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Although its founders refused to recognize the right of states and territories to practice slavery, the modern Republican Party supports states rights against the power of the federal government in most cases, and it opposes the federal regulation of traditionally state and local matters, such as policing and education. Because the party is highly decentralized (as is the Democratic Party), it encompasses a wide variety of opinion on certain issues, though it is ideologically more unified at the national level than the Democratic Party is. The Republicans advocate reduced taxes as a means of stimulating the economy and advancing individual economic freedom. They tend to oppose extensive government regulation of the economy, government-funded social programs, affirmative action, and policies aimed at strengthening the rights of workers. Many Republicans, though not all, favour increased government regulation of the private, noneconomic lives of citizens in some areas, such as abortion, though most Republicans also strongly oppose gun-control legislation. Republicans are more likely than Democrats to support organized prayer in public schools and to oppose the legal recognition of equal rights for gays and lesbians (see gay rights movement). Regarding foreign policy, the Republican Party traditionally has supported a strong national defense and the aggressive pursuit of U.S. national security interests, even when it entails acting unilaterally or in opposition to the views of the international community.

Both the Democratic Party and the Republican Party formulate their platforms quadrennially at national political conventions, which are held to nominate the parties presidential candidates. The conventions take place in the summer of each presidential election year; by tradition, the incumbent party holds its convention second. The Republican National Convention typically gathers some 2,000 delegates who are selected during the winter and spring.

Until the 1970s, few nationwide rules governed the selection of delegates to the Republican National Convention. After the Democratic Party adopted a system based on state primaries and caucuses, the Republicans followed suit. More than 40 states now select delegates to the Republican convention through primary elections, while several other states choose delegates through caucuses. Virtually all Republican primaries allocate delegates on a winner-take-all basis, so that the candidate who wins the most votes in a state is awarded all the delegates of that state. In contrast, almost all Democratic primaries allocate delegates based on the proportion of the vote each candidate receives. As a result, the Republicans tend to choose their presidential nominees more quickly than the Democrats do, often long before the summer nominating convention, leaving the convention simply to ratify the winner of the primaries.

In addition to confirming the partys presidential nominee and adopting the party platform, the national convention formally chooses a national committee to organize the next convention and to govern the party until the next convention is held. The Republican National Committee (RNC) consists of about 150 party leaders representing all U.S. states and territories. Its chairman is typically named by the partys presidential nominee and then formally elected by the committee. Republican members of the House and the Senate organize themselves into party conferences that elect the party leaders of each chamber. In keeping with the decentralized nature of the party, each chamber also creates separate committees to raise and disburse funds for House and Senate election campaigns. Although Republican congressional party organizations maintain close informal relationships with the RNC, they are formally separate from it and not subject to its control. Similarly, state party organizations are not subject to direct control by the national committee.

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Republican Party - Policy and structure | Britannica

1. Republicans repeatedly interrupt Biden during State of the Union address  CNN
2. Republicans Turn Themselves into Props for Biden  POLITICO
3. Wall Street Journal: Biden lucky Republicans cant get their act together  The Hill

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Republicans repeatedly interrupt Biden during State of the Union address - CNN

Do Republicans want to cut Social Security and Medicare? Sen. Thom Tillis says those questions are based on a false premise.  MarketWatch

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Do Republicans want to cut Social Security and Medicare? Sen. Thom Tillis says those questions are based on a false premise. - MarketWatch

House Majority Leader Steve Scalise speaks ata news conference withother Republican House leaders and lawmakers following a GOP caucus meeting at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 10, 2023. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

Republicans now hold a narrow majority in the U.S. House of Representatives, the first time they have controlled the chamber in four years. The GOPs first weeks in power have been marked by drama most notably by Kevin McCarthys protracted, 15-ballot victory to become House speaker.

As the new Congress gets underway, heres a look at the expectations that Republicans in the United States have for the next two years, as well as their views on key issues and the future of the Republican Party, based on recent Pew Research Center surveys.

This Pew Research Center analysis examines key attitudes among Republicans in the United States as the 118th Congress gets underway. All findings are drawn from previously published surveys and other studies by the Center. Links and methodological information about each study are included in the text of this analysis.

Republicans, like Democrats, have modest expectations for the 118th Congress. In a Center survey conducted shortly after the 2022 midterm elections, fewer than half of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents (44%) said congressional Republicans would be successful in getting their programs passed over the next two years. However, Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents were not much more optimistic that their programs would advance: 48% said President Joe Biden would be successful in passing his agenda.

Republicans have become somewhat less optimistic about their partys future. In November, before the protracted debate over Rep. McCarthys speaker bid, about two-thirds of Republicans (65%) said they were optimistic about the partys future. That was 9 percentage points lower than after former President Donald Trumps election defeat in 2020 and 18 points lower than after the 2018 midterm elections.

