The Republican Party's Wedge Strategy and the Building of WinningCoalitions in American Politics (1854~2024):From Lincoln and Goldwater to Trump

Wang Hao and Fu Siyuan

Since its founding in 1854, the key to the Republican Party's rapidrise from its origins in the Whig and Free⁃Soil Parties to one of America's two dominant political parties lies in its underlying political logic: through⁃out its over⁃century⁃long history, the party has consistently seized critical electoral moments to fracture opposing political coalitions. This distinctivewedge strategy has driven party realignments and the construction of governing coalitions. The Republican Party's wedge strategy materialized in threelandmark movements. In its formative years, the federalist forces represented by Abraham Lincoln exploited the anti-slavery expansion movement ofthe 1850s-60s to drive a wedge between Northern and Southern Democrats.This ushered in the Gilded Age, a period of prolonged Republican dominance in American politics. Following the prolonged downturn of the Great Depression, the conservative forces led by Barry Goldwater used the anti-civil rights movement and the“Southern Strategy” of the 1960s-70s tosplinter the Democratic New Deal coalition. This laid the political ground⁃work for the “Reagan Revolution”. Amid the surging forces of globalization and multiculturalism, the populist forces embodied by Donald Trump employed the “Make America Great Again” movement, launched in 2016, tofracture the Democratic labor coalition. This culminated in a “red wave”sweeping across the United States during the 2024 election. A systematic analysis of the Republican Party's tradition of wedge strategy and its historical cases provides valuable insight into the dynamics of American party politics, particularly the transformation logic and developmental trajectory ofthe Republican Party itself.