalize trade among all capitalist countries.<ref name=barton>John H. Barton, [[Judith L. Goldstein]], Timothy E. Josling, and Richard H. Steinberg, ''The Evolution of the Trade Regime: Politics, Law, and Economics of the GATT and the WTO'' (2008)</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=McClenahan |first1=William |title=The Growth of Voluntary Export Restraints and American Foreign Economic Policy, 1956–1969 |journal=Business and Economic History |date=1991 |volume=20 |pages=180–190 |jstor=23702815 }}</ref>

During the [[Ronald Reagan|Reagan]] and [[George H. W. Bush]] administrations Republicans abandoned protectionist policies,<ref name="Karagiannis">{{cite book |editor1-first=Nikolaos |editor1-last=Karagiannis |editor2-first=Zagros |editor2-last=Madjd-Sadjadi |editor3-first=Swapan |editor3-last=Sen |url=https://www.routledge.com/The-US-Economy-and-Neoliberalism-Alternative-Strategies-and-Policies/Karagiannis-Madjd-Sadjadi-Sen/p/book/9780415645058 |title=The US Economy and Neoliberalism: Alternative Strategies and Policies |publisher=[[Routledge]] |date=2013 |isbn=978-1138904910 |page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=aYKfai1RlPYC&pg=PA58 58] |access-date=August 14, 2023 |archive-date=August 13, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210813193859/https://www.routledge.com/The-US-Economy-and-Neoliberalism-Alternative-Strategies-and-Policies/Karagiannis-Madjd-Sadjadi-Sen/p/book/9780415645058 |url-status=live }}</ref> and came out against quotas and in favor of the GATT and the [[World Trade Organization]] policy of minimal economic barriers to global trade. Free trade with Canada came about as a result of the [[Canada–U.S. Free Trade Agreement]] of 1987, which led in 1994 to the [[North American Free Trade Agreement]] (NAFTA) based on Reagan's plan to enlarge the scope of the market for American firms to include Canada and Mexico. President [[Bill Clinton]], with strong Republican support in 1993, pushed NAFTA through Congress over the vehement objection of labor unions.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zP4wDcT3PeQC&pg=PA358|title=Encyclopedia of U.S. Campaigns, Elections, and Electoral Behavior|first=Kenneth F.|last=Warren|publisher=Sage Publications|year=2008|page=358|isbn=978-1412954891|access-date=August 14, 2023|archive-date=December 15, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231215023725/https://books.google.com/books?id=zP4wDcT3PeQC&pg=PA358#v=onepage&q&f=false|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DxJZxwyMHHYC&pg=PT151|title=Unions in America|first=Gary|last=Chaison|publisher=Sage|year=2005|page=151|isbn=978-1452239477|access-date=August 14, 2023|archive-date=December 15, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231215024942/https://books.google.com/books?id=DxJZxwyMHHYC&pg=PT151#v=onepage&q&f=false|url-status=live}}</ref>

In the 21st century, opinions on trade and protectionism have fluctuated, more recently splitting roughly on partisan lines. In 2017, only 36% of Republicans agreed that free trade agreements are good for the [[United States]], compared to 67% of Democrats. When asked if free trade has helped respondents specifically, the approval numbers for Democrats drop to 54%, however approval ratings among Republicans remain relatively unchanged at 34%.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2017/04/25/support-for-free-trade-agreements-rebounds-modestly-but-wide-partisan-differences-remain/|title=Support for free trade agreements rebounds modestly, but wide partisan differences remain|website=Pew Research|access-date=August 14, 2023|archive-date=April 11, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230411201429/https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2017/04/25/support-for-free-trade-agreements-rebounds-modestly-but-wide-partisan-differences-remain/|url-status=live}}</ref> The 2016 election marked the beginning of the trend of returning to protectionism, an ideology incorporated into Republican president [[Donald Trump]]'s platform.