Goldwater Republican

plural Goldwater Republicans

1. USgovernmentA member of the Republican Party whose policies resemble those of Barry Goldwater, including support for the smallest government possible at the federal level, free enterprise, fiscal conservatism, an internationalist, Atlanticist, and anti-communist foreign policy, and social libertarianism.

   For months he insisted that he did not want the nomination, would not seek it, and would only reluctantly accept a genuine draft. Despite Scranton's repeated statements, it was behind him that anti-Goldwater Republican leaders late last week tried to rally—and Scranton showed signs of acquiescence.

   1964 July 12, “Republicans: The Man on the Bandwagon”, in Time

   1 more example

   "A lot of people who think of themselves as Goldwater Republicans do not know what it really means to be a Goldwater Republican," said Tom Paniccia, a former Air Force sergeant who was discharged from the military last year after he had proclaimed his homosexuality. "He has always had a near libertarian stance on keeping government out of people's lives."

   1994 March 24, Timothy Egan, quoting Tom Paniccia, “Goldwater Defending Clinton; Conservatives Feeling Faint”, in The New York Times