the republican party was started in 1854 as an anti-slavery party and its first president was abraham lincoln in 1861. others include ulysses s. grant, benjamin harrison, theodore roosevelt, dwight d. eisenhower, richard nixon, ronald reagan, george h.w. bush, george w. bush and donald trump. in the nixon years, there was a shift to appeal to the implicit racial biases of white voters that did not like the civil rights movement of the 1960's in what is called the southern strategy. this strategy created the appearance of equity while ignoring minorities in the process. 26 out of 50 states have a republican governor. it has around 55 million registered voters across america. currently, the republican party is identified as conservative.