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Swedberg |first=Richard|date=2018|title=Folk economics and its role in Trump's presidential campaign: an exploratory study|journal=Theory and Society|volume=47|pages=1–36|doi=10.1007/s11186-018-9308-8|s2cid=149378537}}</ref><ref name="Swanson">{{cite news |last=Swanson |first=Ana |date=July 5, 2018 |title=Trump's Trade War With China Is Officially Underway |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/05/business/china-us-trade-war-trump-tariffs.html |work=[[The New York Times]] |access-date=May 26, 2019 }}</ref> During his presidency, Trump initiated a [[China-United States trade war|trade war]] with China and negotiated the [[United States–Mexico–Canada Agreement|USMCA]] as a successor to NAFTA.<ref name="Swanson"/><ref>{{Cite web |last=Canada |first=Global Affairs |date=2022-04-21 |title=The Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement |url=https://www.international.gc.ca/trade-commerce/trade-agreements-accords-commerciaux/agr-acc/cusma-aceum/index.aspx?lang=eng |access-date=2022-10-13 |website=GAC}}</ref>

==== Environmental policies ====
{{Main|Political positions of the Republican Party#Environmental policies}}
{{multiple image | align = right | direction = vertical | total_width = 250
| image1 = 2009- Pew survey - is climate change a major threat, by political party.svg | caption1 =  Democrats and Republicans have diverged on the seriousness of the threat posed by climate change, with Republicans' assessment remaining essentially unchanged over the past decade.<ref name=PewClimateChange_20230418>● {{cite web |title=54% of Americans view climate change as a major threat, but the partisan divide has grown |url=https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2023/04/18/for-earth-day-key-facts-about-americans-views-of-climate-change-and-renewable-energy/sr_2023-04-18_climate_5/ |publisher=Pew Research Center |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230422182323/https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2023/04/18/for-earth-day-key-facts-about-americans-views-of-climate-change-and-renewable-energy/sr_2023-04-18_climate_5/ |archive-date=April 22, 2023 |date=April 18, 2023 |url-status=live }} ● Broader discussion by {{cite web |last1=Tyson |first1=Alec |last2=Funk |first2=Cary |last3=Kennedy |first3=Brian |title=What the data says about Americans' views of climate change |url=https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2023/04/18/for-earth-day-key-facts-about-americans-views-of-climate-change-and-renewable-energy/ |publisher=Pew Research Center |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230512193458/https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2023/04/18/for-earth-day-key-facts-about-americans-views-of-climate-change-and-renewable-energy/ |archive-date=May 12, 2023 |date=April 18, 2023 |url-status=live}}</ref>

| image3= 20220301 Opinions by political party - Climate change causation - Action for carbon neutral 2050 - Pew Research.svg | caption3= Opinion about human causation of climate change increased substantially with education among Democrats, but not among Republicans.<ref name=Pew_20220301/> Conversely, opinions favoring becoming carbon neutral declined substantially with age among Republicans, but not among Democrats.<ref name=Pew_20220301>{{cite web |last1=Tyson |first1=Alec |last2=Funk |first2=Cary |last3=Kennedy |first3=Brian |title=Americans Largely Favor U.S. Taking Steps To Become Carbon Neutral by 2050 / Appendix (Detailed charts and tables) |url=https://www.pewresearch.org/science/2022/03/01/carbon-neutral-2050-appendix/ |website=Pew Research |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220418220503/https://www.pewresearch.org/science/2022/03/01/carbon-neutral-2050-appendix/ |archive-date=April 18, 2022 |date=March 1, 2022 |url-status=live }}</ref>
}}
Historically, [[Progressivism in the United States|progressive]] leaders in the Republican Party supported [[environmental protection]]. Republican President [[Theodore Roosevelt]] was a prominent [[Conservation (ethic)|conservationist]] whose policies eventually led to the creation of the [[National Park Service]].<ref name=Filler>{{cite web|author=Filler, Daniel|title=Theodore Roosevelt: Conservation as the Guardian of Democracy|url=http://pantheon.cis.yale.edu/~thomast/essays/filler/filler.html|access-date=November 9, 2007|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030802175908/http://pantheon.cis.yale.edu/~thomast/essays/filler/filler.html|archive-date=August 2, 2003}}</ref> While Republican President [[Richard Nixon]] was not an environmentalist, he signed legislation to create the [[United States Environmental Protection Agency|Environmental Protection Agency]] in 1970 and had a comprehensive environmental program.