Affirmative action in the United States includes policies that take factors including race, color, religion, gender, or national origin into consideration in order to benefit an underrepresented group "in areas of employment, education, and business.
The policy states that government shall not discriminate against any employee or applicant for employment because of race, creed, color, or national origin.
Democrats generally favor affirmative action because of it's protection of minorities. Republicans are often against it because they believe in a free market approach which may not always use race, creed, color, nationality, or gender as a factors for educational and employment opportunities.