Political Parties in the U.S.

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Since the 1790's, there have been two major political parties in the US: the democrats and the republicans. The democrats tend to be socialistic in platform with concerns such as economic equality and civil rights. The republicans tend to be capitalistic with policies that deregulate the economy and focus on morality. These are broad ideas, though. In certain political times, the politicians who win races are considered "middle of the road" which means they appeal to both democrats and republicans. And of course, there are extremes on both sides.

Recent republican presidents include George W. Bush, George Bush, Ronald Reagan, Gerald Ford and Richard Nixon.

Recent democratic presidents include President Obama, Bill Clinton, Jimmy Carter and Lyndon Johnson.

Though historically, the democrats and republicans have achieved the presidency at about equal rate, since 1981, republicans have held office for 20 out of 30 years.

In politics, it is often difficult to replace an incumbent (a current president) unless the incumbent has become very unpopular. But anything can happen. The key issues of 2012 will be the economy and foreign policy.