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Ewert|first=Sara Dant|date=July 3, 2003|title=Environmental Politics in the Nixon Era|url=https://muse.jhu.edu/article/44406|journal=Journal of Policy History|volume=15|issue=3|pages=345–348|issn=1528-4190|doi=10.1353/jph.2003.0019|s2cid=153711962|access-date=June 3, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170809131601/https://muse.jhu.edu/article/44406|archive-date=August 9, 2017|url-status=dead}}</ref> However, this position has changed since the 1980s and the administration of President [[Ronald Reagan]], who labeled environmental regulations a burden on the economy.<ref name="Dunlap 2010">{{cite journal|last1=Dunlap|first1=Riley E.|last2=McCright|first2=Araon M.|title=A Widening Gap: Republican and Democratic Views on Climate Change|journal=Environment: Science and Policy for Sustainable Development|date=August 7, 2010|volume=50|issue=5|pages=26–35|doi=10.3200/ENVT.50.5.26-35|s2cid=154964336}}</ref> Since then, Republicans have increasingly taken positions against environmental regulation,<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Bergquist|first1=Parrish|last2=Warshaw|first2=Christopher|date=2020|title=Elections and parties in environmental politics|url=https://www.elgaronline.com/view/edcoll/9781788972833/9781788972833.00017.xml|journal=Handbook of U.S. Environmental Policy|pages=126–141|language=en-US|doi=10.4337/9781788972840.00017|isbn=978-1788972840|s2cid=219077951|access-date=November 7, 2021|archive-date=November 7, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211107233114/https://www.elgaronline.com/view/edcoll/9781788972833/9781788972833.00017.xml|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Fredrickson|first1=Leif|last2=Sellers|first2=Christopher|last3=Dillon|first3=Lindsey|last4=Ohayon|first4=Jennifer Liss|last5=Shapiro|first5=Nicholas|last6=Sullivan|first6=Marianne|last7=Bocking|first7=Stephen|last8=Brown|first8=Phil|last9=de la Rosa|first9=Vanessa|last10=Harrison|first10=Jill|last11=Johns|first11=Sara|date=April 1, 2018|title=History of US Presidential Assaults on Modern Environmental Health Protection|journal=American Journal of Public Health|volume=108|issue=S2|pages=S95–S103|doi=10.2105/AJPH.2018.304396|issn=0090-0036|pmc=5922215|pmid=29698097}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Coley|first1=Jonathan S.|last2=Hess|first2=David J.|date=2012|title=Green energy laws and Republican legislators in the United States|url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0301421512004752|journal=Energy Policy|language=en|volume=48|pages=576–583|doi=10.1016/j.enpol.2012.05.062|bibcode=2012EnPol..48..576C |issn=0301-4215|access-date=November 7, 2021|archive-date=June 18, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190618224202/https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0301421512004752|url-status=live}}</ref> with many Republicans rejecting the [[scientific consensus on climate change]].<ref name="Dunlap 2010" /><ref>{{cite book|url=http://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=978-0674979970|title=The Republican Reversal: Conservatives and the Environment from Nixon to Trump|last1=Turner|first1=James Morton|last2=Isenberg|first2=Andrew C.|date=2018|publisher=Harvard University Press|isbn=978-0674979970 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190108151027/http://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=978-0674979970|archive-date=January 8, 2019|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=Ringquist>{{cite journal|last1=Ringquist|first1=Evan J.|last2=Neshkova|first2=Milena I.|last3=Aamidor|first3=Joseph|title=Campaign Promises, Democratic Governance, and Environmental Policy in the U.S. Congress|journal=The Policy Studies Journal|date=2013|volume=41|issue=2|pages=365–387|doi=10.1111/psj.12021|doi-access=free}}</ref><ref name="Shipan Environmental Policy">{{cite journal|last1=Shipan|first1=Charles R.|last2=Lowry|first2=William R.|title=Environmental Policy and Party Divergence in Congress|journal=Political Research Quarterly|date=June 2001|volume=54|issue=2|pages=245–263|jstor=449156|doi=10.1177/106591290105400201|s2cid=153575261}}</ref>

