# Used to be, red was Democrat and blue was Republican; when did that switch?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/used-to-be-red-was-democrat-and-blue-was-republican-when-did-that-switch/1006027>\
**Category:** Politics & Elections\
**Created:** [August 22, 2024, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/used-to-be-red-was-democrat-and-blue-was-republican-when-did-that-switch/1006027 "2024-08-22T03:49:40Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Showing post:** 6

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**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\
**Post date:** [August 22, 2024, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/used-to-be-red-was-democrat-and-blue-was-republican-when-did-that-switch/1006027/6 "2024-08-22T04:17:58Z")

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> [@Robot\_Arm](#):
>
> In 2000 the election was extremely close, and remained undecided for weeks. That meant weeks of news coverage talking about electoral votes, red states, and blue states. That cemented the terms, and we’ve stuck with the same colors ever since.

It’s kinda weird to see a meme (as in a cultural datum, not as in an amusing internet joke) appear within your adult lifetime and become so universal that it seems to be something that has Always Been.

Sorta how like when I found out that the high-five only originated around 1980.

> [@Is the "high five" really as new as Wikipedia says?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-high-five-really-as-new-as-wikipedia-says/815123):
>
> I was born in 1982. My entire life, the act of stretching out your palm and slapping another person’s similarly outstretched palm has been something I’ve understood as a mutual show of respect or appreciation. You high-five someone because they’ve done a good job, or you’ve done a good job as a team, or something good has happened to the both of you and you want to celebrate it. To me, it seems ancient, one of those universal human gestures that has existed from Time Immemorial. When I see babie…

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