The reasons why in the United States the Democratic Party and the Democrats are represented bydonkey (and the color blue) and the Republican Party and the Republicans fromelephant (and the color red) must be looked for in the political history of the country inNineteenth century and in the need to be immediately identifiable. In 19th-century America, Democrats chosedonkey to reply, ironically, to the accusations made by their opponents during an electoral campaign; the Republicans instead adopted theelephant, probably, as an emblem of strength. Both symbols became popular after being designed in the 1870s by Thomas Nastthe most famous American designer. Over the years, the two symbols have taken on a stylized form and their use has become much more widespread, although they are not used in all US states.
How the Democratic Party Donkey Was Born
The origins of the donkey symbol date back to the election campaign of Andrew Jacksoncandidate (and elected president) in 1828. According to the most accredited version, opponents mispronounced Jackson’s name in Jackasswhich means exactly donkey. Jackson and his supporters decided to make fun of their opponents’ accusations and adopted the donkey as their symbol, highlighting the animal’s qualities: reliable, hardworking and very helpful to men.
The symbol established itself definitively a few decades later, in particular after it was depicted on the 1870 Harper’s Magazine by Thomas Nast, one of the best-known designers of the contemporary age (among other things, he was responsible for the commonly used image of Santa Claus).
However, the donkey is not the only symbol of American Democrats. In some states – Oklahoma, Kentucky, Indian and West Virginia – the party is represented by a rooster; in New York State, however, by one five-pointed star.
How the Republican Party Elephant Was Born
The Republican Party, also known as the Great Old Party or GOP, began in 1854 as a political force against slavery and soon became the Democratic Party’s main antagonist. It is identified with the elephant dal 1874when the symbol was first designed by Thomas Nast. The reasons why he was chosen are unclear. Probably Nast, who was a supporter of the Republicans, wanted to represent the power of the party. Perhaps he was inspired by a news story, the escape of an elephant from a zoo, which later turned out to be false.
Another GOP symbol, used in Ohio, New York, and Indiana, is thebald eaglewhich is often considered an emblem of the United States as a whole. In Kentucky, however, the symbol to identify Republicans is a hut made of logs.
The red and blue colors of the two US parties
In addition to symbols, US parties also identify themselves with two colors: the red for i Republicans and the blue for i Democrats. Generally, during elections, newspapers and television channels color the states in which the Republicans win red and those in which the Democratic Party is successful blue. This chromatic association, however, only dates back to presidential elections of 2000. Previously, the media used different colors to identify the two parties.
The 2000 election pitted the Republican George W. Bush to the Democrat Al Gore. The outcome of the vote was highly contested and for more than a month it was not known who had won: the elections were held on 7 November and only on 11 December, after a partial recount of the ballots, did the Supreme Court certified Bush’s success.
The television channels used red and blue to identify the states assigned to one of the two parties and, since the contestation lasted a long time, the color association crystallized in the imagination of the viewers: red identified the Republicans, blue the Democrats .