Republicans are largely united in their views on government, national defense and policies involving race. Pew Research Centers 2021 political typology study found that Republican-aligned groups in the typology shared support for smaller government, a strong national defense anda rejection of the view that the country needs to do a great deal more to address racial inequities. Large majorities in all of the GOP-oriented groups said the government is doing too many things that would be better left to business and individuals; that government policies should be aimed at maintaining the United States status as the lone military superpower; and that White people derive little benefit from their race.

There are fissures in the GOP coalition. The same typology study found fissures in the GOP coalition, including over economic fairness, tax policy, and in views of abortion and same-sex marriage. For example, in one of the four Republican-oriented typology groups Ambivalent Right a majority had a positive view of the impact of legalizing same-sex marriage. Two other groups were divided, while a majority of Faith and Flag Conservatives said it was bad for society.

Republicans have soured on many national institutions in recent years. Fewer than half of Republicans and Republican leaners say technology companies, banks and other financial institutions, K-12 public schools, labor unions, colleges and universities, and large corporations have a positive effect on the way things are going in the country, according to a fall 2022 survey. The share of Republicans who say banks have a positive impact has fallen 25 points since 2019 (from 63% to 38%) and the decline has been similar in Republicans views of large corporations (from 54% to 26%).

The Supreme Court remains popular among Republicans. Nearly three-quarters of Republicans and Republican leaners (73%) expressed a favorable view of the high court in a survey conducted last August, shortly after a term that included the overturning of Roe v. Wade. That was 8 points higher than in January 2022. By contrast, just 28% of Democrats and Democratic leaners viewed the Supreme Court favorably in August, 18 points lower than at the start of last year and a decline of more than 40 points since 2020. The result: the largest partisan gap in the more than three decades of polling on the high court.

Conservative Republicans have an especially negative view of China. In a survey conducted last spring, 82% of U.S. adults expressed an unfavorable view of China, including 89% of Republicans and 79% of Democrats. However, conservative Republicans stood out for their criticism: 93% expressed an unfavorable view of China, including nearly two-thirds (64%) who said they had a very unfavorable view far higher than any other ideological group. And in a Center survey last fall, conservative Republicans were far more likely than moderate or liberal Republicans or Democrats to regard Chinas military power, as well as its economic competition with the U.S., as very serious problems.

On immigration policy, Republicans overwhelmingly prioritize securing the U.S.-Mexico border. While majorities in both parties have long viewed increased security along the U.S.-Mexico border as an important goal for U.S. immigration policy, Republicans were more than three times as likely as Democrats (72% vs. 22%) to say this is very important in a survey conducted last August. Republicans also were far more likely than Democrats to say it is very or somewhat important to increase deportations of people in the country illegally, and they were less likely to favor creating a path to legal status for those in the U.S. illegally.

Before the midterms, the share of Republicans with a positive view of Trump had slipped. In an October 2022 survey, most Republicans expressed a warm view of the former president, but the share saying this as measured by a feeling thermometer ranging from 0 to 100 had fallen since 2020. Six-in-ten Republicans said they had warm feelings toward Trump in October, down from 67% a year earlier and 79% in April 2020, during Trumps unsuccessful reelection campaign.

Republicans and Democrats have more dislike for the opposite party than in the past. Since the mid-1990s, partisan antipathy has risen substantially among members of both parties. In a survey conducted last year, 62% of Republicans said they had a very unfavorable view of the Democratic Party, nearly triple the share who said this in 1994. A smaller majority of Democrats had very unfavorable views of the GOP (54%), but this share has also tripled since the mid-1990s.

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How Republicans view their party, key issues as 118th Congress begins ...

Another spending fight looms between the White House and Congress, reviving similar stalemates in 2011 and 2013 under President Barack Obama.

Then, as now, Congress was divided -- a Republican House and a Democratic Senate -- and the White House had a Democratic president.

Then, as now, ascendant House Republicans sought to use must-pass spending and debt legislation to negotiate priorities they said their voters wanted, such as major spending cuts and, in 2013, an effort to stop the Affordable Care Act.

The U.S. does not take in enough money in taxes or other revenue to pay for its expenses, so it must borrow to cover the rest -- and on Thursday, the U.S. hit its current debt limit of approximately $31.4 trillion. The Treasury Department has begun what Secretary Janet Yellen called "extraordinary measures" to keep the federal government funded and give Congress more time to act.

Last week, Yellen wrote to House Speaker Kevin McCarthy that she didn't expect the department's "cash and extraordinary measures will be exhausted before early June."

That timeline sets the stage for a fierce political fight, with Republicans portraying Democrats as out-of-control spenders -- racking up debts upon debts upon debts -- and Democrats responding that the GOP, which holds the House, is unable to responsibly govern by paying the country's bills for the military, Social Security and much more.

All the while, the Treasury says, the country is pushed closer to the brink of major economic consequences if it runs out of "extraordinary measures" and can't borrow money.

"This has become a political football because it's so easy to pass back and forth and get points for hitting the other side," said one House Democratic aide, granted anonymity to speak candidly. "There's less incentive to actually solve problems when there's a chance to have a news cycle hitting the other side on it."

