Here's how each symbol came to be associated with the Democratic and Republican parties: Origins: The donkey first became associated with the Democratic Party during Andrew Jackson's presidential ...

But it was Nast’s revival of the Democratic donkey in his Jan. 18, 1870 cartoon, shown above — “A Live Jackass Kicking a Dead Lion” — that popularized the symbol. The cartoon depicts ...

the elephant represents the Republican Party and the donkey the Democratic Party. What is less well known is how the animals came to adopted as symbols for the two biggest political forces in the US.