You must have heard Republican being referred to as GOP but do you really know what does it mean? Also Republicans as indicated as elephants and Democrats as donkeys. Why is that? Let’s find out.
What Is GOP?
GOP stands for “Grand Old Party” and its mostly attached with the Republican party. The title goes way back to the 1870s and that’s also when the Republicans were labelled as elephants.
The word Republican also goes way back to 1792. They are the supporters of Thomas Jefferson. The Republican party was at first glance called the Democratic-Republican party. Hence the divisions in 1830 led to the single name, Republican. After the Civil War, Republicans saw a massive growth in their political stance. During 1888, their influence began growing and the elections of Benjamin Harris were a great source to that. A writer wrote about the colossal events of the Republican party and hence referred to them as “Grand Old Party”. This was then given an even shorter version and GOP started popping up at every place where the Republicans were being discussed.
Perhaps during 1875, the phrase was known as “Gallant Old Party”. This stood up in reference to the Republicans. However, its completely not necessary that everyone knows what GOP really means. Even a survey in 2011 showed that half of Republicans didn’t even know what GOP really stands for. Some guesses were “Government Of People” and “Gods Own Party”.
Elephant VS Donkey
Well this was the doing of a journalist as well. In 1828, a journalist started using a donkey on his campaign posters. It was Andrew Jackson who was often called “jackass” by his boss.
Also, during the midterm elections of 1874, The Democrats were hoping that President Grant would look for a third term. A cartoonist, Thomas Nast was hired and he came up with the idea of drawing a Donkey. In addition, he defined the donkey trying to scare a slow and fat animal, The Republican Elephant. This way, these symbols were born.
