# Origin of red and blue states **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 29, 2021, 7:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-red-and-blue-states/955119 "2021-11-29T07:17:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Danger\_Man](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/6de8d8/32.png) [@Danger\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Danger_Man)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2021, 7:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-red-and-blue-states/955119/1 "2021-11-29T07:17:00Z")
How come the color red, which most people relate to communism, came to be associated with the Republican party? Same thing with the color blue, which I have mostly seen associated with right wing parties is the color of the Democrats. ---
**Author:** ![Schnitte](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/schnitte/32/9033_2.png) [@Schnitte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Schnitte)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2021, 7:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-red-and-blue-states/955119/2 "2021-11-29T07:24:09Z")
That appears to be surprisingly recent, going back to the [2000 presidential election](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_states_and_blue_states), when news channels would carry colour-coded maps with the results of the individual states for weeks. Before that, red and blue had already been used, but the allocation of the colours to the states didn’t become consistent until the 2000 electoral coverage. ---
**Author:** ![PatrickLondon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/patricklondon/32/4422_2.png) [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2021, 7:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-red-and-blue-states/955119/3 "2021-11-29T07:59:21Z")
Just one of those quirks. I assume (from what I’ve seen on TV and movies) both parties claim patriotic red-white-and-blue for themselves. In most of Europe, red has been associated with left-wingers/revolutionaries for a long time (French Revolution and the Phrygian caps?), but it’s only relatively recently, with more consistent and disciplined marketing of mass political parties, that there’s been a firm association with specific colours. In the UK, it was quite common for local candidates in different parts of the country to use different colours, until at least WW2. Nowadays, on the Continent, it allows a short-hand description for possible coalition governments. In the Netherlands there was a “purple” government (rightwing Liberal blue + Labour red). In Germany in recent years there was the option of a “Jamaica” (Christian Democrat black + Free Democrat yellow + Green) or “traffic light” (Social Democrat red + FDU yellow + Green) coalition. ---
**Author:** ![GreenWyvern](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/greenwyvern/32/2834_2.png) [@GreenWyvern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreenWyvern)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2021, 8:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-red-and-blue-states/955119/4 "2021-11-29T08:40:08Z")
> [@PatrickLondon](#): > > it’s only relatively recently, with more consistent and disciplined marketing of mass political parties, that there’s been a firm association with specific colours. It seems that in 1890s blue was already firmly associated with the Conservatives and yellow with the Liberals. From the autobiography of Arthur Ransome: [General election of 1892, Lord Salisbury (Conservative), running against Gladstone (Liberal), Ransome was 8 years old.] > My father and I had an early conflict over politics. … My father loathed Mr Gladstone and all his works … > > I was a very small boy at the time of a General Election and, when my father’s party were wearing blue favours, I bought for myself and appeared at the dinner-table with a yellow rosette, at that time the badge of Mr Gladstone’s supporters. My father saw it at once. > > ‘Why are you wearing that beastly colour?’ he asked. > > ‘Because I am a Gladstonian.’ > > ‘And why are you a Gladstonian?’ asked my father. > > ‘Because he wants to give Home Rule to Ireland.’ > > ‘And why do you want to give Home Rule to Ireland?’ > > ‘To save us the trouble.’ > > ‘Go on being a Gladstonian!’ exclaimed my father in disgust, less at my political creed than at the unworthy motive that explained it. > > I think now that my yellow ribbon displayed in the midst of favours unanimously blue was probably less the result of inheriting my grandfather’s inclination to take the line of least resistance (to which my father was inclined to attribute it) than an early manifestation of my ineradicable tendency to disagree with any majority wherever I happened to be. ---
**Author:** ![PatrickLondon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/patricklondon/32/4422_2.png) [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2021, 12:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-red-and-blue-states/955119/5 "2021-11-29T12:24:04Z")
I stand corrected. ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2021, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-red-and-blue-states/955119/6 "2021-11-29T13:05:17Z")
> [@GreenWyvern](#): > > It seems that in 1890s blue was already firmly associated with the Conservatives and yellow with the Liberals. And the colour buff was associated with the Whigs. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2021, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-red-and-blue-states/955119/7 "2021-11-29T13:08:58Z")
Yes. In 1980, Reagan’s states were colored blue and Carter’s red [Press: Like a Suburban Swimming Pool - TIME](http://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,950508,00.html) ---
**Author:** ![bob\_2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bob_2/32/3341_2.png) [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2021, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-red-and-blue-states/955119/8 "2021-11-29T13:11:56Z")
> [@GreenWyvern](#): > > blue was already firmly associated with the Conservatives Originally the Conservatives used the whole red/white/blue spectrum as found on the Union flag. When left-wing Labour adopted Red, a symbol that may date back as far as the slave uprisings at the end of the Roman Empire, but is more recently applied to Bolshevic revolunionaries, the Conservative dropped it completely. It’s interesting to note that the strength of the colours varies with the times, with Tony Blair’s Labour turning purple, and modern conservative blue fading from Oxford to Cambridge in recent times. ---
**Author:** ![Martin\_Hyde](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/47e85d/32.png) [@Martin\_Hyde](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martin_Hyde)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2021, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-red-and-blue-states/955119/9 "2021-11-29T13:19:40Z")
There was no standardized linking of colors to parties until 2000; some people make a compelling argument that Tim Russert’s show, talking about “red states and blue states” in a broadcast a week prior to the two thousand election, was the first to use the term for the modern party associations and it stuck. He was using the terms in reference to the color schemes that his network was using for the upcoming election. Theory being the 2000 election wasn’t really resolved for a good month after that, and other broadcasters had followed his lead, so America spent a month thinking about Democrat = Blue, Republican = Red. Prior to that while red and blue were probably the _most common_ two colors used for network electoral college maps on election night, other colors were used (I remember one network used blue and yellow frequently), and there was no guarantee one party would be represented by one color. The official colors of both parties are, unsurprisingly, Red White and Blue, and both parties use those colors in their logos and etc. The parties have largely embraced the popular Red and Blue colors as representative at this point though, the Democrats’ fundraising arm has been called “ActBlue” for a number of years now, and the Republicans is “WinRed.” ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2021, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-red-and-blue-states/955119/10 "2021-11-29T13:28:49Z")
