The terms "red states" and "blue states" came into use in 2000 The United States presidential election of 2000 was a contest between Republican candidate George W. Bush, then-governor of Texas and son of former president George H. W. Bush , and Democratic candidate Al Gore, then-Vice President. Bill Clinton, the incumbent President, was vacating the position after serving the maximum two terms allowed by the to refer to those states A U.S. state is any one of 50 federated states of the United States of America that share sovereignty with the federal government. Because of this shared sovereignty, an American is a citizen both of the federal entity and of his or her state of domicile. Four states use the official title of commonwealth rather than state. State citizenship is of the United States ^ b. English is the de facto language of American government and the sole language spoken at home by 80% of Americans age five and older. Spanish is the second most commonly spoken language whose residents predominantly vote for the Republican Party The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the Grand Old Party or the GOP, despite being the younger of the two major parties. The party's platform is generally considered right of center or Democratic Party The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's modern liberal platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. It is one of the world's oldest political parties and boasts the lengthiest record of continuous operation in the United presidential candidates, respectively. A blue Blue is a colour, the perception of which is evoked by light having a spectrum dominated by energy with a wavelength of roughly 440–490 nm. It is considered one of the additive primary colours. On the HSV Colour Wheel, the complement of blue is yellow; that is, a colour corresponding to an equal mixture of red and green light. On a colour wheel state tends to vote for the Democratic Party The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's modern liberal platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. It is one of the world's oldest political parties and boasts the lengthiest record of continuous operation in the United, and a red The word red comes from the Old English rēad. Further back, the word can be traced to the Proto-Germanic rauthaz and the Proto-Indo European root reudh-. In Sanskrit, the word rudhira means red or blood. In the English language, the word red is associated with the color of blood, certain flowers , and ripe fruits (e.g. apples, cherries). Fire is state tends to vote for the Republican Party The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the Grand Old Party or the GOP, despite being the younger of the two major parties. The party's platform is generally considered right of center, although the colors were often reversed or different colors used before the 2000 election. According to The Washington Post The Washington Post is Washington, D.C.'s largest newspaper and its oldest, founded in 1877. Located in the capital of the United States, The Post has a particular emphasis on national politics. D.C., Maryland, and Virginia editions are printed for daily circulation, the terms were coined by television journalist A journalist collects and disseminates information about current events, people, trends, and issues. His or her work is acknowledged as journalism Tim Russert Timothy John Russert was an American television journalist and lawyer who appeared for more than 16 years as the longest-serving moderator of NBC's Meet the Press. He was a senior vice president at NBC News, Washington bureau chief and also hosted the eponymous CNBC/MSNBC weekend interview program Tim Russert. He was a frequent correspondent and during his televised coverage of the 2000 presidential election The United States presidential election of 2000 was a contest between Republican candidate George W. Bush, then-governor of Texas and son of former president George H. W. Bush , and Democratic candidate Al Gore, then-Vice President. Bill Clinton, the incumbent President, was vacating the position after serving the maximum two terms allowed by the[1]; that was not the first election during which the news media The news media refers to the section of the mass media that focuses on presenting current news to the public. These include print media ; broadcast media (radio stations, television stations, television networks), and increasingly Internet-based media (World Wide Web pages, weblogs) used colored maps to graphically depict voter preferences in the various states, but it was the first time a standard color scheme took hold. Since 2000, usage of the term has been expanded to differentiate between states being perceived as liberal Modern American liberalism is a form of social liberalism developed from progressive ideals such as Theodore Roosevelt's New Nationalism, Woodrow Wilson's New Freedom, Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal, and Lyndon Johnson's Great Society. It combines social liberalism and social progressivism with support for a welfare state and a mixed economy and those perceived as conservative Conservatism in the United States is an umbrella term for an array of related positions on political and economic policy, generally favoring free-market capitalism, Christian morality, and anti-communism. Since the 1890s it has been chiefly associated with the Republican Party, although there were numerous conservative Democrats from the South.

