"Choice of Colors
During U.S. national elections, media outlets commonly display election results on a map of U.S. states—with each state assigned a color based on which party's candidate won the state, as nearly all states award the sum of their electoral votes in a winner-take-all contest (the exceptions being Maine and Nebraska). Because the United States has a de facto two-party system, the national colors of red and blue came to be reserved for the two major parties. Third-party candidates rarely win any states, but media outlets are prepared with other arbitrary colors for noteworthy third party showings, such as green for the Green party and white for Reform party.[citation needed]
With the adoption of color television in the 1960s (and continuing with increased use of color in newspapers in the 1980s and 1990s) media outlets took advantage of this in their electoral maps on election night. But until the 2000 election, there was no consensus on color schemes among the networks. For example, from 1972 until at least 1992, NBC consistently showed Republican-won states in blue, and Democratic-won states in red. But other networks used other patterns. ABC, in at least two presidential elections during this time, used yellow for one major party and blue for the other. However, in 2000, for the first time ever, all the major broadcast networks and all the cable news outlets utilized the same color scheme: red for Republicans and blue for Democrats.
Partly as a result of this first-time universal color-coding, the terms Red States and Blue States entered popular usage in the weeks following the 2000 presidential election. Additionally, the closeness of the disputed election kept the colored maps in the public view for longer than usual, and red and blue thus became fixed in the media and in most people's minds.[1]
U.S. state counties and congressional districts may also be called "Red" or "Blue" if their residents predominantly vote for one party or another in any given election. The District of Columbia, though not a state, can also be called "Blue" because it has voted for the Democrat in every election since its residents were first allowed to vote for President. In addition, the term "Red-stater" or "Blue-stater" may refer to individuals who vote for, are affiliated with, or otherwise identify primarily with the Republican Party or Democratic Party, respectively. Less common is the practice of referring to residents of "Red States" and "Blue States" as "Red-staters" and "Blue-staters" respectively. Also, there have been Red areas in Blue States (Orange County, California and Ottawa County, Michigan), and Blue areas in Red States (Denver, Colorado, Tucson, Arizona, Cleveland, Ohio and Austin, Texas).
The choice of colors in this divide is counterintuitive to many international observers, as throughout the world, especially Europe and Canada, red is commonly the designated colour for parties representing labor interests, and blue for conservative. While the Democratic Party tends to represent labor interests, the Republican Party tends to represent the interests of employers and businesses.
The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee officially adopted the color scheme when it launched a national "Red to Blue Program" in 2006.[2] Otherwise the color scheme is unofficial and informal, but is widely recognized by all media and commentators."
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