A "football" is what the White House says they don't want, citing how Congress has usually addressed the debt limit in a bipartisan fashion, under presidents of both parties and even when Republicans controlled the House and Senate.

"Congress is going to need to raise the debt limit without -- without -- conditions and it's just that simple," White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said earlier this month.

And while Jean-Pierre has since said there are ongoing conversations between the White House and members of both parties, "Attempts to exploit the debt ceiling as leverage will not work," she told reporters this month. "There will be no hostage taking."

McCarthy, R-Calif., has insisted that he would not support any debt limit increase without reducing spending back to fiscal year 2022 levels. He has pointed to the most recent election results.

"Republicans were elected with a mandate from the American people in the midterm elections. We campaigned on the fact that we were going to be serious about spending cuts. The Senate has to recognize we're not going to budge until we see meaningful reform with respect to spending," he said on Fox News over the weekend, referencing negotiations with the Senate.

Rep. Don Bacon, R-Neb., echoed that in an appearance on ABC's "This Week."

"The Republicans were largely elected to get control of reckless funding. That's the mission that their voters have given them. So, when President [Joe] Biden says he's going to refuse to negotiate with Republicans on any concessions, I don't think that's right," Bacon said.

"I want our side to negotiate with the Democrats in good faith," he said, "but President Biden has to also negotiate."

President Joe Biden speaks from the White House on April 14, 2021.

Andrew Harnik/AP, FILE

Lawmakers and congressional aides who spoke with ABC News say they bristle over the pall over the prospect of negotiations but admit that they see political advantages for each party.

"I think members, especially the Republican side, are very pressured right now to be able to rationalize not just to themselves but to their constituents what $31.4 trillion means to the country in debt. And if they just blindly go forward with the same old, same old, they're not doing their job," former Rep. Mike Bishop, R-Mich., told ABC News. "That's exactly what their constituents will tell them. So, for every opportunity you have to address the issue of spending, you really, as a member, gotta take advantage of it."

Former Rep. David Jolly, R-Fla., who has since left the party, predicted that "House Republicans will play hardball." Jolly added that concessions by McCarthy would be an "early broken promise" to the more conservative members whom he persuaded to vote him in as speaker.

President Biden, too, could see political upside in holding his line, some in his party say.

"Biden won't need to negotiate as long as the public continues to understand that MAGA Republicans in the House are to blame for the looming crisis. They have done a good job so far. It will help him in the reelect to run in 2024 against a Republican House that's out of control," said one Senate Democratic aide.

The modern era of spending and debt limit fights traces back to the 2010 midterms, when Republicans retook the House in what was the largest gain for a party in the chamber since 1938. Conservatives demanded the Obama administration tackle deficit reduction in order to raise the borrowing limit.

In the summer of 2011, after months of fractious wrangling, Obama told reporters that "crisis" had been averted -- the U.S. government's debt limit would be raised, ensuring it could continue to borrow money to pay its bills, in exchange for major spending cuts sought by Republicans.

"It ensures also that we will not face this same kind of crisis again in six months or eight months or 12 months," Obama said then. "And it will begin to lift the cloud of debt and the cloud of uncertainty that hangs over our economy."

Even so, the fiscal fight had tiptoed close to the cliff of the Treasury exhausting its resources, leading Standard & Poor's to downgrade the credit rating of the United States government for the first time ever.

Two years later, Obama was again celebrating a breakthrough with Congress over the government's spending and debt limit.

This time -- in the wake of Obama's 2012 reelection and Democrats picking up seats in the House and Senate -- a standoff with the House GOP majority ended in the conservative lawmakers conceding on almost all of their demands, with both parties in the Senate hammering out a deal.

"We've got to get out of the habit of governing by crisis," Obama said at the time.

Mitch McConnell looks to President Joe Biden after Biden arrived at Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport in Hebron, Ky., Jan. 4, 2023.

Patrick Semansky/AP, FILE

A 2013 ABC News poll showed that 54% of Americans agreed with Obama's handling of the issue and only 40% agreed with Republicans' handling.

However, that disapproval didn't appear to bring with it any broader voter reaction, with the GOP seeing gains in the 2014 midterms.

Since then, the debt limit has either been paused or increased eight times, according to the Bipartisan Policy Center, with Congress largely choosing to simply extend the debt limit rather than hold a vote on raising it.

"It should be done in a bipartisan way. It always has been," Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said on CNN last week, seeking to play down the possibility of another bruising battle.

"I think Republicans learned their lesson," he said then. "They suffered, we won the election after that [in 2012], and they will hopefully come and work with us."

With the debt ceiling looming again as a priority and a problem, some other lawmakers are getting frustrated.

"I've blamed both sides for a long time," one House Republican said. "It's an inherent problem that we must get serious about."

The House Democratic aide took this view: "I think both sides will run aggressive messaging on this and, in the end, both will get blamed. Voters tend to channel anger at who is 'in charge.' In this instance, that includes a bipartisan group of leaders because of the current divide."

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Biden and Republicans seem set for debt ceiling fight, reviving fraught ...