This unofficial system of political colors used in the United States is the reverse of that in most other long-established democracies, where blue represents right-wing and conservative parties Blue is a colour, the perception of which is evoked by light having a spectrum dominated by energy with a wavelength of roughly 440–490 nm. It is considered one of the additive primary colours. On the HSV Colour Wheel, the complement of blue is yellow; that is, a colour corresponding to an equal mixture of red and green light. On a colour wheel, while red represents left-wing and liberal parties The word red comes from the Old English rēad. Further back, the word can be traced to the Proto-Germanic rauthaz and the Proto-Indo European root reudh-. In Sanskrit, the word rudhira means red or blood. In the English language, the word red is associated with the color of blood, certain flowers , and ripe fruits (e.g. apples, cherries). Fire is.

Contents

Origins of current color scheme

Before the 2000 presidential election, there was no universally recognized color scheme to represent political parties in the United States. In fact, the color scheme was often reversed, in line with historical European associations (red was used for left-leaning parties).[2][3]

There is some historical use of blue for Democrats and red for Republicans: in the late 19th century and early 20th century, Texas Houston is the largest city in Texas and the fourth-largest in the United States, while San Antonio is the second largest in the state and seventh largest in the United States. Dallas–Fort Worth and Greater Houston are the fourth and sixth largest United States metropolitan areas, respectively. Other major cities include El Paso and Austin—the county election boards used color coding to help Spanish speakers and illiterates identify the parties[4], however, this system was not applied consistently in Texas and was not picked up on a national level; for instance, in 1888, Grover Cleveland Stephen Grover Cleveland was the 22nd and 24th President of the United States. Cleveland is the only president to serve two non-consecutive terms (1885–1889 and 1893–1897) and therefore is the only individual to be counted twice in the numbering of the presidents. He was the winner of the popular vote for president three times—in 1884, 1888, and Benjamin Harrison Benjamin Harrison was the 23rd President of the United States, serving one term from 1889 to 1893. Harrison was born in North Bend, Ohio, and moved to Indianapolis, Indiana at the age of 21, where he became a prominent state politician. During the American Civil War Harrison served as a Brigadier General in the XX Corps of the Army of the used maps that coded blue for the Republicans, the color Cleveland perceived to represent the Union and "Lincoln Abraham Lincoln served as the 16th President of the United States from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865. He successfully led his country through its greatest internal crisis, the American Civil War, preserving the Union and ending slavery. Before his election in 1860 as the first Republican president, Lincoln had been a country's Party" and red for the Democrats.[5]

The practice of using colors to represent parties on electoral maps dates back at least as far as 1908, when The New York Times The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. Although it remains both the largest local metropolitan newspaper in the United States as well as third largest overall behind The Wall Street Journal and USA Today, the weekday circulation of the paper has fallen precipitously in printed a special color map using yellow and blue to detail Theodore Roosevelt Theodore "Teddy" Roosevelt pronounced /ˈroʊzəvɛlt/ ROE-zə-velt) was the 26th President of the United States. He is famous for his energetic personality, range of interests and achievements, leadership of the Progressive Movement, model of masculinity, and his "cowboy" image. He was a leader of the Republican Party and's 1904 electoral victory The United States presidential election of 1904 was held on November 8, 1904. The Republican Party unanimously nominated incumbent President Theodore Roosevelt for president at their 1904 national convention. Roosevelt had succeeded to the Presidency upon William McKinley's assassination. During the election campaign, Roosevelt called on the.[6] In the 1950s, color-coding as a format was employed within the Hammond series of historical atlases.[citation needed]

Color-based schemes became more widespread with the adoption of color television Color television refers to the technology and practices associated with television's transmission of moving images in color in the 1960s and nearly ubiquitous with the advent of color in newspapers. A three-color scheme: red, white and blue, the colors of the U.S. flag, makes sense, as the third color, white, is useful in depicting maps showing states that are "undecided" in the polls and in election-night television coverage.

