Field Guide To Political Emojis

Since emojis were released in 1997, these simple little symbols (or ideograms) have continued to evolve in meaning as more platforms adopt them, and users begin constructing their own interpretations -- including somewhat hidden political connotations.

Primarily used on Twitter, but also seen elsewhere online to a lesser degree, many emojis have slowly developed into symbolic political “digital bumper stickers,” so to speak. Essentially, these are a way for people to express themselves via their handle. This trend began appearing on Twitter around the 2016 U.S. presidential election and has continued to grow in recent years.

Typically found in someone’s username, political emojis like these are used as a way to prominently display one’s political preferences into a handle for people to easily and instantly recognize where someone stands. Additionally, they are also used in tweets or replies as a shorthand for various political terms, such as ideologies or support for specific candidates and issues.

That being said, just like the Eggplant or Sweat Droplets emoji, many online may not understand the hidden meanings behind these. To fix that, we’ve compiled a list of political emojis seen online with a breakdown of what they are, and what they really mean.

Ideological:

These emojis are most often associated with a specific political ideology or stance on a major issue. Some of these have double meanings or more than one emoji that can mean the same thing, while others refer to the terminology used by one side or the other.

🐘 -- Elephant -- Republican
🐎 -- Donkey -- Democrat
🌲🌳 -- Green Trees -- Green Party
🌹 -- Rose -- Socialism (usually Democratic Socialist)
🥀 -- Wilted Rose -- Opposes Rose emoji
❄️ -- Snowflake -- Special, fragile, hypersensitive
🥑 -- Avocado -- YIMBY (yes, in my back yard), opposes NIMBY
🐣 -- Chick in Egg -- Generation Z
🦀 -- Crab -- Post-rationalist
🌈🏳️‍🌈 -- Rainbow or Rainbow Flag -- LGBTQ+ supporter
🥛 -- Glass of Milk -- Alt-right, Nazism or White Nationalist
📎 -- Paper Clip -- Solidarity with victims of hate crimes, Safety Pin Movement
✊ -- Raised Fist -- Power, resistance, solidarity
🌐 -- Globe -- Neoliberalism, Globalism
🧦 -- Socks -- Social Democrat
🔧 -- Wrench -- Ordoliberal
☭🚩 -- Hammer and Sickle or Red Flag -- Communist
Ⓐ🏴 -- Encircled A or Black Flag -- Anarchism
🗽 -- Statue of Liberty or Lady Liberty -- Libertarianism, Immigration (usually Pro-immigration)
↙↙↙ -- Three Arrows (down and left) -- Opposes Nazism, Communism, Monarchy
🔰 -- Japanese Beginner Chevron -- Georgism and Land Value Tax
🇻🇦 -- Flag of Vatican City -- Catholicism (usually Traditionalist)
🚁 -- Helicopter -- Anti-communism
🚀 -- Rocket -- Accelerationism
🌽 -- Corn -- Free Trade (Corn Laws)
🥪 -- Sandwich -- Soft left
👑 -- Crown -- Longism
🦅 -- Eagle -- Neoconservatism, hawkism/pro-military intervention
🕊️ -- Dove -- Doveism/anti-military intervention
🏛️ -- Classical Building -- Pro-institutions
🧢 -- Blue Cap -- UBI supporter
🚄🚍 -- Train, Bus -- Public Transportation
🏙🌆 -- City -- Urbanism

Example:

Presidential Candidate and Electoral:

Unlike the ideological emojis, these typically denote someone as a supporter of a specific candidate or politician (though some overlap with other translations above). Also included in this category are emojis that translate into some type of political action, such as voting.

🗳✏️ -- Ballot Box and Pencil -- I Voted
🖋📝📥 -- Pen, Paper or Inbox Tray -- Filling Out Voting Slip
🌊 -- Wave -- Blue Wave (usually a Democratic Party sweep)
🐝 -- Bee -- Pete Buttigieg supporters
🗽🩸🦷 -- Statue of Liberty, Blood, Tooth -- Elizabeth Warren supporters
👢🦷🐴 -- Boot, Tooth, Horse -- Vermin Supreme supporters
🌹 -- Red Rose -- Bernie Sanders supporters
🧢 -- Blue Cap -- Andrew Yang supporters
🥁💎🐊 -- Drum, Diamond, Crocodile -- Joe Biden supporters
🌺 -- Hibiscus -- Tulsi Gabbard supporters
🍩 -- Donut -- A niche subset of Hillary Clinton 2016 supporters
❌❌ -- Red Xs (before and after name) -- Donald Trump supporters
🏃‍♀️👮‍♀️ -- Running Man/Woman and Police -- Running for President
🍑 -- Peach -- Impeachment

Example: