Why Are Democrats Donkeys and Republicans Elephants?Because 19th-century political cartoons turned two animals into party celebrities. The donkey started as an insult; the elephant became famous through cartoonist Thomas Nast.Related Rabbit HolesWhy Do Americans Vote on Tuesdays?Has a Dead Person Ever Won an Election?Has an Election Ever Ended in a Tie?Read FurtherBack in the late 1820s, Andrew Jackson’s political opponents used “jackass” as an insult. The donkey association stuck around long after the original name-calling.Then along came Thomas Nast, a cartoonist with a talent for making political arguments with animals. His Democratic donkey appeared in Harper’s Weekly in 1870, and he used an elephant to represent the Republican vote in 1874.Nast put both animals together in a cartoon in 1879. Over time, readers recognized the creatures without needing a politician’s name printed underneath.So the two most recognizable animals in American politics owe their fame to mockery, satire, and an artist with a very busy pencil. Frankly, it is impressive neither party ended up represented by an angry goose.Further ReadingSmithsonian National Museum of American History: Party Symbols