Early on, some channels used a scheme of red for Democrats and blue for Republicans. The first television news network to use colors to depict the states won by presidential candidates was NBC. In 1976, John Chancellor, the anchorman for the NBC Nightly News NBC Nightly News is the daily evening news program for NBC News and broadcasts from the GE Building, Rockefeller Center in New York City. It has been known by this name since August 3, 1970. Currently, weekday broadcasts are anchored by Brian Williams, and weekend editions of the show are anchored by Lester Holt. The program originates from NBC's, asked his network's engineers to construct a large electronic map of the USA. The map was placed in the network's election-night news studio. If Jimmy Carter James Earl "Jimmy" Carter, Jr. served as the 39th President of the United States from 1977 to 1981 and was the recipient of the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize, the only U.S. President to have received the Prize after leaving office. Before he became President, Carter served two terms as a Georgia State Senator and one as Governor of Georgia,, the Democratic candidate that year, won a state it would light up in red; if Gerald Ford Gerald Rudolph Ford, Jr. was the 38th President of the United States, serving from 1974 to 1977, and the 40th Vice President of the United States serving from 1973 to 1974. As the first person appointed to the vice-presidency under the terms of the 25th Amendment, when he became President upon Richard Nixon's resignation on August 9, 1974, he also, the Republican, carried a state it would light up in blue. The feature proved to be so popular that four years later all three major television networks would use colors to designate the states won by the presidential candidates on Election Night. NBC continued to use the color scheme employed in 1976 for several years; NBC newsman David Brinkley David McClure Brinkley was an American newscaster for NBC and ABC in a career spanning from 1951 to 1997 famously referred to the 1980 election map as showing Ronald Reagan Ronald Wilson Reagan was the 40th President of the United States (1981–1989) and the 33rd Governor of California (1967–1975). Born in Tampico, Illinois, Reagan moved to Los Angeles, California in 1937. He began a career as an actor, first in films and later television, appearing in 52 movie productions and gaining enough success to become a's 44-state landslide as resembling a "suburban swimming pool".[7] CBS, from 1984 on, used the opposite scheme: blue for Democrats, red for Republicans. ABC used yellow for one major party and blue for the other in 1976. However, in 1980 and 1984, ABC used red for Republicans and blue for Democrats. As late as 1996, there was still no universal association of one color with one party.[8] If anything, by 1996, color schemes were relatively mixed, as CNN Cable News Network, almost always referred to by its initialism CNN, is a U.S. cable news channel founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. Upon its launch, CNN was the first channel to provide 24-hour television news coverage, and the first all-news television channel in the United States. While the news channel has numerous affiliates, CNN primarily, CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major American television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of the company's logo. It has also been called the ", ABC The American Broadcasting Company is an American television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. It first broadcast on television in 1948. Corporate headquarters are in the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City, while programming, and The New York Times The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. Although it remains both the largest local metropolitan newspaper in the United States as well as third largest overall behind The Wall Street Journal and USA Today, the weekday circulation of the paper has fallen precipitously in referred to Democratic states with the color blue and Republican ones as red, while Time Magazine and the Washington Post used an opposite scheme.[9][10][11]

In the days following the protracted 2000 election, major media outlets began conforming to the same color scheme because the electoral map was continually in view and conformity made for easy and instant viewer comprehension. On Election Night that year there was no coordinated effort to code Democratic states blue and Republican states red; the association gradually emerged. Partly as a result of this eventual and near-universal color-coding, the terms "red states" and "blue states" entered popular usage in the weeks following the 2000 presidential election The United States presidential election of 2000 was a contest between Republican candidate George W. Bush, then-governor of Texas and son of former president George H. W. Bush , and Democratic candidate Al Gore, then-Vice President. Bill Clinton, the incumbent President, was vacating the position after serving the maximum two terms allowed by the. Journalists began to routinely refer to "blue states" and "red states," even before the 2000 election was settled.[citation needed] After the results were final, journalists stuck with the color scheme, as the December 2001 The Atlantic The Atlantic is an American magazine founded as The Atlantic Monthly in Boston in 1857. It was created as a literary and cultural commentary magazine. Though based in Boston, it quickly achieved a national reputation, which it held for more than a century. It was important for recognizing and publishing new writers and poets, and encouraging major's cover story by David Brooks David Brooks is an American political and cultural commentator. He is the author of Bobos in Paradise: The New Upper Class and How They Got There (2000). Brooks served as an editorial writer and film reviewer for the Washington Times, a reporter and later op-ed editor for The Wall Street Journal, a senior editor at The Weekly Standard from its entitled, "One Nation, Slightly Divisible" illustrated. Thus, red and blue became fixed in the media and in many people's minds,[12] despite the fact that no "official" color choices had been made by the parties.

