Undergraduate Honors Thesis Projects
Date of Award
4-9-2025
Document Type
Honors Paper
Degree Name
Political Science-BA
Department
History & Political Science
Advisor
Dr. Nicholas Robinson
First Committee Member
Dr. Nicholas Robinson
Second Committee Member
Dr. Alexandria Wilson-McDonald
Third Committee Member
Dr. Andrew Mills
Keywords
Republican Party, Immigration, Party Platform, American Politics, Political Parties
Subject Categories
American Politics | Higher Education
Abstract
The Republican Party has experienced a well-documented ideological shift towards the right in the 21st century. However, significant attention has not been granted to the causes and consequences of this shift on rhetoric surrounding immigration. As immigration has become a polarizing topic in recent years, it is important to understand how the Republican Party has transformed regarding the issue. It is also important to understand what contributed to this shift. In this paper, I analyzed Republican Party platforms from 2008 to 2024 as well as selected speeches from prominent Party members at the Republican National Convention from 2008 to 2024. To this end, I show that immigration as a topic was present in 2008 and 2012 but rose to prominence as a political weapon with Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign and has continued to be exploited for political gain. This rhetoric became increasingly prohibitive towards immigrants, generalizing entire populations as dangerous. I also show the impact that this rhetoric has had on the American public in addition to the reality of the state of immigration in the United States. This research is increasingly important as the current Trump administration continues to take measures against immigrants in the United States and provides an understanding to how these prohibitive perceptions of immigrants came to be within the Republican Party. It also serves to highlight the changes that a singular figure can implement within a political party, giving insight into the potential future of the Republican Party.
Licensing Permission
Copyright, all rights reserved. Fair Use
Recommended Citation
Thagard, Greyson, "From Rhetoric to Reality: The U.S. Republican Party's Shifting Stance on Immigration" (2025). Undergraduate Honors Thesis Projects. 187.
https://digitalcommons.otterbein.edu/stu_honor/187
Acknowledgement 1
1
Acknowledgement 2
1