In Canada, the party colours date back to before Confederation. In Canada East (now Quebec), the two main parties were the Bleus (liberal-conservative) and the Rouges (more extreme liberals). That led to some clergy who supported the Bleus preaching to their flocks : “Le ciel est bleu, et l’enfer est rouge.” (“Heaven is blue, hell is red.”) ---
**Author:** ![PatrickLondon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/patricklondon/32/4422_2.png) [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2021, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-red-and-blue-states/955119/11 "2021-11-29T13:56:16Z")
Here’s someone’s attempt at an overview across a lot of countries: [https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political\_colour](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_colour) ---
**Author:** ![Danger\_Man](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/6de8d8/32.png) [@Danger\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Danger_Man)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2021, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-red-and-blue-states/955119/12 "2021-11-29T14:47:19Z")
From that article; _A key exception to the convention of red to mean socialism is the United States. Since about the year 2000, the mass media have associated red with the [Republican Party](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republican_Party_(United_States)), even though the Republican Party is a [conservative](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservatism_in_the_United_States) party (see [red states and blue states](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_states_and_blue_states))._ So it seems to acknowledge the US as an exception, but doesn’t provide a reason why. Was it just by chance that these colors stuck? ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2021, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-red-and-blue-states/955119/13 "2021-11-29T14:51:43Z")
> [@Danger\_Man](#): > > Was it just by chance that these colors stuck? It does seem to be, yes. (And, I, too, find it interesting that the color red wound up being affixed to the Republican party, given that it’s also used for Communism.) ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2021, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-red-and-blue-states/955119/14 "2021-11-29T14:55:14Z")
Just chance that those happened to be the colors in use during the protracted 2000 election. In a slightly alternate universe, we’d be talking about plaid states versus green states. ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2021, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-red-and-blue-states/955119/15 "2021-11-29T15:11:21Z")
“Just chance” seems like a facile non-explanation, though. Most of these political colours have a long history, and parties pick their own colours to some extent— nobody _forced_ aforementioned committee to name itself ActBlue and so on. Context also matters. When you see green, do you think of the German political party, or of Saudi Arabia? ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2021, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-red-and-blue-states/955119/16 "2021-11-29T15:16:26Z")
> [@DPRK](#): > > nobody _forced_ aforementioned committee to name itself ActBlue and so on. True. But at that point, they couldn’t have tried to call themselves anything associated with “Red” - that option had been taken away by the way that the 2000 election had played out. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2021, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-red-and-blue-states/955119/17 "2021-11-29T15:27:07Z")
As stated above, in the United States, there were never any consistent party colors. Maps used colors randomly and there was little consistency. American political parties themselves never adopted official colors, generally choosing to identify with the national colors–red, white, and blue. I recall seeing maps using green and yellow, or yellow and magenta, or red and grey, etc. It was all a matter of what was convenient for a particular publisher at a particular time. Some time in the 1980s or 1990s, the four major TV networks (ABC, CBS, NBC, and PBS) began using red and blue, but they would alternate from one presidential election to another, and usually two of them would use one combination and the other two would be reversed. For example, there is a well-known quote from the 1980 presidential election, in which one commentator (I can’t recall which network) described Reagan’s lead as a “sea of blue” or something like that. In 2000, for no particular reason, most or all of the networks were using blue for Gore and red for Bush, and that association stuck. I was only _after_ that election that Democrats, or their supporters, consistently started using blue. ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Feldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lord_feldon/32/341_2.png) [@Lord\_Feldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Feldon)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2021, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-red-and-blue-states/955119/18 "2021-11-29T15:37:55Z")
Even now, the parties don’t have any consistent visual branding (which makes sense since our parties are extremely decentralized). You’d never see a federal Liberal candidate in Canada with blue anything, but it’s completely normal for a Republican candidate to have a blue logo, a blue website, blue lawn signs, etc. ---
**Author:** ![anny\_m](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/96bed5/32.png) [@anny\_m](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anny_m)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2021, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-red-and-blue-states/955119/19 "2021-11-29T16:18:43Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > It does seem to be, yes. (And, I, too, find it interesting that the color red wound up being affixed to the Republican party, given that it’s also used for Com I’m old enough to remember when conservatives used to declare, “Better dead than red!” ---
**Author:** ![bob\_2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bob_2/32/3341_2.png) [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2021, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-red-and-blue-states/955119/20 "2021-11-29T16:21:02Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > (And, I, too, find it interesting that the color red wound up being affixed to the Republican party, given that it’s also used for Communism.) Many of us see little difference between leaders of the extreme right and the extreme left. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-red-and-blue-states/955119.md?page=2)