Despite the domestic media's adoption of this color scheme, many commentators and journalists still colloquially refer to communists as "reds" (example: "Red China" - meaning Communist China).

Map interpretation problems

The blue and red state color scheme when applied for U.S. state legislative In the United States of America, a state legislature is a generic term referring to the legislative body of any of the country's 50 states. The formal name varies from state to state. In 24 states, the legislature is simply called the "Legislature," or the "State Legislature", while in 19 states, the legislature is called the & upper house majorities as of the 2008 general elections. (Nebraska, in black, has a nonpartisan unicameral legislature.)

There are several problems in creating and interpreting election maps that should be taken into account. Popular vote data is necessarily aggregated at several levels, such as counties and states, which are then colored to show election results. Maps of this type are called choropleth maps A choropleth map (Greek χωρα + πληθαίν:, is a thematic map in which areas are shaded or patterned in proportion to the measurement of the statistical variable being displayed on the map, such as population density or per-capita income, which have several well known problems that can result in interpretation bias. One problem arises when areal units differ in size and significance, as is the case with election maps. These maps give extra visual weight to larger areal units, whether by county or state. This problem is compounded in that the units are not equally significant. A large county or state may have fewer voters than a small one, for example. Some maps attempt to account for this by using cartogram methods, but the resulting distortion makes such maps difficult to read.

Another problem relates to data classification. Election maps often use a two-class color scheme (red and blue), which results in a map that is easy to read but is highly generalized. Some maps use more classes, such as shades of red and blue to indicate the degree of election victory. These maps provide a more detailed picture, but have various problems associated with classification of data. The cartographer must choose how many classes to use and how to break the data into those classes. While there are various techniques available, the choice is essentially arbitrary. The look of a map can vary significantly depending on the classification choices. The choices of color and shading likewise affect the map's appearance. Further, all election maps are subject to the interpretation error known as the ecological fallacy An ecological fallacy, often called an ecological inference fallacy, is an error in the interpretation of statistical data in an ecological study, whereby inferences about the nature of specific individuals are based solely upon aggregate statistics collected for the group to which those individuals belong. This fallacy assumes that individual.[13]

U.S. state legislative lower house majorities as of the 2008 general elections. (Nebraska, in black, has a nonpartisan unicameral legislature.)

Finally, there are problems associated with human perception. Large areas of color appear more saturated than small areas of the same color. A juxtaposition of differing colors and shades can result in contrast misperceptions. For example, an area shaded light red surrounded by areas shaded dark red will appear even lighter. Differing shades of red and blue compound this problem of perception. Because of this problem, cartographers have traditionally limited the number of classes so that it is always clear which class a color shade represents. Some election maps, however, have broken this tradition by simply coloring each areal unit with a red-blue mixture linked to voting ratio data. These "purple maps" are useful for showing the highly mixed nature of voting, but are extremely difficult to interpret in detail. The lack of clear classes make these purple maps highly prone to the problems of color perception described above. All these points should be taken into account when looking at election maps.

Critiques

The paradigm has come under criticism on a number of fronts. Many argue that assigning partisanship to states is only really useful as it pertains to the Electoral College The Electoral College consists of the popularly elected representatives who formally elect the President and Vice President of the United States. Since 1964, there have been 538 electors in each presidential election. Article II, Section 1, Clause 2 of the Constitution specifies how many electors each state is entitled to have and that each state', primarily a winner-take-all system of elections (with the exceptions of Nebraska and Maine).