In 2006, then-[[Governor of California|California Governor]] [[Arnold Schwarzenegger]] broke from Republican orthodoxy to sign several bills imposing caps on [[carbon emissions]] in California. Then-President [[George W. Bush]] opposed mandatory caps at a national level. Bush's decision not to regulate carbon dioxide as a pollutant was [[Massachusetts v. Environmental Protection Agency|challenged in the Supreme Court by 12 states]],<ref name="Landmark Law">{{cite news|title=Schwarzenegger takes center stage on warming|url=http://www.nbcnews.com/id/15029070/ns/us_news-environment/t/schwarzenegger-takes-center-stage-warming/#.U7U0QbFEJJw|access-date=July 3, 2014|agency=MSNBC News|publisher=[[NBC News]]|date=September 27, 2006|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140714173432/http://www.nbcnews.com/id/15029070/ns/us_news-environment/t/schwarzenegger-takes-center-stage-warming/#.U7U0QbFEJJw|archive-date=July 14, 2014|url-status=live}}</ref> with the court ruling against the Bush administration in 2007.<ref>[{{SCOTUS URL Slip|06|05-1120}} Text of Opinion]</ref> Bush also publicly opposed ratification of the [[Kyoto Protocol]]s<ref name="Dunlap 2010" /><ref name=BushGW>{{cite web|author=Bush, George W.|title=Text of a Letter from the President|date=March 13, 2001|url=https://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2001/03/20010314.html|access-date=November 9, 2007|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090722073329/http://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2001/03/20010314.html|archive-date=July 22, 2009 }}</ref> which sought to limit greenhouse gas emissions and thereby [[climate change mitigation|combat climate change]]; his position was heavily criticized by climate scientists.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Schrope|first1=Mark|title=Criticism mounts as Bush backs out of Kyoto accord|journal=Nature|date=April 5, 2001|volume=410|issue=6829|page=616|doi=10.1038/35070738|pmid=11287908|bibcode=2001Natur.410..616S|doi-access=free}}</ref>

The Republican Party rejects [[Emissions trading|cap-and-trade]] policy to limit carbon emissions.<ref>{{cite web|title=Our GOP: The Party of Opportunity|url=http://www.gop.com/our-party/|access-date=December 11, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140821152805/http://www.gop.com/our-party/|archive-date=August 21, 2014|url-status=live}}</ref> In the 2000s, Senator [[John McCain]] proposed bills (such as the [[McCain-Lieberman Climate Stewardship Act]]) that would have regulated carbon emissions, but his position on climate change was unusual among high-ranking party members.<ref name="Dunlap 2010" /> Some Republican candidates have supported the development of [[alternative fuel]]s in order to achieve [[U.S. energy independence|energy independence for the United States]]. Some Republicans support increased [[oil well|oil drilling]] in protected areas such as the [[Arctic National Wildlife Refuge]], a position that has drawn criticism from activists.<ref>{{cite news|title=On Our Radar: Republicans Urge Opening of Arctic Refuge to Drilling|author=John Collins Rudolf|date=December 6, 2010|url=http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/12/06/on-our-radar-republicans-urge-opening-of-arctic-refuge-to-drilling/?_php=true&_type=blogs&_r=0|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|access-date=December 11, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140714181831/http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/12/06/on-our-radar-republicans-urge-opening-of-arctic-refuge-to-drilling/?_php=true&_type=blogs&_r=0|archive-date=July 14, 2014|url-status=dead}}</ref>

