ALBAWABA - As the 2024 US elections are in just six days, some people started to question the meaning behind the donkey and elephant which symbolize the main parties in the United States; Republican and Democratic.
The symbols are usually increasingly used whenever presidential elections are near in the US. This year, current Vice President Kamala Harris is representing the Democratic party, meanwhile, former US President Donald Trump is the candidate of the Republican party.
The parties were illustrated by a donkey, symbolizing the Democratic Party, or an elephant, symbolizing the Republican Party.
Photos of donkeys and elephants are printed on hats, t-shirts, pins, mugs and other materials as people use items to announce and show support for US presidential candidates. But where did they come from?
(Shutterstock)
US Elections 2024: who created animal symbols for Republicans and Democrats?
Donkey for Democrats:
According to historians, the donkey symbol goes back to 1828 and the presidential campaign of Andrew Jackson, the seventh US president, serving from 1829 to 1837. The donkey symbol was launched after opponents called him "jackass" - which is another name for donkey.
He was the first to use the donkey symbol in his campaign posters and he won the elections back then. The donkey has ever since been a highlight of the Democratic party.
Kamala Harris and Donald Trump, US presidential candidates. (Shutterstock)
Elephant for Republicans:
The elephant symbol was created by famous cartoonist Thomas Nast, it was in Harper's Weekly in 1874. But, according to sources, the Republican elephant appeared much earlier than that in the pro-Lincoln campaign newspaper "Father Abraham" when an elephant was seen carrying a banner celebrating Union military victories.
The Republicans have developed the elephant through the years and it is used in campaigns today.