The Republican and Democratic parties within a particular state may have a platform that departs from that of the national party, sometimes leading that state to favor one party in state and local elections and the other in Presidential elections. This is most evident in the Southern United States The Southern United States—commonly referred to as the American South, Dixie, Down South, or simply the South—constitutes a large distinctive region in the southeastern and south-central United States. Because of the region's unique cultural and historic heritage, including Native Americans, early European settlements of English, Ulster Scots, where the state Democratic parties tend to be more conservative than the national party, especially on social issues. Arkansas and West Virginia were won by George W. Bush George Walker Bush ( /ˈdʒɔrdʒ ˈwɔːkər ˈbʊʃ/ ; born July 6, 1946) was the 43rd President of the United States, serving from 2001 to 2009, and the 46th Governor of Texas, serving from 1995 to 2000 in 2004, but Democrats hold both U.S. Senate The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral United States Congress, the lower house being the House of Representatives. The composition and powers of the Senate and the House are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution . Each U.S state is represented by two senators, regardless of population. Senators serve staggered seats and over half of the seats in the U.S. House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives, commonly referred to as the "House," is the lower house of the bicameral United States Congress, the upper house being the United States Senate, as well as the Governorships, supermajorities in both chambers of the state legislatures and the majority of elected executive officeholders in those states; similarly, Tennessee went solidly for Bush in both 2000 and 2004, but going into 2004, its Governor This is a list of Governors of Tennessee, a state located in the Southeastern United States was a Democrat and both chambers of the state legislature were controlled by Democrats. The converse can also be true, as in the case of Maine, which has two Republican U.S. Senators The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral United States Congress, the lower house being the House of Representatives. The composition and powers of the Senate and the House are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution . Each U.S state is represented by two senators, regardless of population. Senators serve staggered but voted for John Kerry John Forbes Kerry is the senior United States Senator from Massachusetts, and is chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. He was the presidential nominee of the Democratic Party in the 2004 presidential election, but lost by 34 electoral votes to incumbent President George W. Bush. Senator Kerry is a decorated Vietnam veteran, and was a in the 2004 presidential election The United States presidential election of 2004 was the United States' 55th quadrennial presidential election. It was held on Tuesday, November 2, 2004. Republican Party candidate and incumbent President George W. Bush defeated Democratic Party candidate John Kerry, the then-junior U.S. Senator from Massachusetts. Foreign policy was the dominant.

Some conservatives have also been wary of using the red state term to describe conservative or Republican-voting electorates, as the term had previously most often been associated with communist states, like the Soviet Union, Cuba, China, and East Germany.

In his keynote address before the 2004 Democratic National Convention, Barack Obama rejected the division of the United States into red states and blue states, saying: "The pundits like to slice-and-dice our country into red states and blue states - red states for Republicans, and blue states for Democrats. But I've got news for them, too. We worship an awesome God in the blue states, and we don't like federal agents poking around our libraries in the red states. We coach Little League in the blue states and have gay friends in the red states. ... We are one people, all of us pledging allegiance to the stars and stripes, all of us defending the United States of America."[14]

In April 2008, Republican presidential nominee John McCain predicted that the 2008 presidential election would not follow the red state/blue state pattern, saying, "I'm not sure that the old red state, blue state scenario that prevailed for the last several elections works. I think most of these states that we have either red or blue are going to be up for grabs."[15] This eventually proved to be true, although not in McCain's favor, as Barack Obama took many "red" states that had not voted Democratic in many years including Virginia, North Carolina, Indiana, and others.

Purple States

2008 United States presidential election results by county, on a color spectrum from Democratic blue to Republican red

A purple state refers to a swing state where both Democratic and Republican candidates receive strong support without an overwhelming majority of support for either party. Purple states are also often referred to as battleground states.