Many Republicans during the [[presidency of Barack Obama]] opposed his administration's new environmental regulations, such as those on carbon emissions from coal. In particular, many Republicans supported building the [[Keystone Pipeline]]; this position was supported by businesses, but opposed by indigenous peoples' groups and environmental activists.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Davenport|first1=Coral|title=Republicans Vow to Fight E.P.A. and Approve Keystone Pipeline|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/11/us/politics/republicans-vow-to-fight-epa-and-approve-keystone-pipeline.html|access-date=January 25, 2016|work=[[The New York Times]]|date=November 10, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160113013421/http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/11/us/politics/republicans-vow-to-fight-epa-and-approve-keystone-pipeline.html|archive-date=January 13, 2016|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last1=Levy|first1=Gabrielle|title=Obama Vetoes Keystone XL, Republicans Vow to Continue Fight|url=https://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2015/02/24/obama-vetoes-keystone-xl-republicans-vow-to-continue-fight|access-date=January 25, 2016|work=[[U.S. News & World Report]]|date=February 24, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160201202834/http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2015/02/24/obama-vetoes-keystone-xl-republicans-vow-to-continue-fight|archive-date=February 1, 2016|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Keystone XL pipeline: Why is it so disputed?|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-30103078|access-date=January 25, 2016|work=[[BBC News]]|date=November 6, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160209145216/http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-30103078|archive-date=February 9, 2016|url-status=live}}</ref>

According to the [[Center for American Progress]], a non-profit liberal advocacy group, more than 55% of congressional Republicans were [[climate change denial|climate change deniers]] in 2014.<ref name=msnbc20140512>{{cite news|work=[[Hardball With Chris Matthews]]|date=May 12, 2014|publisher=[[MSNBC]]|last=Matthews|first=Chris|author-link=Chris Matthews|quote=According to a survey by the Center for American Progress' Action Fund, more than 55 percent of congressional Republicans are climate change deniers. And it gets worse from there. They found that 77 percent of Republicans on the House Science Committee say they don't believe it in either. And that number balloons to an astounding 90 percent for all the party's leadership in Congress.|title=Hardball With Chris Matthews for May 12, 2014|agency=NBC news}}</ref><ref name=charlestongazette20141222>{{cite news|title=Earth Talk: Still in denial about climate change|newspaper=[[Charleston Gazette-Mail|The Charleston Gazette]]|location=[[Charleston, West Virginia]]|date=December 22, 2014|page=10|quote=... a recent survey by the non-profit Center for American Progress found that some 58 percent of Republicans in the U.S. Congress still "refuse to accept climate change. Meanwhile, still others acknowledge the existence of global warming but cling to the scientifically debunked notion that the cause is natural forces, not greenhouse gas pollution by humans.}}</ref> [[PolitiFact]] in May 2014 found "relatively few Republican members of Congress&nbsp;... accept the prevailing scientific conclusion that [[global warming]] is both real and man-made." The group found eight members who acknowledged it, although the group acknowledged there could be more and that not all members of Congress have taken a stance on the issue.<ref>{{cite news|title=Jerry Brown says 'virtually no Republican' in Washington accepts climate change science|first=Julie|last=Kliegman|date=May 18, 2014|access-date=September 18, 2017|publisher=[[PolitiFact]]|work=[[Tampa Bay Times]]|url=http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2014/may/18/jerry-brown/jerry-brown-says-virtually-no-republican-believes-/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170813152353/http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2014/may/18/jerry-brown/jerry-brown-says-virtually-no-republican-believes-/|archive-date=August 13, 2017|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Meet the Republicans in Congress who don't believe climate change is real|first=Tom|last=McCarthy|date=November 17, 2014|newspaper=[[The Guardian]]|url=https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/nov/17/climate-change-denial-scepticism-republicans-congress|access-date=September 18, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170919234320/https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/nov/17/climate-change-denial-scepticism-republicans-congress|archive-date=September 19, 2017|url-status=live}}</ref>