The demographic and political applications of the terms have led to a temptation to presume this arbitrary classification is a clear-cut and fundamental cultural division. Given the general nature and common perception of the two parties, "red state" implies a conservative region or a more conservative type of American, and "blue state" implies a liberal region or a more liberal type of American. But the distinction between the two groups of states is hardly so simplistic. The analysis that suggests political, cultural, and demographic differences between the states is more accurate when applied to smaller geographical areas.

Cartogram of the United States, showing each county with a size proportional to its population. The colors reflect 2004 presidential election results.

Traditionally, the practice of designating a U.S. state as "red" or "blue" is based on the winner-take-all system employed for presidential elections by 48 of the 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia. (Electoral law in Maine and Nebraska makes it possible for those states to split their electoral votes; this actually happened for the first time in 2008, when Nebraska's 2nd congressional district assigned its elector to Barack Obama.)

Despite the prevalent winner-take-all practice, the minority always gets a sizeable vote. Because of this, a third term has emerged, referring to these closely-divided states as purple states. Furthermore, it could be argued that all states are "purple" to varying degrees and that the "red vs. blue" division is far from an accurate description of US culture.

All states were consistent in voting for George W. Bush or his opponent in the 2000 and 2004 presidential elections except for three: New Mexico (Gore in '00 and Bush in '04), Iowa (Gore in '00 and Bush in '04) and New Hampshire (Bush in '00 and Kerry in '04). The 2004 election showed two of these three states to be true to the presidential preferences of their respective regions, creating a greater regional separation; thus, an argument that the country is more divided from the 2000 election. All three of those states were very close in both elections. In 2008 Obama carried Iowa and New Hampshire by more than 9 points, and New Mexico by double digits.

Polarization

Cartogram of Electoral College results (votes as of 2008) of the past four Presidential elections (1996, 2000, 2004, 2008) States carried by the Republican in all four elections States carried by the Republican in three of the four elections States carried by each party twice in the four elections States carried by the Democrat in three of the four elections States carried by the Democrat in all four elections

Feelings of cultural and political polarization between red and blue states, which have gained increased media attention since the 2004 election, have led to increased mutual feelings of alienation and enmity. These attitudes have led to the often jocular suggestion that a red state-blue state secession is in order. The Jesusland map is one such joke, a satirical map that redraws the U.S.-Canada border to reflect this sociopolitical schism.

Polarization is more evident on a county scale. Nearly half of U.S. voters resided in counties that voted for Bush or Kerry by 20 percentage points or more in 2004. By comparison, only a quarter of voters lived in such counties in 1976.[16]

The polarization has been present for only two close elections (2000 and 2004). In the 1996 election, 31 U.S. states were "blue" and 19 "red" (though at the time the current color scheme was not as universal as today). One trend that has been true for several election cycles is that states that vote Republican tend to be more rural (thus having fewer electoral votes) than states that vote Democratic.

Viewing the nation as divided into two camps ignores the largest single group of Americans, namely, those who don't vote at all. In the 2000 election only about 54 percent of eligible voters actually turned out to vote. In 2004, despite expensive get-out-the-vote campaigns by both ideological camps, the percentage who voted rose only a few points from the previous election. In fact, in 2004, an all-time record was set when more than 80 million eligible voters did not vote; this number was far greater than the votes secured by either Bush or Kerry, by a substantial margin.

In fact, no Republican or Democratic nominee has attracted as much as 30 percent of eligible voters since Ronald Reagan in 1984.[citation needed]

The divide

Party control of Governors' offices. Democratic Governor Republican Governor Percentage of members of the House of Representatives (as of 2009-01-06) from each party by state.

Although the Electoral College determines the Presidential election, a more precise measure of how the country actually voted may be better represented by either a county-by-county or a district-by-district map. By breaking the map down into smaller units (including many "blue counties" lying next to "red counties"), these maps tend to display many states with a purplish hue, thus demonstrating that an ostensibly "blue" or "red" state may in fact be closely divided. Note that election maps of all kinds are subject to errors of interpretation as described below.

These county-by-county and district-by-district maps reveal that the true nature of the divide is between urban areas/inner suburbs and suburbs/rural areas. For example, in the 2008 elections, even in "solidly blue" states, the majority of voters in most rural counties voted for Republican John McCain, with some exceptions. In "solidly red" states, a majority of voters in most urban counties voted for Democrat Barack Obama, including areas such as Dallas County, Texas and Fulton County, Georgia (the homes of major US cities Dallas and Atlanta). Both provided Obama with double-digit margins of victory over McCain. An even more detailed precinct-by-precinct breakdown demonstrates that in many cases, large cities voted for Obama, but their suburbs were divided.

Red states and blue states have several demographic differences from each other. The association between colors and demographics was notably made in a column by Mike Barnicle, and reinforced in a controversial response from Paul Begala (though the association between demographics and voting patterns was well known before that).

In the 2008 elections both parties received at least 40% from all sizable socio-economic demographics, except that McCain (Republican) received 37% from voters earning $15K-$30K, and 25% from voters earning under $15K, according to exit polling. In 2008, college graduates were split equally; those with postgraduate degrees voted for Obama by an 18% margin. For household income, Obama got a majority of households with less than $50,000 in annual income. McCain got a slight majority (52% to 47%) of households consisting of married couples; Obama lead 2:1 (65% to 33%) among unmarried voters. McCain held the more suburban and rural areas of both the red and blue states, while Obama received the large majority of the urban city areas in all the states. Ralph Nader did not win any electoral college votes yet received 2% of the vote of voters from high income households and voters with graduate degrees.

Demographic Household income
Under $15k $15k - $30k $30k - $50k $50k - $75k $75k - $100k $100k - $150k $150k - $200k $200k or more
Obama 73% 60% 55% 48% 51% 48% 48% 52%
McCain 25% 37% 43% 49% 48% 51% 50% 46%
Nader 1% 2% 1% 0% 1% 1% 0% 1%
Percent of voters 6% 12% 19% 21% 15% 14% 6% 6%
Demographic Educational attainment Marital Status
No High School High School Some College College Graduate Postgraduate Education Single Married
Obama 63% 52% 51% 50% 58% 65% 47%
McCain 35% 46% 47% 48% 40% 33% 52%
Nader 0% 1% 1% 1% 1% N/A N/A
Percent of voters 4% 20% 31% 28% 17% 34% 66%
Demographic Vote by Race Type of Community Ideology
White Black Latino Asian Other Big Cities Suburbs Rural Liberal Moderate Conservative
Obama 43% 95% 67% 62% 66% 63% 50% 45% 89% 60% 20%
McCain 55% 4% 31% 35% 31% 35% 48% 53% 10% 39% 78%
Nader 0% 0% 2% * 2% * 0% 0% 1% 1% 1%
Percent of voters 74% 13% 9% 2% 3% 30% 49% 21% 22% 44% 34%

SOURCE: CNN Exit polls 13,660 surveyed[17] MARITAL STATUS: MSNBC Exit polls [18]

In terms of age, gender and marital status, it's thought young adults under age 30 and the age group between 30 to 40 went for Obama. That more married men voted for McCain, but more single men voted for Obama. Same went to women, but a higher percentage of women voted for Obama than McCain. The main constituency for McCain are white middle-aged married males, as well in terms of religion: Protestant Christians were more likely to vote for McCain than Obama. A higher rate of secular, Catholic and other religious votes went for Obama.[citation needed]

Reaction

International

The choice of colors in this divide appears counter-intuitive to many observers, as in many countries, red is often associated with left-of-center parties, while blue is used to depict conservative parties. For example, in Canada party colors are deeply ingrained and historic and have been unchanged since the late nineteenth century. The Liberal Party of Canada has long used red and the Conservative Party of Canada has long used blue, and in fact the phrases Liberal red and Tory blue are a part of the national lexicon, as is Red Tory, denoting Conservative members who are social moderates. Similarly, the symbol of the United Kingdom's Labour Party is a red rose (and the socialist song "The Red Flag" is still sung at party conferences), while the UK Conservatives have traditionally used the color blue. If the US followed such a pattern, blue would be used for the Republicans and red for the Democrats. However, the current US scheme has become so ingrained in the American election system that foreign sources who cover US elections, such as the BBC, Der Spiegel and El Mundo follow with the red-Republican, blue-Democratic scheme for US elections.[19][20][21]

United States

While the "Democratic blue" and "Republican red" color scheme is now part of the lexicon of American journalism, neither national committee of the parties has officially accepted these color designations.