From 2008 to 2017, the Republican Party went from "debating how to combat human-caused climate change to arguing that it does not exist", according to ''[[The New York Times]]''.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/03/us/politics/republican-leaders-climate-change.html|title=How G.O.P. Leaders Came to View Climate Change as Fake Science|last1=Davenport|first1=Coral|date=June 3, 2017|work=[[The New York Times]]|access-date=September 22, 2017|last2=Lipton|first2=Eric|issn=0362-4331|quote=The Republican Party's fast journey from debating how to combat human-caused climate change to arguing that it does not exist is a story of big political money, Democratic hubris in the Obama years and a partisan chasm that grew over nine years like a crack in the Antarctic shelf, favoring extreme positions and uncompromising rhetoric over cooperation and conciliation.|author-link2=Eric Lipton|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170914183020/https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/03/us/politics/republican-leaders-climate-change.html|archive-date=September 14, 2017|url-status=live}}</ref> In January 2015, the Republican-led U.S. Senate voted 98–1 to pass a resolution acknowledging that "climate change is real and is not a hoax"; however, an amendment stating that "human activity significantly contributes to climate change" was supported by only five Republican senators.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/230316-senate-votes-98-1-that-climate-change-is-real/|title=Senate votes that climate change is real|first=Dustin|last=Weaver|date=January 21, 2015|website=[[The Hill (newspaper)|The Hill]]|access-date=March 26, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190327090248/https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/230316-senate-votes-98-1-that-climate-change-is-real|archive-date=March 27, 2019|url-status=live}}</ref>

==== Health care ====
The party opposes a [[single-payer health care]] system,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/health-care-under-attack-why-gop-making-single-payer-dirty-n907686|title=Beyond Obamacare: Democrats have plans, GOP is out to destroy them|date=September 11, 2018|website=NBC News}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2012/06/30/the-republican-turn-against-universal-health-insurance/|title=The Republican Turn Against Universal Health Insurance|newspaper=Washington Post |last=Klein |first=Ezra |date=June 30, 2012}}</ref> describing it as [[socialized medicine]]. It also opposes the [[Affordable Care Act]]<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Oberlander|first=Jonathan|date=March 1, 2020|title=The Ten Years' War: Politics, Partisanship, And The ACA|url=https://www.healthaffairs.org/doi/full/10.1377/hlthaff.2019.01444|journal=Health Affairs|volume=39|issue=3|pages=471–478|doi=10.1377/hlthaff.2019.01444|pmid=32119603|s2cid=211834684|issn=0278-2715}}{{Dead link|date=March 2022 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> and expansions of Medicaid.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Hertel-Fernandez|first1=Alexander|last2=Skocpol|first2=Theda|last3=Lynch|first3=Daniel|date=April 2016|title=Business Associations, Conservative Networks, and the Ongoing Republican War over Medicaid Expansion|url=https://read.dukeupress.edu/jhppl/article/41/2/239-286/13814|journal=Journal of Health Politics, Policy and Law|volume=41|issue=2|pages=239–286|doi=10.1215/03616878-3476141|pmid=26732316|issn=0361-6878|access-date=April 23, 2021|archive-date=June 2, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180602061451/https://read.dukeupress.edu/jhppl/article/41/2/239-286/13814|url-status=live}}</ref> Historically, there have been diverse and overlapping views within both the Republican Party and the Democratic Party on the role of government in health care, but the two parties became highly polarized on the topic during 2008–2009 and onwards.<ref name="Hacker-2010">{{Cite journal|last=Hacker|first=Jacob S.|date=2010|title=The Road to Somewhere: Why Health Reform Happened: Or Why Political Scientists Who Write about Public Policy Shouldn't Assume They Know How to Shape It|url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/perspectives-on-politics/article/abs/road-to-somewhere-why-health-reform-happened/15E0D0CAC2B73C52439A6EBDF3E8C973|journal=Perspectives on Politics|language=en|volume=8|issue=3|pages=861–876|doi=10.1017/S1537592710002021|s2cid=144440604|issn=1541-0986|access-date=November 10, 2021|archive-date=February 25, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210225172530/https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/perspectives-on-politics/article/abs/road-to-somewhere-why-health-reform-happened/15E0D0CAC2B73C52439A6EBDF3E8C973|url-status=live}}</ref>