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee made use of the color scheme when it launched a national "Red to Blue Program" in 2006.[22] Otherwise the color scheme is unofficial and informal but is widely recognized by media and commentators. Partisan supporters now often use the colors for promotional materials and campaign merchandise.

The scheme has found acceptance and implementation from the U.S. Federal Government, as the Federal Elections Commission report for the 2004 presidential Election uses the red-Republican, blue-Democratic scheme for its electoral map.[23]

Current classification

The following classification of red and blue states (as well as purple/battleground states) was determined by compiling the average margins of victory in the last five presidential elections. Three of these past five elections were won by Democrats (Bill Clinton in 1992 and 1996, and Barack Obama in 2008) while two were won by Republican George W. Bush in 2000 and 2004.

Red States

Blue States

Purple States

See also

References

  1. ^ "MSNBC.com About Meet the Press". http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4459759/. Retrieved 2008-06-13.
  2. ^ Washington Post, 2004-11-02 (accessed 2008-11-25).
  3. ^ Polidata (accessed 2008-11-25).
  4. ^ Handbook of Texas Online - REDS AND BLUES
  5. ^ The Political Game: The Red and Blue State Phenomenon
  6. ^ July 26, 1908, 100 Years Ago Today by Frank Herron
  7. ^ Zeller, Tom (2004-02-08). "Ideas & Trends; One State, Two State, Red State, Blue State". The New York Times. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9A07E3DE163AF93BA35751C0A9629C8B63. Retrieved 2010-05-22.
  8. ^ Cool Blue Reason
  9. ^ http://www.princeton.edu/~petehill/time-election-map-1996.jpg
  10. ^ Goodman, Walter (1996-11-06). "Those Special Election Bells, Whistles and, Yes, Some Numbers, Too". The New York Times. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9403E1D61038F935A35752C1A960958260. Retrieved 2010-05-22.
  11. ^ APPLE Jr, R. W. (1996-11-07). "A Divided Government Remains, and With It the Prospect of Further Combat". The New York Times. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B02E2D81E38F934A35752C1A960958260. Retrieved 2010-05-22.
  12. ^ http://designforum.aiga.org/content.cfm?ContentAlias=%5Fgetfullarticle&aid=%23%2FN%23%28%0A
  13. ^ Martin, David (1996). Geographic Information Systems: Socioeconomic Applications. Routledge. p. 170. ISBN 0415125715. ;,
  14. ^ Obama, Barack (July 27, 2004). "Keynote Address at the 2004 Democratic National Convention" (text or video). BarackObama.com. http://www.barackobama.com/2004/07/27/keynote_address_at_the_2004_de.php. Retrieved 2008-04-04.
  15. ^ McCain, John. Interview with Chris Wallace. Fox News Sunday. Fox News Washington, DC. 2008-04-06. Retrieved on 2008-04-08.
  16. ^ http://www.aei.org/docLib/20080229_BillBishop.pdf
  17. ^ "Local Exit Polls - Election Center 2008 - Elections & Politics from CNN.com". CNN. http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2008/results/polls/#val=USP00p1. Retrieved 2010-05-22.
  18. ^ http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26843704
  19. ^ BBC News. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/shared/spl/hi/americas/04/vote_usa/map/html/default.stm. Retrieved 2010-05-22.
  20. ^ Amerika wählt - SPIEGEL ONLINE - Nachrichten
  21. ^ elmundo.es | ELECCIONES EEUU 2004
  22. ^ http://www.dccc.org/news/Red_to_Blue/index.html
  23. ^ Federal Elections 2004

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