Both Republicans and Democrats made various proposals to establish federally funded aged health insurance prior to the bipartisan effort to establish [[Medicare (United States)|Medicare]] and [[Medicaid]] in 1965.<ref>{{Citation|title=The Politics of Medicare, 1957–1965|date=2015|url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/ensuring-americas-health/politics-of-medicare-19571965/CE40908D6F8A4EF7EFD741E5D9113513|work=Ensuring America's Health: The Public Creation of the Corporate Health Care System|pages=194–232|editor-last=Chapin|editor-first=Christy Ford|publisher=Cambridge University Press|doi=10.1017/CBO9781107045347.008|isbn=978-1107044883|access-date=November 10, 2021|archive-date=April 24, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200424213404/https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/ensuring-americas-health/politics-of-medicare-19571965/CE40908D6F8A4EF7EFD741E5D9113513|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title= Peter DeFazio says "Medicare passed with virtually no Republican support"|url=https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2011/apr/15/peter-defazio/peter-defazio-says-medicare-passed-virtually-no-re/|url-status=live|access-date=November 10, 2021|website=[[Politifact]]|language=en-US|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220419164555/https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2011/apr/15/peter-defazio/peter-defazio-says-medicare-passed-virtually-no-re/|archive-date=April 19, 2022|date=April 15, 2011|last1=Jacobson|first1=Louis|last2=Kennedy|first2=Patrick}}</ref><ref name="Zeitz-2017">{{Cite web|last=Zeitz|first=Joshua|title=How the GOP Turned Against Medicaid|url=https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2017/06/27/medicaid-obamacare-repeal-gop-215314|access-date=November 10, 2021|website=[[Politico]]|date=June 27, 2017|language=en|archive-date=February 13, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210213030743/https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2017/06/27/medicaid-obamacare-repeal-gop-215314/|url-status=live}}</ref> No Republican member of Congress voted for the [[Affordable Care Act]] in 2009, and after it passed, the party made frequent attempts to repeal it.<ref name="Hacker-2010" /><ref>{{Cite book|last=Cohn|first=Jonathan|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ddLtDwAAQBAJ|title=The Ten Year War: Obamacare and the Unfinished Crusade for Universal Coverage|year=2021|publisher=St. Martin's Publishing Group|isbn=978-1250270948|language=en}}</ref> At the state level, the party has tended to adopt a position against [[Medicaid expansion]].<ref name="Grumbach-2021" /><ref name="Zeitz-2017" />

According to a 2023 ''[[YouGov]]'' poll, Republicans are slightly more likely to oppose [[Intersex medical interventions|intersex medical alterations]] than Democrats.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Orth |first=Taylor |date=February 14, 2023 |title=Which childhood body modification procedures do Americans think are unacceptable? |url=https://today.yougov.com/topics/health/articles-reports/2023/02/14/childhood-body-modification-procedures-transgender |access-date=March 6, 2023 |website=[[YouGov]] |language=en-us |archive-date=March 6, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230306085411/https://today.yougov.com/topics/health/articles-reports/2023/02/14/childhood-body-modification-procedures-transgender |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://docs.cdn.yougov.com/7hxynzngn8/results_Childhood_Medical_Procedures.pdf|title=YouGov Survey: Childhood Medical Procedures|access-date=April 21, 2023|archive-date=April 21, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230421004218/https://docs.cdn.yougov.com/7hxynzngn8/results_Childhood_Medical_Procedures.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref>